Copy and Paste

I'm here today to post my thoughts on copy/paste "review" bloggers. The short of it is, you are not "review" bloggers, you are free product whores.

And yes, to some extent all review bloggers are free product whores (unless of course you're just posting reviews on things you bought, then kudos to you!). But in exchange for providing a worthwhile service to the companies that send them free swag, reviewers get to take off the product whore hat and proudly exclaim that they are review bloggers.

Why the need to make a distinction? Above all else, copy/paste PW (product whores) hurt the review blogging world as a whole. They usually start by entering giveaways, then think to themselves "hmm...for every contest I enter, the person hosting the contests seems to get the 'prize' as well. I could do that. No more entering contests, and guaranteed free stuff. Yay!!!" Which is fine, as long as you don't do a half assed job of your new reviews. If you can't write (and you know who you are), and have no desire to do a real review, please save yourself the embarrassment and help save the people who actually do reviews the trouble of explaining to sponsors how they are not like you.

So why is copy/paste so horrible?

For their product (and sometimes giveaway product) sponsors deserve an independent testimonial. Whether your assesment of their product be good, bad, or mixed. (And yes, you are allowed to point out product flaws or weaknesses - quit being so afraid that the next company won't send you free swag because you posted a less than stellar review that you give every single product a rave review - but more on that later). When the feedback and testimonial they gain is "Molly looked really cute in her shoes," with the rest being pasted from their site, there's not much of a benefit.

"Yes, but I'm giving them exposure and backlinks!!" And I'm sure they're thankful - they're also scrambling to put together a comprehensive questionnaire to quiz the next blogger with, so they don't end up with another disappointing result. Sponsors deserve to receive some effort from their samples. They don't want to feel ripped off, knowing that anyone is capable of reading what they put on their sites. You did not provide a review, you simply provided advertising. They might as well have written the post themselves (and really, they did) and had you to host a giveaway for them. You should be labeling all your posts as "advertisement" - as that's all that you're doing.

Did you know that Google may ignore backlinks/text if many posts that are similar in nature appear? So really, potentially, you're not adding to that company's search engine ranking at all, as you (and they) might think you are. "Molly looked really cute in her shoes" is not enough to set you apart from the other PWs.

The whole purpose of a review is to give the masses an independent view on the product. Give them the pluses and minuses and let them decide for themselves. If readers refuse to purchase anything based on your recommendations, because EVERY recommendation is glowing and positive then you're not helping the sponsor. Not at all. I KNOW readers have made purchases based on what I recommended, and I'm comfortable with those purchases being attributed to me. No one is going to be sitting at home swearing "fucking reviewer, why didn't they tell me xxx about the product." If a company can't accept that you might post negative things about their product, suggest to them that they pay you for an 'advertising' post. Or just host a giveaway. Label it as such, and sleep guilt free...but then again, you probably are, so it might help to think of it as Karma instead.

Maybe your reluctance to post negative reviews comes from the fact that you wrote them all and said "please, please, please" then lied about your stats to hear "yes." Okay, so maybe you didn't lie, sorry, I'm still hung up on that one. It's understandable not to post negative things about products you solicited, and I'm going to assume that because you solicited them, you really do like the product. (See how I'm not accusing you of blanket emailing massive quantities of companies - any company - to get a review. I know you wouldn't do that...ahem).

Let's get personal. Sometimes I spend hours on a review. Not the testing, just the writing. I want readers to get a feel for the item. And when it comes to testing, Hell, I want to get a feel for the item. Ripping it out of the box and taking a picture of your family 'using' the item, then posting the 'review' is not a review. Please stop calling it that. I would prefer the title: "This is what me, the product whore, got in the mail today. I will now post what the site says about their products and use the word 'love' 6 million times. Thanks for stopping by for my giveaways. I know you're not here for content. All this openness makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Stop in tomorrow to see what I'll regurgitate from the next sponsor's website."

Now, there are giveaway sites (and yes, they are labeled that, and I love them for it), that make no pretense of being review sites. Perhaps you should start one of those. It's easy, remove the damn 'review' label from your header. Companies know they are sending their swag in return for a giveaway on the site. No review. And they hope that in the traffic these sites generate (some with 400+ entries a contest), there will be some sincerely interested buyers, or people will see their product and go "wow, I need that."

Please don't start thinking "that's what I do, I guess I'm not so bad, what was all this crap about?" That is NOT what you do. You tell companies you will review their products. You tell your readers you have reviewed the product. You big fat lying PW...Wow, that's so unsatisfying...Product Whore...that's better. Be upfront about what you do!!!! You want the free stuff with none of the strings (like an actual review) then tell companies "Look, I'll host a giveaway for you. I want xxx money to do it, or one of your products, I'm going to cut/paste product info from your site, you'll get traffic in return." If they say yes, then good for you, but please stop pretending that you're a reviewer. You're not.