How To Protect Your Business From Fraudulent Bloggers

So you are a business, large or small it doesn't matter, and you've just received a request to have a blog review your products. What do you do? Do you immediately dismiss the idea because you've never done that before and you don't know how or why? If you do, you will be doing a great disservice to yourself and  your company. Bloggers have a very large reach, and great influence on a vast market of potential customers. Plus if you have a blogger review, that will include a back link to your site/shop ensuring better traffic from search engines too! But what if you are getting lots of requests, how do you know which is a good blog to accept the request from and which to kindly decline?

Over the last few months I have talked with many of my Etsy and small business friends and there were quite a number of concerns and questions they had for me, so this is exactly what I hope to help clear up for you today! As a Product reviewing blog and as an Etsy hand created shop owner, I have seen both sides of the spectrum and I hope I can shed some light on this topic to help you be able to make your decision a lot simpler.

This article is divided into 3 sections: 1. How to pick out Quality bloggers from Fraudulent bloggers. 2. Misconceptions clarified, and 3. What you need to know about Hosting a giveaway on a blog.

Also, I welcome all questions, and concerns you have as you read through the article. Merely leave them in the comments below and I'll answer them! Please also respect differing opinions, it is fine if you disagree, but do so respectfully and keep all language polite and family friendly.

1. WHY you should have a product review of your items.
When you have a product review from a blogger you are tapping into that blogger's social network! You are able to therefore have your product promoted to thousands of readers that you don't have to track down yourself. You also need to know the power of the SEO tracking back to your shop! If a review blogger is doing their job, they will have linked to your store where their readers can purchase your items. If the blog is well rated, this helps your store come up more often or higher in the search engines ranks, thus offering you the opportunity for even more exposure.

Although according to Google's Terms of service, any product received for a review is considered payment for the review and the links included in a blog's articles must be a no follow link or both the blog and the business risk rank removal from google, even these no follow links can be beneficial to your business, and they help show the blog's readers where they can find more information about your product and where they can purchase them. 

But let's not forget the value of an influential blogger in your corner. Why do you think Big name companies use bloggers? It's because it's been shown to help in the long run, in a BIG way. No I'm not saying that hosting a review/giveaway on a blog will instantly increase your sale! No Ad campaign of any kind can guarantee that, but it DOES increase your exposure and introduce you to a larger audience who may in the future become loyal customers. Honestly, there are a lot of products, including new Etsy shops that I've discovered through someone else giving a review of their products or giveaways, and THEY are the ones that I go to first when I need something, because

A. I saw the good review. I know from someone I trust (the blogger) that the products are good. It's a no risk purchase.

B. I am now familiar with the shop name. Because of seeing it frequently in my blogger's circles, It's the fist name that comes across in my mind when I need to find something. It's called Branding and it is VERY powerful.

2. Know the Numbers You Should Ask For and What They mean. 
When you have an experienced blogger approaching you, they usually send you an email or contact asking to review your product and they include a bunch of numbers in their request, such as number of followers, Alexa rating score, Google page rank, etc. This is called a Pitch or Ask Letter. Sometimes they won't include the numbers in the letter but before you say yes or no you need to know these numbers. These numbers are also sometimes called a Media Kit. But before that does you any good, you need to understand what they mean. Here are the most common numbers Big name companies ask for before they approve or reject a review request (I will also include a good average number that should be present before accepting a review, but ultimately the choice is up to you whether you want to work with brand new bloggers or with those with a little more experienced):

