The Dirty Little Secret About App Review Sites by Carisa Kluver @ The iMums

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Recently I came across an article that really appealed to me, being an app reviewer, and I simply had to share it with my readers so I contacted the author, Carisa of Digital-Storytime.com to ask if she would mind me republishing it on TheiMum.com. Fortunately she said yes and you can read an exceprt from the article below. The reason I liked her article so much is because it gives a detailed insight into the behind the scenes of review sites for the developers of the apps we’re writing about and also the audience we are writing for, you the consumer.

Before I started TheiMum.com, I had no idea just how much was involved in writing each review. I’m not one to do things by halves so my reviews tend to be a little on the lengthy side which I’m sure appeals to the developer but maybe not so much the reader. I do have a sincere desire to inform others by giving a clear objective and offering my opinion but I don’t like to go into the technical side of the app because quite frankly, I know nothing about that side (yet!) so my main focus is writing about the app from a mothers perspective. Carisa’s article however is from both sides of the fence as she is one half of the husband and wife development team of behind Dash & Ditto’s Playground for iPhone. Enough rambling from me though, below is an excerpt from Carisa’s article.

” I began my life with apps as a bystander in the app development process as my husband created his first Android and then iOS apps. But soon I was drawn into the process, helping with ideas, marketing and more. Then I began my own review site, as I realized how important (and influential) the reviewer could be in the whole world ‘o apps. This post represents some of my own discoveries about app reviewing, reviewers and review sites now that my own site, Digital-Storytime.com, is approaching its one year birthday.

I have learned a lot about review sites by being on ‘the other side’ of review requests. Initially, as part of an app development team, I found review sites to be a bit mysterious. The more professional the site looked (and the more popular it seemed) the more I thought they were either making money doing reviews or run by a big organization. It seemed like giving a free copy of our app in exchange for a review was a reasonable offer – we worked hard on the app, so why wouldn’t they work hard on their review? But it’s just not that simple. Here are a few things I’ve learned about the world of app reviewing:

1. The first ‘not so secret’ discovery I made was that app review sites are businesses … and like all businesses, they vary a lot. A surprising number of people seem to be under the impression that app reviewing is a ‘public service’. I come from the world of non-profit work, and while app review sites do provide a useful service, they are by no means ‘public servants’.

App reviewers vary from those being paid (on salary at big tech sites or per review at smaller sites) to independent entrepreneurs, small bloggers and those who write reviews as more of a hobby. Some sites have simple ads on their sidebars, some charge a fee for ‘expedited’ reviews, some look more favorably on apps that advertise on their sites while others sponsor products to monetize their business or take on ads that are disguised as content.

And all review sites that bring in more than just a few reads from their friends are in the business of promoting themselves and their reviews. They want to capture the attention of all the players in their market. But capturing the attention of app developers is easy … getting readers and consumers of apps to pay attention is much harder. Sites run contests, build social media followings and try to build as much buzz around the apps they review as part of this process.

2. But the ‘dirty little secret’? Most review sites are small enterprises run by individuals who don’t make much (if any) money on their sites/blogs. Even sites that seem to be very big and popular are likely only sustaining their sites, not making ‘big money’. In fact, the biggest myth around apps in general is that there are lots of people making big money. Yes, apps are a big business, but a very small percentage of developers and others make it ‘big’. Most reviewers, developers and app content creators are part of the ’99%’.

[And the idea that reviewers are in it for the 'free apps' is just crazy-talk. Once in awhile a reviewer gets access to a desirable app, but for the most part, reviewers have to review a lot of apps they are not personally interested in. And as reviewers, chances are they get the opportunity to download so much free content (simply by being aware of sales) that they are actually as tempted by a free app as the worker at McDonald's is tempted by free fries.]

3. And the really big myth? That reviewing is easy. It isn’t; it is very hard work. It takes a lot of time, a lot more than one would think. Before I started reviewing professionally, I assumed that writing up my opinions of the apps I shared with my child would be relatively easy (and painless). But the reality is that keeping up with a review site takes a lot of work and perseverance.

I have seen many sites start up over the past couple years while I’ve been watching this industry. Often they start out with a review every day, but then it drops to one every few weeks and soon almost nothing at all before the URL is dead. There is a lot of work behind the scenes too, like answering email, running contests, keeping promo codes straight and maintaining adequate promotion of a site’s traffic. Plus there are technical issues associated with setting up a site that is user friendly, even if the blogging tools seem relatively well-developed. All of these things take up truck-loads of time for the average review site.”

Click here to read more on what should you know as a reader of review sites or some useful things to keep in mind if you are an app developer. Feel free to leave a comment on what you thought about the article either in the comments below or Clarisa’s article.

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Fred says:

November 13, 2011 at 11:51 pm

Good piece, and certainly true. There’s another “dirty little secret” about apps and reviews though… and I’d like to see sites like iMum get THAT word out . . . thousands of people (millions?) download apps based on the Apple ranking, or rankings of various review sites. And yet I see very few sites giving a critique to some apps that should be in the trash can. Quite often there are apps where the rankings have been “inflated” and hundreds of thousands of people buy the app — which turns out to be a dud. The new owner realizes how bad the app sucks, and throws it away not really thinking about the buck or so spent on the app. And that number goes into the number of downloads till making the app more an more popular. You don’t realize you’ve been ripped off until you’ve been ripped off. So, hopefully iMum will review apps honestly, and WITHOUT an eye toward making money off the developer, or selling ads to the developers.