Before we get into this post I want to just say what this post is NOT about, because I’m sure as soon as people saw “reviews” in the title they thought about how they could pick 3 or 4 clickbank products they’ve never used, pick the one with the highest price/commission, put them all on the page with a paragraph desciption each, give one 5 stars and then the rest decreasing stars in order of price and/or commission, and rake in the dough.
Yeah, that’s NOT what I’m talking about.
Now let’s talk how to write reviews. Since you’ve chosen a niche, and hopefully a niche with plenty of physical products there should be something you can review at some point ~ right? From personal experience I can tell you a review post is going to be much more effective if you actually own the product, use it and love it. It will give your writing authenticity. I’m not saying you have to buy every product in your niche, but if you’re going to specifically review a product I suggest you have direct experience with that product.
What makes a good review?
Tone: Keep it conversational. While you’re writing think about it from the perspective of a good friend just asked you what you thought about whatever your product is. Write your review as though you were talking to that friend. Would you use lots of red font, or huge headlines when you were talking to a friend about the new coffee maker you got? No, probably not. But it does bring us to the next thing.
Pros and Cons: Make sure you include any things you didn’t like about the product. If your entire review is glowing it may not seem as genuine. Almost everything has at least some kind of downside to it. So while you’re using the product make sure you think about the things don’t like about it (or could be better about it) as well as the things you love.
Rate it: Be clear about whether you really liked it or not. People should know before they finish reading your review if you recommend people buy the product or not. I’m not saying you need a little star rating at the top of the page ~ but you need to let them know where you stand. A review without a clear opinion isn’t really a review.
Be yourself: Let people know your story ~ why did you buy it, what do you love about it, what you hate about it, would you buy it again, when is your favorite time/way to use the product. The more personal you can be the more people are going to connect with you. The more they connect with you and your story the more likely they will be to relate that story to themselves and think ~ “yeah, I need that too”.
This is a review, it’s your opinion, this is no time to write as an impartial observer. The more of yourself you can put into the content and the tone the better your review will do. This isn’t the evening news ~ people aren’t looking for an objective view of the situation. They want to know what you think. They want to know what you experienced. They want to know whether you’d do it all over again ~ so tell them!
Visuals: For some products this isn’t possible, but if you can use images/videos you’ve taken of the product or better yet, you using the product all the better. Here’s a Concept2 Model D Indoor Rowing Machine squidoo lens a friend of mine recently did and she did a great job on this part. You can see the images she used in this lens are of herself, (and dog) using the machine. This builds credibility for her lens, and any review you do because people can see that you actually use the item and you didn’t just make it up.
Compare: If you’ve used different types of this thing and this is your favorite feel free to compare and contrast, why this is the one you like the best. Recently we were at Home Depot (hubby heaven) and he was talking to a random guy about table saws ~ he knew the ins and outs of every saw there, and I couldn’t help but think in my marketer mind “too bad he won’t make a squidoo lens on this”. lol. He definitely had one that he thought was best ~ but he could back up his recommendation with clear reasons ~ that makes a quality review!
Who is the product right for: If the item might not be right for everyone, say that, then make sure you let the reader know who the product is perfect for! This again will build credibility for your review. It will also improve your conversion rate because you will send more people who are just right for the product to the sales page.
Affiliate links: feel free to add your affiliate link into your post, however, do it the “right” way. Don’t put a huge banner ad in the middle of a post shouting for people to buy the product. Instead, add the link in the content of your post. When you mention the blue widget you’re talking about, use the words “blue widget” to link the person to the sales page. This type of linking has time and time again proven to be much more effective than banner ads. It is also WAY less “salesy”.
Keywords: Make sure you take a look at the keywords for the product you are targeting. Check and see if there is any search volume for “your product review” ~ and any other review type keywords. You also want to check your product keyword search volume. Once you’ve checked search volume make sure you use the keyword in the title ~ and it’s always good idea to try to use review as well, because even if it doesn’t show up in the google tool there will be someone out there looking for a review of the product. Make sure you use your keyword in the content of your post. Don’t worry about keyword density and all that ~ just talk like you would talk to a friend and you’ll be fine.
Disclosure: With the new FTC guidelines you will need to make sure you have some sort of disclosure statement on your reviews. If you received the item for free then make sure you mention that (and if you become an authority in your niche that CAN happen!). You also want to mention somewhere that you will be making some money if people buy through your links. For review posts I would make sure you’ve got a disclosure statement on the same page ~ either within or right under the post. I would not leave this type of post to be covered by your site wide disclosure policy.
I think those are the top elements you want to make sure you include in your reviews. I thought I’d share some of my favorite “review posts” with you so you can see how they can work for any topic and any product.