• Monthly Pageviews (taken from Google Analytics, not blogger) Google Analytics tracks more accurately how many people view a website in a month. Sometimes instead of Monthly pageview, they ask for UNIQUE visitors in a month. This is also tracked in Google analytics, and explains how many different people visited that site in that month, not just how many pages were seen. a fairly good average is 5000 page views or 200-300 unique visitors a month. Of course the higher the number the better traffic that blog receives and the higher chance of your products being promoted. 
• Email Subscription/newsfeed. These are readers who have subscribed to the blog and have notices and newsletters sent to their email or blog reader devices each day new content is published on the blog.  Numbers for this stat are usually much lower as people just hate committing to sites, or getting emails. But usually anything over 100 is fairly decent. Of course the higher the number the better.
• GFC Followers: until recently Google Friend Connect was a major recourse for telling the reach a blogger had, but Google has decided to remove GFC from all non-blogger blogs. Thus many very successful blogs will no longer have access to this. Although blogger blogs will still have this feature, so it is important to know about this, and know a good average number for GFC if they so include it in their Pitch Letter, is about 500 followers or more.But if a Blogger no longer uses GFC, don't hold it against them.
• Google+: this is a new social network that is similar to Facebook and seems to be taking the place of GFC on blogs that are losing that feature. Google + is still fairly new and as many readers and even bloggers still have not switched to Google+ in addition to Facebook; the numbers here are usually much lower. But a fairly good average of followers for Google+ is around 300 or more.
• Facebook: this is rather self explanatory. Each successful blogger should have their own Facebook PAGE, not profile, for their blog. A profile for their blog is against Facebook's terms of service agreement and they risk having their site shut down. So ensure that they have a Facebook PAGE. You will want to know the number of "likes" that page has. Do not focus much on the "talking about this" feature, as this is rather inaccurate and varies so dramatically from day to day. A fair average to begin considering is around 1000 fans or more. 
• Twitter: again, this is self explanatory. There is a large ability for promotion on twitter, even if you, yourself do not have a twitter account, if the blogger does, it dramatically increases the exposure your products will have. A Fair average for twitter followers is on the low end probably about 500-1000, and of course higher than that is even better. 
• Triberr reach: Although many bloggers don't use this feature, it is handy for those that do. If the blogger who is Pitching to you doesn't use Triberr, don't hold it against them. But if they do this is what it does. Basically the blogger is on a tribe with other bloggers. When they write a post, it is then put into a "stream" where the other bloggers in the tribe approve that post, and it is then automatically tweeted out to all of their twitter readers. Basically it allows a blogger to tweet their posts to tribe mates 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. without having to have those readers be following that blogger. Tribemate 1 has 2000 followers, tribemate 2 has 1000 followers, and tribemate 3 have 2000; blogger 1's product review just got approved and is now tweeted out and promoted to a reach of 5000 extra people that blogger #1 ordinarily wouldn't have access to. So a triberr reach is the combined number of all the tribe mate's twitter followers.  A fairly good number for this is around 50,000 or more. This is also an optional number, not one to hold against the blogger if they don't have it, but if they do have it, it's a great bonus.
• Alexa Rating: this is a site that rates other websites based on traffic, time spent on the site and many other variables. It then ranks sites against others of the same genre. The LOWER the number the better with this site. A fair average for when sponsors start accepting bloggers is when they reach 500,000 or lower. Of course there have been exceptions, for instance if they happen to have a rather larger Twitter or Facebook following, but perhaps their site is new, or they just changed their domain/URL, or just moved their blog. But on average, a good site to begin working with will be around that 500,000 mark or lower. Most good review bloggers I know average around the 200,000-400,000 range. If they are below 200,000 all the better for you. 
• Page Rank: this is similar to Alexa, except this rating system is done by google and frankly we don't know how they decide this rank. This one is tricky, because google only updates Page Rank every 4-6 months. So if you have a new blog that starts and really takes off, they could have over 3000 Facebook fans, 1500 twitter followers, 10,000 monthly pageviews, and an Alexa score of 200,000 before they even get a rank with The Page rank…I know because that was JadeLouise Designs. Those were my numbers when Google Finally gave me a rank. So take this one with a grain of salt if they don't have a rank. But if they do, the higher the number the better. It goes on a scale of 0-10; but most bloggers I know are around a 2-3, with a few elite bloggers at a 5. It is hard for bloggers to get higher than that.

Those are the main numbers you should look for when considering a blogger to review your blog. Other numbers that some sponsors like to know, or some bloggers will offer, thus showcasing more of their reach are: Klout, Technorati, networked blogs, and linky followers.  Although these numbers can help you decide if it's a tough decision, they shouldn't be the sole deciding factor. But the most important numbers would be Monthly Visits to the blog, Facebook Fans, twitter fans, Email subscriptions and Alexa rank.
 

3. Visit the Blog That is Requesting a Review. The best thing you can do is ask for the blogs website address and visit that blog! Take a look around. See if you like the style of the blogger. Look at some of the articles they have written. Is this a type of site you would want associated with your products? Do your products really fit with this website? Look at their writing style. And most importantly read some of their other reviews! How well do they review the products that are given to them? Do they use photos? Do they link back to the sponsors website? You want to be sure that they are able to write quality reviews. The way they write for their past reviews is most likely how they will write your review. Would you be happy if your review would turn out in a similar fashion? You also want to see about interaction from the site's readers. Don't make your judgement on one article alone, but browse many different articles and see how the readers interact. If they seem to interact well with the review articles, then it would be a good bet that they would notice your reviewed product too. Besides if the audience isn't active, no amount of followers is going to help you if they aren't paying attention. This is a good indication if it is a safe bet to allow a smaller blog who may not have as many followers as I mentioned earlier, to review your product. If their numbers are smaller, but they have a great audience that interacts, and you like their writing style, they'd still be a great person to work with. Every blogger has to start somewhere.

