Today, Ali Hale goes over effective ways to write better reviews that make you money. Want to write for us too?
Have you ever tried out affiliate marketing? If you believe the hype, it’s a shortcut to riches – without doing any work. All you need to do is slap up a specially-formatted link to someone else’s product. Not exactly rocket science, is it?
The problem is, you’re unlikely to get any results that way. Think about it: when did you last buy something just because of a link or a 125×125 ad in a blog’s sidebar? If your answer is “never”, then why do you expect your readers to behave differently?
Now, think about the times when you have bought a product or subscribed to a service after reading about it online. Chances are, you read a recommendation or review from someone you trust.
I’m not going to spend time here telling you how to encourage trust (that’s a whole other blog post!) but I will let you into the secrets of writing a great review which actually gets readers to click through and buy.
Own the Product
I hesitated to include this because I feel it goes without saying – but you can’t write a review without owning the product, or using the service, that you’re reviewing. Don’t try to write a review based on sales copy or on other people’s reviews: if the product or service sucks, you’ve just lost any trust your readers previously had.
I’d recommend that you use the product before reviewing it. Sometimes that might just mean reading it, or trying it out, but the best reviews I’ve written have been ones for services I’ve used over several months, audio programs that I’ve put into practice, or books which have really made a difference to my life.
Structure Your Review
It’s easy for reviews to lose focus. Think about what you want to know when you read a review. You probably don’t want or need lots of details about all the product’s features (you can get that from the sales page). You do want to know whether it’s worth your hard-earned money.
With this in mind, I chose a structure which would encourage me to be concise, focused and useful in my reviews. Please feel free to adopt or adapt this for your own use!
- Overview
- The price
- What’s included
- Good stuff
- Bad stuff
- Verdict
What is the product about? What is the name of the service? What is the URL? How does it help you? These are some questions that you should answer in the overview of the product or service.
Price is very important to people. It’s best to get the idea of pricing out in text as soon as possible so no one gets disappointed after reading the review and wanting the product only to find out it’s something they can’t afford.
Talk a little about everything that someone gets from buying a product or signing up to a service. This may even be a good area to talk about any promotional details as well.
What are the things you particularly liked about the product or service you use?
Everything has a bad side, and again — your readers are not idiots and will figure them out. It only makes your review better to list out the negatives, and of course makes you look like a better reviewer.
Share your final thoughts of what you just reviewed. Sometimes a rating system like “x out of 10″ or something among those lines will give your readers a shortened opinion of what you think of the product.
(You can see plenty of examples of this by following the lines on my reviews page.)
Having a structure also makes it easier to write the review, reducing the temptation to procrastinate.
Tell the Truth
Despite what some bloggers and affiliate marketers seem to think, readers aren’t stupid. If you’re promoting a product as an affiliate, and you give a glowing review that insists everyone should run out and buy it … they’re going to be suspicious.
Now, the product really could be excellent. I only review things that I love. But don’t make it sound too good to be true. The reason I included “bad stuff” in my review template was because I wanted to let readers know about any drawbacks.
But doesn’t this put readers off buying? No – in fact, several people have said they bought the product because I gave an honest take on it. We know that nothing’s perfect, and in many cases, any little niggles are outweighed by the benefits of the product or service as a whole.
Get Personal
Finally, don’t be afraid to get a bit personal in your reviews. It’s easy to adopt a rather bland, factual tone when reviewing – and this won’t hold readers’ attention. There’s nothing wrong with offering your opinion (though you might want to acknowledge that others may feel differently), and telling a story about your own experience with the product or service can boost your sales.
Make it clear to readers why you’re reviewing this. What did it do for you? How has it changed your life for the better?
Over to you:
Have you ever bought a book, eBook, software package, etc after reading a review? Why? What helped you make that decision? And what could you do in your own reviews to encourage readers to buy?
26 Discussions
Thanks for the great tips. Writing reviews can be a great experience for managers and employees when its done honestly and authentically.
I often use reviews to decide whether to buy music – through Amazon, for example. Obviously, hearing from someone who has actually used the product/read the book etc. can help make a more informed decision. Sometimes it helps me to make the decision to buy the product, sometimes it helps me make the decision NOT to buy it.
I intend to use reviews in the new website I am launching (re: homeschooling) because there is so much out there that can be confusing and overwhelming (especially to new homeschoolers) that I know my expertise can help in that area. Hopefully, I can make some revenue from this as well as provide a service.
Anne @alivenkickin
I really let the reviews sway me when it comes to music videos and sometimes movies. They can be really powerful in even the smallest of purchases!
Alex´s last blog ..8 Funny Things I Learned From Designing That I Apply to Life
Honestly,people really love reviews particularly the most honest reviews.Owning the product is a plus factor because you really get a chance to know the product well,it’s good side and of course it’s bad side
Ronblogger´s last blog ..Blogging Tips and Techniques
If you saw a review of a new theme you adored and wanted to buy, buy it only listed the positives of it – would you still buy it? What about on the flip side, if it only listed the negatives?
It’s important to keep balanced reviews, or honest as you put it! Curious to hear your input here.
Alex´s last blog ..8 Funny Things I Learned From Designing That I Apply to Life
Hi,
yes any product can have good side and bad side that’s why it’s really important to put up an honest and balanced reviews
Ronblogger´s last blog ..Blogging Tips and Techniques
Get personal is the key for great review in my opinion.
Dana@Online Knowledge´s last blog ..WordPress Upgrading: 2.8.5. version
I always read reviews before I purchase an EBook. Unfortunatly not all the reviews are honest, but still you can pick honest review from the bunch. I also go for products which I can preview before buying them.
Internethow Blog´s last blog ..How to recharge your blog motivation?