Hooked on Phonics Review: This is a fantastic review from NoTimeforFlashCards.com
In Step Quick and EZ Bike Trailer Review: This is a review I did a while back when we got the bike trailer for Hanna.
Hydration Backpacks: This is a review (kind of) by my favorite Bike blogger. This is a great way to show how to put yourself into your reviews, and how they can be as different as you want them to be. His reviews are always fantastic, and he frequently moves me to buy!
Micro Niche Finder Review: This is the review I did a while back for MNF.
Hopefully these reviews will give you some good ideas on how to incorporate this type of post into your site. If you have questions about how to write reviews just ask in the comments section. Please ~ let us know when you get your first review post published so we can check it out!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=bd84803a-b4fe-41d3-a080-ad527f8ce0e1)
No related posts.
Hey Jackie,
Would you include the FTC-compliant disclosure statement at the end of a post on a free ad blog?
Thanks!
Christina Walker@KitchenAid Gourmet Essentials Hard Anodized Nonstick 12-piece Cookware Set´s last [type] ..KitchenAid Gourmet Essentials Hard Anodized Nonstick 12-piece Cookware Set updated Thu Dec 15 …
On free ad blog posts you should really only be linking back to your money site (the actual review with links to the product). So no you don’t need an FTC disclosure because you’re not linking to anything where people can buy things.
You’d need to sign up for the affiliate program for each product.
You don’t get commission for giving backlinks you get commission for selling a product. Each sale you make where someone uses your affiliate link to get to the sales page you get a commission.
All you need is a blog.
Once you have your affiliate links all you have to do is follow the advice in this post to create your review.
Set up a category on your blog called product reviews or something similar and check that category for each of your reviews so they will all be in one place and people can find them.
Hi Jackie,
First of all this is a Blog you have been so so helpful. I just have a question in regards to reviewing and selling products. I would like to set up a section on my website that has products I have used/love and would like to recommend to others but these products may not be from a company that has an affiliate program.
I am wondering how I could make recommendations for these products and provide links to the company websites and perhaps get some commission for this? or increase my traffic by them providing a backlink?
(I have only just started my website so it’s really only a blog right now)
Hi Jackie
Thanks for another great post on content creation. I recently purchased wordtrackers ebook “web content recipe book” that provides some good advice towards writing various formats of content. With that ebook and your own content creation advice I`m sure to improve my writing.
Cheers
I believe the FB issue is resolved, but thanks.
@Jackie – Giving helpful reviews of what to stay away from is really a good idea. I was just curious what you thought of linking to it “just in case”…..you do agree after all that, “It’s up to each person to decide this for themselves…”
Interestingly enough, the marketer I have in mind is a super super affiliate and respected by&large throughout the industry…this is what confuses me so much.
As for FB issues, you may wish to contact http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/ sometime. She does many FB tutorials and seems quite proficient at it; she’s an awesome person ta-boot!
Hey everyone having issues with the fanpage I think I have fixed the problem. I’ve had one person who couldn’t get there be able to join so please try again and see if you can get there now.
I added some conversations so feel free to jump in and if there isn’t a conversation that fits what you want to talk about feel free to start one
Interesting… I generally only do reviews for things I use and love. Why would I want to lead people down the path of something that I thought was inferior. I have at times said something sucked and this is why ~ and no I would not put an affiliate link in that post. Personally, I’m sick and tired of marketers just trying to make a quick buck and I’m more interested in helping people move forward so within that framework I talk about things I use and love ~ and things I recommend. It’s up to each person to decide this for themselves (and this is a position that I have moved toward over the years as my business has grown and I have really sussed out what I want my business to be about)
How do you feel about affiliates that do a review, NOT recommend the product, and yet include their affiliate link anyway, justifying it with something like…I gave my opinion, if they wish to test it for themselves anyway, why not get the commission?
Hi Jackie! I’ve finally started to post on my blog. I was wondering if you could take a look and give me some feedback. I’m having some trouble thinking of interesting post topics so I’m a little slow to start. I’m wondering if you think the review is ok. It doesn’t have all of the features that yours have so feel free to give it some constructive criticism.
Thanks!
Tina
of course ~ you can go back and change just about everything in worpdress.
You will have to go to the posts category in your wp dashboard. click category, and create one or two categories you think you will use. (you can add these on the fly from within the text editor you use for creating posts as well). Once you’ve created the categories you can go to edit posts ~ choose the post you want to add a category on and click edit ~ you’ll see an area that will let you choose the category ~ just click it and save.
Hi, Jackie,
I have a few posts now but I didn’t add categories for most of them. Is there any to go back and add them?