4. Make your Decision and reply in a professional manner. If you have looked over the blog and like it and want to work with that blogger, go ahead and email them in return and you can set up the review. If you decide you don't want to work with the blogger then you can decline to work with them, but you will want to do so in a professional and courteous manner. You can kindly say, "We are not able to sponsor a review at this time. Thank you for thinking of us."  or maybe, "Thank you for thinking of (Your shop's name), but at present we have reached our max advertising budget and cannot sponsor a review." Don't be rude, and don't say, "I'll let you review anything you purchase" because that is very rude to another business person who is looking to help both you and their business. And yes, I have seen small boutique stores say that exact thing to bloggers, and it is really a slap in the blogger's face. It will give you a bad rep in the blogger world and I'll warn you, if you tick off the wrong blogger, they have a lot of influence and can run their mouth, and give you a bad reputation which will turn many potential clients away from your shop. It may not be professional, but I'm sorry to say it does happen. So always be courteous, even if they aren't someone you want to work with.

SIDE NOTE: if you are still leary of working with a blogger, try searching for a blogger who also owns and runs an etsy store! There are MANY of them. You may find they understand a lot of what goes into the creation process and have a unique perspective as to what a seller is looking for in a promotion and may be less likely to try to scam you out of a product. But don't forget to follow the previous 4 steps!

If you are ever looking for quality review bloggers, but don't know how to find them, I love working with Etsy shops and small business owners on Reviews and Giveaways and promoting your sites! And if your items don't fit my blog/family, I can also ask for people interested in working with etsy or small business owners in my Blogging communities among my blogging friends. You can email me at {amber at jadelouisedesigns dot com}

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While doing research for this article I discovered there are a lot of misconceptions about bloggers and how Product reviews should be ran, and I just want to help clear these confusions up, and answer some questions I've been asked for the last few months.

Misconception 1. All bloggers are alike! Never work with bloggers.  If you had a bad experience with one blog, don't write off all bloggers. How would you feel if someone said, "I had a bad experience with an etsy seller, or a small business owner; so ALL etsy sellers and small business owners are bad, I'm never going to shop there again" and goes off and tells all their friends never to shop with you again?? Don't judge all bloggers by a handful of bloggers. Yes, there are some bad bloggers out there. There are some that are just out to get a free item and never write a review, or write a very poor and sloppy review. That is why I am writing this article, to help you pick out those bad bloggers and protect yourself from them.

Misconception 2. Good Bloggers don't go looking for reviews, they always have people writing them. So this blogger who is writing to me must be a fraud blogger. Wrong! Yes, it's true that good bloggers get people that come to us and offer us to review for them, but that doesn't mean we don't go out looking for things to promote. It is part of our business, to be actively on the lookout for products that could be of interest to our readers. When I find something I think my readers would really enjoy, then I write a request to the creator/business/company. Lego is not going to be searching for blogs saying, "Oh, I want that blog to write for us!" No, I had to approach them and after visiting my blog, they liked what they saw and I now get to work with Lego! The Same thing happened with with Philips, SodaStream, Kalorik, Nutrisystem, and many more! Infact I would say about 55%-60% of the Reviews and Giveaways on my site are items that I have sought out and pitched to. Because I knew they would be enjoyed by my readers. I do get quite a good number of businesses that write me, but a lot of time the product they want me to blog about doesn't fit with my family or with the interests of my readers, so I have to turn them away. Others I enjoy and I gladly accept and form a working relationship with them.

