ReviewWho? There’s nobody to review.
JoeTech.com has been online in one form or another for 10 years. In that time, I’ve never sold a link from this domain. The only possible exception would be three paid reviews through ReviewMe.com. By the way, ReviewMe.com sucks and I will probably never see the money from them, given that they only allowed my then PR5 blog with good traffic to earn $5-$7.50 per post. Because I didn’t link one client EXACTLY, they denied payment for one review, leaving my grand total at $12.50, just 1/2 of the minimum payout. I kept my RSS reader busy with their “offers”, which generally consisted of the same two hosting sites over and over and over. Eventually, I gave up on ReviewMe.com completely because, as I mentioned before, they suck. I should note that ReviewMe is run by the MediaWhiz group, who also lured me into a tempting $25 bonus from AuctionAds. To date, I’ve displayed the AuctionAds widget around 4,000 times with not one cent earned.
Google took my PR5 and returned a PR3
Around the time I gave up on ReviewMe.com, JoeTech.com vanished from Google search results. Oddly, all sub-pages still came up. It looked like only the home page was deleted. While some people say Page Rank doesn’t matter, I disagree. Even if it held no real value (it does), it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I felt like getting stood up for a date, which was one of the more ego-blasting moments of my life. It wasn’t really all THAT bad, but it sucked, all the same. I tried to let it pass, but eventually, I called out Matt Cutts regarding the page rank loss and he assured me that my site was fine in Google’s eyes and that my Page Rank would come back. It’s funny how JoeTech.com is now in the top 10,000 in Alexa for the United States, Canada, and Australia, has more traffic than ever, and has all sorts of new and relevant inbound links, yet my Page Rank came back as only PR3?
What now?
Am I complaining? I guess I technically am, but it also feels good to have SOME page rank back. Besides, now I gave another goal for 2008: Get back to at least PR4. As for paid reviews, I began doing the free reviews because it’s much more rewarding than the $5 you get from ReviewMe.com. Some people link back to me, and Bloggin-Ads.com even put me in his new site design. Would I ever return to paid reviews? Sure, but not until I could get $100 per review or more. Until then, they’re free. Of course, I’m still waiting for Sony to send me a DSLR to review or maybe Samsung could send me a Q1U-V to review. I can dream, can’t I?
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on January 12th, 2008 at 5:16 am
joe, it really sucks not getting what you expected. i feel bad that i have not gained any PR since i started with my blog. Some of the few folks, my countrymen online, have their PR perked up by Google and mine haven’t when in fact, traffic wise, I am way ahead of their blogs’. it really sucks. sometimes i wish i want to give up my blogging or start a new one, in another domain.
on January 12th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Zang: Don’t give up. Just take a look at what might be missing from your formula. Maybe the other blogs have more links back to them. You also have some factors that may be keeping your page rank down like too many links in your blog roll, sponsored posts, etc. Look at some of the things other blogs are doing and read some of the tips online for help.
on January 12th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Wow that is harsh. Keep at it… just focus on the content and the rest will follow.
on January 12th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
That sucks that they dropped down your page rank, it is the almighty google though, and they tend to do what they want. I have started doing 1 dollar reviews at the moment. They are fun and they don’t break the bank for anyone.
Cameron
on January 12th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I just went from a 2 to 0. I am not happy right now.
on January 13th, 2008 at 1:55 am
My pagerank has also been dropped to a big fat ZERO. At this point, I think the PR doesn’t matter anymore Advertisers should wise to the fact that many of those who have high PR’s are crap blogs and the ones with really low ones (Johnchow.com only has a 4), even 0’s are good.
I expect the advertising community to rethink their methodology in the next few weeks because Google’s random page rank dropping is going to continue.
on January 13th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Webomatica: Thanks. I would love to make $20k+/month like John Chow, but I’m not him, so I should focus on content and growth and not so much on making the cash.
on January 13th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Reno: That sucks!
Entrepreneur: I disagree with you 100%. You can’t honestly say that those sites with a high page rank are crap and low PR sites are good. There are many factors that go into determining a sites Page Rank, most of which involve the site’s perceived value to the web community. I can’t say I agree with all the Page Rank penalties, but I can say that I think it still serves as an indicator of site importance, even if it IS less accurate these days.
As for advertisers, I think they should (and will) re-evaluate their purchases. Purchasing links (and selling) based on page rank is just not worth the effort and risk these days. I like the 125×125 ads I sell because it offers the opportunity for my advertisers to get their link on my site and to get their logo in front of over 1,000 daily visitors.
on January 13th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Cameron: I’m just happy to have some page rank back. I’m doing reviews, but I’m not charging. I can’t justify charing enough to make it worth charging, so they’re free reviews done as I have time to do them. Also, making them free helps me make sure I am honest. We’re all human, after all.
on January 14th, 2008 at 3:49 am
[...] read about the update on Joe Tech’s blog, and couldn’t help myself, I had to go and check. The last time I got a 3, was with my [...]
on January 14th, 2008 at 4:45 am
My toolbar must be really stuffed cause I see PR0 but I checked Dig Pagerank and it is 3. :)
on January 19th, 2008 at 8:48 am
[...] bookmarks tagged rank ReviewMe.com Sucks and Google Finally Gave Back So… saved by 1 others louieforever bookmarked on 01/19/08 | [...]
on February 7th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Page Rank, Google has slapped a few sites for selling links, although i somewhat agree with them as it manipulates their algo, are they right to say how one can earn money from their site, at the hands of Google, hmm, well, of course people will look to manipulate something, for profit.
Tech Blog’s last blog post..The training of an Internet Virgin | How to learn the web fast
on February 15th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
After submitting blog reviewMe shows no star-rank or price etc. So that i can start. Why so?
on April 16th, 2008 at 8:15 am
i don’t get it. I just noticed this afternoon on my google toolbar, my PR dropped from 3 to 0. But on my sidebar, i have a pagerank.net code which says i am 3. and now, I used up exactrank on your sidebar, and my site is PR4. ???
maline’s last blog post..Save your eyes
on April 16th, 2008 at 11:22 am
maline: ExactRank doesn’t show your Google page rank. It is its own ranking system.