Thanks,
Debbie
There is not a wp plugin for the comment itself ~ that’s just part of the theme. There is a plugin for subscribing to comments (subscribe to comments plugin). There is a plugin that lets you use your keywords in the name field (keywordluv) and there is a twitter plugin that lets you put your twitter id in the comment. (twitterlinks-comments). Hope that helps.
Jackie,
The comment plugin in this post. I would like to get it because I love the way it looks and its arrangement. Again what is the name of this comment plugin? WP plugin?
Thanks
@Paul ~ which plugin for in the comment section? There are a couple.
jackie,
Great post.
By the way, which plugin you use for this comment section?
Thanks for the great article!
you have to reinstall the stat counter code if you put it in the footer. If you put it in a widget it should still be there. No you won’t lost your posts or plugins or anything.
You have to go in and change the number (there’s a number you can make lower or higher to accept more or less relatedness in posts) in the settings area of the related posts plugin area ~ sometimes the metrics it uses to identify relatedness aren’t the same as what I would pick ~ but it does a pretty good job.
Ok I lied, just remembered something else I forgot to ask
Related posts, I only have two post published right now but I think they are related and I can’t seem to figure out how to get my related post plugin to work.
Thanks
Chad
Wow, thanks Jackie!
Once again I am just so impressed at how quickly and accurately you respond to the comments of your posts.
Now I remember you mentioning something about if we change our theme we had to go back and re-install or redo certain plugins but I can’t remember where to find that. If I go and install a new theme am I going to lose all of my posts, plugins etc?
Have a great weekend and I will try not too bug you anymore today:)
Chad
Hey Tammy ~ yeah I could have but that blog is not really an affiliate marketing blog so my mind wasn’t there when I did it.
@ Chad ~ good questions.
1. I don’t know. It’s very annoying and I don’t know why it does that. It may be a theme related issue.
2. The new posts show up on top of old posts because that’s the way blogs work. If you go to my homepage you will see that mine is the same way. I send links to specific posts so that’s why they are separate ~ if you click the title to any given post it will be separate too.
3. If you are using your keywords in your title I wouldn’t worry too much about all in one SEO plugin for the posts.
4. I use reblog for all of my posts. I just use one of the tags offered up which gets me the reblog in the post.
5. That’s a theme issue. I have had that happen with some themes too, again very annoying. I would suggest changing themes and see if it makes a difference.
sorry about the fan page issue ~again, very annoying, but I’ve yet to figure out a fix for it, I’m following a few buy report threads on facebook and looking elsewhere for an answer.
Well, I feel much better knowing it isnt’ just me. Thanks for your time, Jackie, and I’ll keep trying on this end, too.
Great post as usual Jackie!
As for posting into WordPress I have some questions as usual
1. When inserting images into your post why is it that when you select the image the be aligned in the center, it shows up in the visual portion the correct ways but when the post is published it is on the left! Even when I go back into the edit version the html also shows center.
2. All new posts are showing up right above the last post. Is the because they are in the same category or perhaps the theme itself? I notice that each one of your posts are seperate and I like that.
3. How do you effectively use the All in One SEO for post?
4. Do you keep the reblog with Zamanta feature on any of your posts or delete it all the time?
5. How the heck do you force breaks in your post? My paragraphs have no spaces in between and I think it makes the post look crowded and hard to read or is this once again a theme issue.
Kelly-I feel your pain, I have been trying for days to join the fan page on facebook!
Ok I’ll shut up now
Thanks
Chad
Hi Jackie,
When I was reading your review about the instep bike trailer, you had mentioned the Burley Bike trailer. Now I am wondering if it would of been a wise move to have made that an affiliate link also just in case someone reading your post may want to check that model out to?
Tammy
Hi Kelly,
You’re not the only one having this issue ~ I’ve been looking around and it is apparently a quirky fb glitch, to which I have not found a solution. I will keep looking. sorry.
Thanks Jackie – great information as usual.
I STILL can’t join the FaceBook page
When I click the ‘become a fan’ button, I get this message – “Sorry, your connection failed at this time. Please try again.”
When I try to go directly to the page by cutting/pasting the address into my tool bar, it redirects to my facebook home page.
And the weirdest, when I do a search – on facebook – for the name ‘Internet marketing strategy for beginners’ – it tells me that there’s nothing with that name. Even when I click on the names of people who have joined, I can see the groups/pages they belong to, and yours isn’t listed.
I’ve tried Firefox and IE, I cleared my cache, my cookies, my history (ugh!! now i have to look up all my passwords again!) and nothing seems to help.
I’m not in the US – is it possible that has anything to do with it? I don’t have a problem signing up with any other group/page, so I can’t for the life of me figure out what the problem can be. Is anyone else having problems?
Jackie – the phonics review is so cool! It makes me want to go out and buy this for my son
Thanks for the info!!!