Misconception 3. Review Bloggers are just people out looking to get Freebies. Again, not true. Blogging for many people is a business. A JOB. When we monetize our blog, it turns it from a hobby to a business, and it is treated as such. We have to pay taxes on all products that we are given to review, just as we would if we were paid cash. (let me tell you that was a headache filing taxes this year, but it is worth it for the growth of my blog). Don't assume that all bloggers asking for review products are looking for "freebies". It takes a lot of work to write quality product reviews. We research your product, and we write, edit, and rewrite, and edit again each article. Then we add photos and edit again, and then comes the promoting. We actually promote the reviews and giveaways on many different sites, Facebook, twitter, blogging communities (yes, we have blogging communities much more vast than the little Etsy forums) where we promote our reviews and giveaways of YOUR items! Overall, I typically spend about 10-20 hrs on just ONE of my reviewed products and giveaways, Sometimes more….so do you really think a blogger should have to "PAY" you to promote your store? To publicize your product? They should pay you to do their job? Review products that one sends to the blogger, IS their payment. It is their "income" for that job. So remember that one thing I mentioned earlier that you should never say to a blogger? When you say, "I'll let you review a product if you buy it"… is rude to us, and basically a slap in a bloggers face. You will get negative feedback for the insult. But just remember that blogging is as much of a business to the blogger as your small business is to you, and you wouldn't expect to give away EVERY item you make for free, because the customer thinks you are "just out for their money".  In many ways a product review, is a much better option than actually paying for advertising, because you are getting the advertising and the only cost to you is the cost of the product, where in many times Advertising could cost near hundreds of dollars.

Misconception 4. The Blogger Doesn't Really NEED the product or is fine with just a small sample size to conduct a review. An accurate review requires a product. If you are looking for an accurate promotion and review on your product, it requires for the reviewer to actually HAVE the product, and not just the product but a full sized product. They can't say if the item is worth it's value if they only have a small sample. They can't say how long it lasted if it's just a small portion. Honestly can you say, "OH I love this jewelry/shirt/wall decor/candle" without actually seeing, touching/smelling/using it in person? You don't know how well it is made, you don't know if the creator's products actually turn out like the item in the photo. You don't know how fast they work, or how quick the turn around is. You can't say what the quality of the product is, how long it lasts, or how well kids or family members like the product unless you have one to try. Can you say you love Twinkies if you've never tasted one? It's just a common practice to give a review blogger an item to review so they can write an accurate and honest review. And yes, allow that blogger to keep the product for reasons we just discussed in misconception #3.It is the payment for their job.

Misconception 5. I have to PAY the blogger to have my product reviewed. This one I was rather shocked to discover, but apparently it's been happening a lot! A good friend of mine was contacted by a blogger asking to review her products but they also mentioned that since they are a quality reviewer, they would also charge $50-80 for the review as well as require her to supply her $15 product for review and host a giveaway! If this happens to you, RUN! Yes, some bloggers charge to host reviews. I know many very well qualified bloggers who charge, but normally not more than $20-25. And these bloggers are ones with about 30,000 Facebook Fans, and over 20,000 unique visitors a month on their blog, etc. They charge because they are so well sought after and they have turned their blog business into their livelihood, this also helps them weed out companies who are not serious about working with them. You may also run into some blogs that merely ask that the item or package to be reviewed be valued at $25 or more. And that is completely reasonable as if they have higher rankings, their time is more valuable and they want to make sure the incentive is worth the effort. For me, if I'm going to be spending 20 hrs on a review and promoting it, I'm not going to want to work with someone who is only going to offer me an item worth $4. It's not worth the amount of time I have to put into making a quality review.

 But, when you have a blogger out of the blue contacting you and wanting to charge for the review, and they don't have an outrageous number of followers, that is a good sign they may be a Fraudulent blogger.  Not only that, but there are MANY amazing review bloggers who don't charge. And yes, I know quite a few who have ratings just as good as JadeLouise Designs and even better, and none of them charge in addition to merely having a product to review and keep. Don't feel obligated to work with the ones who do.  It is one thing to charge large corporations who can afford to pay in addition to the product review, but me, personally I think it's tacky to expect a small business or etsy shop to compete with a large corporation. JadeLouise Designs rarely charges for Product reviews, and never charges WAHM/SAHM/WAHP business owners.

6. I Didn't make a Single Sale During that Review/Giveaway period, that was a Waste and the Blogger Didn't Do their Job! As I briefly mentioned before, a review blogger is not there to guarantee you a lot of sales. Yes it would be awesome if there was a lot of sales, but sometimes the readers just aren't in the market for that item at that time! BUT, you can't count it as a failure! You never know when someone will be looking for an item you carry so they look it up on Google or Yahoo, or the likes and they run across the blogger's review of your products. They like what the blogger said about your product and they choose to order from you! Or maybe the readers like your products but they just can't order right then, so they bookmark your site and later when  they need/want your product, they will remember the great things the blogger said about your product and turn to your products instead of looking for a competitor. A blogger's job is to give your product exposure and promotion, and to increase the number of visitors to your shop. They cannot guarantee a sale. As I mention, there isn't a single Advertising option that will guarantee a sale, but the difference between paying for ads for a month or two, vs having a blogger review your product is that the review will remain online permanently, where the ad will only stay there as long as you keep paying for it. Then months down the road, the blogger's review will continue to stay in search engines and as people look for that product, the blogger's review of your products will continue to show up, giving even more exposure! I've actually had quite a number of readers that contact me months after I ran a promotion for a business and say, "you ran a promotion for this product…where was that website?! I'm ready for it now." and I direct them to the person I worked with and they make a sale.

