I was invited earlier this month to join the Gifted Web Writers program.
An unsolicited email on November 13 said my site had been discovered during a search “for high quality blogs and gifted web writers”.
The writer referred to a specific post.
“Michael, you definitely have a unique and interesting writing style and an intriguing high quality blog. Since you and your blog meet our quality guidelines, we would like to offer you to join our unique and highly rewarding program,” the email said.
Flattery gets you everywhere.
The first email went on to say:
“The program links our customers with gifted writers like you and pays them for writing short articles. You already do that, so I’m sure you will be happy to be rewarded for your talent. Our program pays at least 15 USD for each article you write, with options for additional payments. We do not ask nor expect you to write ads; rather, we give you complete writing freedom and appreciate your creativity and imagination.”
I replied: “I may be interested on a case-by-case basis depending on the product or service, providing they are independent reviews.”
The organisation’s response included:
The principles of the program are very simple:
- Our sponsors propose a subject related to their business or cause and some resources (web page, image, video) linked to it.
- You write a short post or an article about the proposed subject (300-500 words), including the web resources. You are not expected and must not write ads.
- You review articles written by other writers like you.
- With each article you write or review, you accumulate money toward a monthly payment.
And the pointy bit:
“Our sponsors come from a variety of industries and segments, including health (hospitals, biomedical), finance (forex, insurance), gaming (bingo, casino), travel (flights, package tours), retail (books, CDs, groceries), and charity (child care, medical care). All of them are highly reputable and industry leaders, emphasizing customer care and social responsibility.”
“When writing about our sponsors’ proposed subjects, you are free to write your own impressions, opinions, and ideas. Of course, we discourage and do not allow copyright infringement, obscenity, false advertising, deceptive representations, fraud, libel or defamation, and all kinds of spam. We expect you to be creative, imaginative and genuine in your writing, and we do not want you to advertize or endorse the proposed subjects.
“You will need to write regular articles and review articles written by others. Each regular article that you write increases you balance by 20 USD, while each review increases your balance by 3 USD. You will get paid monthly by a money transfer to an eWallet such as PayPal or MoneyBookers.”
Here are the full terms and conditions.
I won’t be participating.
I don’t think this is a scam. In fact I’m sure it’s a well-conceived idea to get established bloggers to write about products and services, linking to the providers.
The guarantee of independence preserves a facade of integrity, but that’s all it is. Basically, they are brokers to sell links. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not for me.
I don’t mind writing reviews for payment, but I want to choose the products and services, have personal experience of them and give full disclosure.
I’m certainly not interested in writing about insurance or gaming.
I’ve only found one other web report on this so far, where a commenter confirms receiving payment.
I just don’t want to trundle on that treadmill.
These articles might be of interest:
You are a strong man Michael because you did not cave in on the initial sales talk. I think its good to remain truthful to your own principles, and you are great at keeping boundaries.
Me? I tend to fall in a hole, because I get sucked in, hate saying no to any unreasonable request, have horrific guilt trips over nothing at all, and feel intense pressure to please others at my own expense.
I so hate being a soft touch, because people get to walk all over you, sometimes it gets to seriously mess your head up, then it just gets complicated.
I think writing about insurance or gaming would be suicide.
While Michael checked us to a great length and chose not to join our program, it is up and running (still in beta) for interested writers to apply through the form in our website. If you qualify (basically you need to demonstrate that you are a qualify writer), you can expect a gratifying relationship. Note, though, that the payment amounts are tailored per writer based on our internal criteria.
We are constantly working to improve our program with feedback from writers. If you have comments or questions, feel free to contact us using our “contact us” form.