I’m a member at smorty for quite a while(although i don’t really use it) and during this period i’ve seen improvements and fall backs.

Improvements:

One of the best features they implemented is Post Exchange(BETA):

Post exchange is all about writing positive posts about each others blogs. Bloggers from the same category and related star ratings will have the opportunity to review each others blogs. It works in the same way as a sponsored review, however this is completely free.

For every post you write for a fellow blogger, a different blogger will write a post for you. This means relevant traffic can be passed between similar blogs and a strong community can be built by helping each other.

Alright, this is a great feature, but we all know how many webmasters are: they will write a post and link t you and after a while they will remove the backlink from the post to gain IBL(inblound links). This is some pretty messed up stuff, especially if you will exchange posts with a guy like the one mentioned above.

I’m waiting for this feature to get out of beta, and i will write a complete review then.

The User panel

The user panel was greatly improved and offers a easy navigation system and a clean design(the main website could also use a new design, i suggested this but it seems that the admins don’t even want to hear about it.

Trust

Smorty gained a lot of trust by paying its publishers on time, and offering pretty good support to both publishers and advertisers. In some time it could become a terrifying contender for Reviewme and Payperpost.

Fall Backs:

Paid Post offers:

To be honest the advertising tasks SUCK. 90% of the paid post offers are either mortage or insurance or casinos or Bad Credit Loans or Shopping cart systems related.

And the stupid part is that you can’t decline them.

Here’s a suggestion for smorty admins:

Implement a feature where the publishers can select the niche they want to blog about, and implement a damn DECLINE button for post offers.

Standard banner sizes

Alright now this is really annoying, check out some of the banner sizes they offer in the Referral Program:

300×30, 125×55, 200×100, 468×60, 125×400

I don’t get this…why couldn’t they use standard sizes like 250×250, or 125×125? They probably taught that by making banners in some different sizes people will like them more. NOT!.

I’m pretty eager to see what will turn out eventually  and what the future brings for smorty. It will either have a great success and become a serious competitor on the niche of paid review or it will fall.