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When ReviewMe first hit the blogging scene, its format was set up to allow individuals and business entities to purchase reviews on blogs. Only the most popular (read: most linked) blogs were accepted into ReviewMe’s program, as the costs for reviews were in the high end of review prices found on the Web. This week, ReviewMe introduced a new marketplace feature whereby those same individuals and businesses can simply request reviews by seemingly any blogs falling into the category at much lower prices.

This new marketplace feature is most likely a response to the format of other popular blog review services, namely Sponsored Reviews and PayPerPost. Each service has provided bloggers the opportunity to bid on or request a paid blog review for an advertiser, respectively.

Prior to this addition to their business model, ReviewMe left the impression of being more elite compared to the other two services mentioned due to their strict acceptance criteria. Now, ReviewMe is allowing all previously declined blogs and new blogs to accept marketplace offers at a fraction of the price.

John Chow dot com, one of the few (or perhaps the only) 5-star blog on ReviewMe, reinforces this elite status of ReviewMe in his own post on the topic, stating that two advertisers offering $10 review opportunities should “increase [their] bids or go back to PayPerPost.”

I must disagree with John on his sentiment, however. This advertising opportunity is only going to allow more reviews for blogs that have much less readership than sites like John’s. It is unlikely that it will result in a reduction of relatively expensive paid reviews for sites like his. Furthermore, it will bring more business to ReviewMe as a whole as advertisers are left with more options. Perhaps John is simply concerned that other blogs will prove their ability to provide quality reviews, become higher ranked on ReviewMe, and eventually become contenders for reviews that John could otherwise be receiving.

I for one appreciate the increased amount of opportunity for bloggers like myself who are interested in paid reviews relevant to the blog’s content but lack the large-scale popularity required to join sites set up like ReviewMe originally was.