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What do I need to know about Sponsoring a Giveaway on a blog? 


1. Geographical Restrictions: You need to inform the blogger to which regions you are willing to ship your items to. US? US and Canada? or World Wide?

2. The Giveaway Item. You  need to decide early on the exact item will be for the giveaway, or a gift card. Let the blogger know. If a picture is available, supply that for the blogger to use. It draws more attention from the readers. 

3. Your Site Links. You need to supply upfront all of your site URLs such as Facebook, Twitter, Etsy shop, business, blog, etc. Don't make the blogger go hunting for these, because if they aren't supplied by you, many times they are left out. But if you supply them, then they are easier to include.

4. Giveaway Entry options. You should request that the blogger have some of the entries in the giveaway to have the readers visit your website and comment either in the entry form or on the blog post what they liked about your business, or to follow you on Facebook or on twitter, etc. You are well within your rights to request that some of the entries be to promote your business. I wouldn't however require that all of those options be mandatory, just pick one to be mandatory, and be flexible because some bloggers do things differently because they know what works best with their audience and what doesn't. Also, you cannot REQUIRE that they visit and comment on your Facebook page, or like a status or photo as an entry as that violates Facebook's Terms of service user agreement.

5. Duration of the Giveaway. You should ask the Blogger how long the giveaway will last. A good average for blog giveaways is 1-2 weeks. But mostly around the 2 week mark.

6. Promotion of the Giveaway: feel free to ask the blogger what their plans are for promoting the review and giveaway. Are they going to post every day? Once a week? Will they announce the event on their social sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc?

7. Communication: Ask the blogger to inform you when the review/giveaway goes live. And to supply you with a link. Then once you have the link, look it over and make sure the review and giveaway are in order. Check for Spelling errors. Although most bloggers work hard and spell check, sometimes auto correct has a mind of it's own and sometimes it doesn't like names of companies. I have had a few companies where I worked 3 days to get auto correct to STOP changing the spelling of a company I was working with. It just didn't like the spelling, and every time I fixed it, auto correct changed it back…again! Errors happen from time to time. Also let the blogger know what information you will need about the winner of the giveaway once they have been selected and ask them to notify you once they have been selected.

8. Help promote! Yes, it is the blogger's job to promote the event, and they will promote the event. But it will only help you even more and gain more exposure if you help promote the event you are sponsoring to your own fans. You never know they may be inspired to share it with their friends and family and thus getting you even more exposure and potential customers! Besides, who is more deserving for a giveaway prize than your own customer base? Let them know when you have a giveaway going on, so they can enter too.

9. SHIP the committed prize to the Winner, in a reasonable amount of time!  This may be a no brainier, but apparently it has been found that a lot of small business and etsy owners offer a prize for a giveaway, and then once the review and promotion has ended, they simply refuse to ship the prize to the winner and cut off all communication with the blogger. Do NOT do this. Remember how I said some bloggers have big mouths? They have a lot of influence, not only with their readers, but also with other bloggers and this info can spread fast! In this case however, it's not the blogger being vindictive, but merely trying to help save the reputation of their fellow bloggers, because when  a sponsor doesn't uphold their sponsored prize, it makes the blogger's site look bad as well. So they WILL spread the word, and there you just lost a large market of potential customers.

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I hope this article, although long, has been helpful. Please, if you have more questions or are curious about anything in the blogging world or have heard rumors, please, Please, PLEASE ask them in the comments below or email me at amber@jadelouisedesigns ! I will gladly answer each and every one!

Has this been helpful to you? Don't be stingy! Go ahead and share it with all your small business friends so they can be protected from Fraudulent bloggers too!

And let me know what you think in a comment below! I LOVE hearing from my readers!!

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Tagged as: blogging, blogging101, business, business relations, etsy, media relations, PR, product reviews, small business