It sucks that many people are afraid to share the downside(s) of something just because it may interfere with their sales. The truth is, as Ali mentioned, to include your honest opinion no matter how many bad things you have to say about it.
Alex´s last blog ..8 Funny Things I Learned From Designing That I Apply to Life
Good tips… actually pretty close to the protocol I follow. But you also need to lay down the (ugly) truth. I review supplements since I’m a fitness guy and since I speak the truth and layout some b**ch smacks and low star scores when the product sucks, companies have emailed me quite displeased. Some have blacklisted from sending me any more review products.
Whatever!
Don’t give into that BS if you’re going to be reviewing. I have, on more than one occasion gotten “thank you” emails from people because they read my honest review and decided NOT to buy the product and saved themselves like 50 bones. Now what do you think happens when they read a review about a product that IS good? They’ll buy from me that’s what. Being honest takes some balls… but I say it’s worth it, even though I’ll now have to go out of my way and BUY supplements from some companies instead of getting it for free.
FitJerk Fitness Blog´s last blog ..Weekly Jokes – Part 1
Really wonderful piece of information and I appreciate it that you share something so useful with the readers of this blog.
Ambit Energy´s last blog ..Team Building: Find An Ambit Energy Meeting Presentation Near You!
Nice post, a review should be relevant and simple, putting the audience in mind, also include your experience with the product.
Web Hosting Blog´s last blog ..Web Hosting for Small Business and for Blogs
This is plain common sense, you can’t write a review about a product or item if you haven’t used it. It’s like punching on thin air. Writing a review depends on the author’s motive but whatever that is, I think the best review is something that’s not too factual that it becomes boring or too technical (jargonized) which majority of readers cannot understand (unless you want to keep the review for yourself) but instead encourages discussion on the item or service reviewed.
Mathdelane´s last blog ..HOW TO: Revert Firefox to Older Version
You can review a product even if you don’t own it, BUT your results probably won’t be as you were hoping!
I agree with you about factual reviews. Facts are definitely okay, but it’s the opinions that can really make or break the sale.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the community!
Alex´s last blog ..8 Funny Things I Learned From Designing That I Apply to Life
Great post. Lately I’ve been doing reviews, but I’m happy I read your post it gives me more of a layout on how to review products. Very helpful.
Thanks
Arie Rich´s last blog ..Blog Reader and Writer, Happily Ever After
Thank you for the comments, all, and it’s good to see we’re all thinking along similar lines!
FitJerk, I think you’re doing absolutely the right thing. If a company asks you to review something, you owe it to your readers (and to yourself) to be completely honest. I turn down a lot of offers of review products, and most of what I review is stuff I’ve bought and loved.
Mathdelane, I agree it’s common sense to own the product — sadly, some folk don’t seem to have much common sense!
Ali Hale´s last blog ..More For Your Money – Free Ebook!
I really agree with you. Especially about owning the product.
There is no way anyone can provide an honest review of any product without reading it, using it or owning it. Without some experience with the product, not only will your review ring hollow, but eventually customers will stop believing your reviews. When they buy crap on your recommendation once or twice, they will soon wise up.
I have several gurus whose emails are filtered straight to the trash folder! Some of those gurus have never met an affiliate commission they didn’t like. I no longer waste my time reading their recommendations, false or not.
Very good post.
I think if you write more interesting and cover all the aspects of the product you will have more chance selling the product. You need to try and convince the buyer to buy that product or service no matter what and the only way to do this is by writing excellent reviews. If someone asks you to write a paid review then that person expects a good review.
I’ve also found out that if you put down your own experience about the product, it will be more easier to sell.
Teen Blogger´s last blog ..Is The “Make Money Online” Niche Too Saturated To Make Money Online
Great post Ali!
I completely agree with everything you said about owning the product. My biggest affiliate sale has been the Thesis theme. The reasons why are because I own it, I use it and I let people know I use it. Hopefully that is enough to create trust and keep people buying it!
Again, awesome post and I hope to see some more guest posts from you in the future!
Alex´s last blog ..8 Funny Things I Learned From Designing That I Apply to Life
I haven’t done it myself (yet), but I’ve heard from one super affiliate that screenshots and especially video of said product/site in action works wonders for a review. She does it all the time and her reviews are really top notch.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..As Promised – An End Of The Year Advertising Special!
Well.. while writing paid reviews.. does it matter.. whether to mention that this article is a paid review like that.. ?
S.Pradeep Kumar´s last blog ..PageRank Update: PR 3 for HellBound Bloggers
Well Pradeep , this totally depends on the the user requirements.
Basically many advertisers never like whenever you mention it is a paid review. I have signed up in Buyblogreviews and i observe that many advertisers mention in the opportunities only that “no mentioning of the paid review”.
I would like to know which site have you registered???
I have some success on affiliate marketing, mainly from Commission Junction, since their system is reliable on tracking sale and their advertiser portfolio is unbeatable, hundreds of companies with $500K minimum online sales. My mentor? Lisa Irby, she taught the technique from scratch, from her you tube channel. http://say-web.com/?p=3498
Avraham Saltoun´s last blog ..Google Docs for Accounting
I think own the product is not necessary to write review. As long as we have experience in using, that is good enough
Quality review for some product is very important if we need to make much sales. Much sales will bring you huge money. By quality reviewing a product or service; people will change their mind to buy product or service. No need this product or service your own. It can be others. You can be an affiliate marketer.
kids make money´s last blog ..Ways For Kids To Make Money
Yeah I also have to agree about owning or at least trying out a product that you are reviewing. When you have seen a few reviews of a product you soon begin to work out who is an actual user and who is just re-hashing sales copy!
Chris´s last blog ..How To Make Money Writing Reviews
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