Tags: Make Money Online
Application authors need reviews in the app marketplaces to goose their sales. Would you buy the application with no reviews, or the one with 20 reviews? Several services exist where one can "buy" reviews, meaning to pay someone to write a review, which means these services need to hire reviewers.
Before looking at the services, we have to consider a higher level issue. Namely, is this a scam?
Ideally the reviews in the application stores are honest reviews. Someone being paid to write a review might feel obligated to give a good review, or might be required to do so. It's not outrageous to pay someone for their time to perform a task, of course. The concern here is whether the reviewers are expected or required to write a positive review.
With that out of the way, let's look at some services.
General offer
As said above, the service offered to the customer is that someone will review the application. The customer is paying for reviews, the company keeps a cut, and the reviewer gets the rest.
This means the reviewer is in an interesting position of knowing what their employer is receiving for their work, and therefore just how much of a percentage the reviewer receives.
BestReviewApp.com
BestReviewApp promises to have reviewers covering iPhone, iPad, and Android devices as well as Mac computers. There are of course corresponding app marketplaces for each platform.
The customer submits their application to the BestReviewApp system, and they promise "real" reviewers who are scattered all across the world. Once the application is listed, it will be listed in a dashboard where reviewers select applications to review. Reviewers will buy the application, for which they're reimbursed, and then they are to post a rating and review after using the application.
The reviewer is then responsible for selecting applications to review, purchasing those applications, and writing the review.
Specifically:
You have 24 hours after claiming an app to write an objective review. After 24 hours the app will be reassigned to other users.
It is suggested reviewers write honest reviews based on their experience with the application, comparison with other apps, features that are good, or missing, or whatever.
The payout is $0.50 for a free app and $1-$1.50 for a paid app. The reviewer is required to purchase the application, and will be reimbursed for the cost. Payment is made when the review is verified.
BestReviewApp monitors the app marketplaces for activity, and the reviewer is required to provide their username so their reviews can be verified. A reviewer who fails to write a review will have a bad mark placed against them, and if they do this five times their account will be frozen.
MyAppAware.com
This service focuses solely on iPhone and iPad applications. Otherwise it is very similar to BestReviewApp, with an additional offering -- namely, their reviewers can not only perform reviews but also application testing. For the latter, the developer will provide a set of steps for testers to perform, and testers write a report of how well (or if) the application worked or failed.
For reviews, the reviewer earns $2 plus full reimbursement of the application cost. The reviewer has 36 hours to complete the review.
Application testers earn between $2 to $5 per test. However they limit the number of testers, so you have to apply to do so.
Potential for more
Neither of these services pay much for application reviews. But one should not stop here with the work. If you've put the time in to understand an application, why not launch a blog or YouTube channel devoted to application reviews?
Paid to review apps - MyAppAware, BestreviewApp, AppRebates
