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Should You do Product Reviews?
By Alan | May 24, 2009
You might be wondering if you should do product reviews of Internet marketing products on your website or blog. In most cases, the answer is a resounding yes…but with a small caveat. 
The Caveat
If you have visited the current review sites out there you probably realized that most of those reviews are fake. Meaning that the person writing the review has not really reviewed the product. The sole purpose of that review is to sell you the product so the writer can collect a commission. In my book that is not a review but a sales pitch thinly disguised as a product review.
Those people are devaluing the product review format. I don’t know about you but when I’m searching on Google for a product review I know that all the “click here to find out if product review is a scam” AdWords ads are worthless. They won’t have a real product review so why bother checking it out. Sadly even most of the so-called product reviews that rank well on the firs page of Google are fake.
There is no doubt that if you are an affiliate marketer, product reviews are an excellent way to offer more information about a product than what a sales page delivers. This is a great opportunity to set yourself apart and really deliver the goods because you will have more knowledge about the product because you have purchased it, love it, and are now selling it, or you have been asked to review it by the product creator. Either instance puts you in the position of product expert, so take this job seriously.
I suggest you start by reviewing the products you already own. If like me, you’ve been in Internet marketing for longer than a minute you’ve already purchased an e-book or 10. Plus you probably have already purchased some sort of Internet marketing related software. I’m sure all those products you already own have an affiliate program. If can’t find the affiliate program email the author and ask them about it. This will allow you to have REAL product reviews on your site.
If there is a product you want to review out there check the merchants terms. Many do not mind if you buy via your own affiliate link if you’re planning to provide a review so you can promote their product. However if you found the product because another affiliate sent you to it than you can not buy it via your own affiliate link since you’re basically stealing the other affiliates commission by buying via your own affiliate link. Don’t buy via your own link to get a discount do so only if you plan to review the product for a review.
You can also ask the merchant for a review copy. If you’re just starting it is very unlikely that they will acquiesce to your request. But once you get established and your review site becomes popular you will not only find merchants will send you a review copy after you ask them but many will contact you offering you a review copy.
Setting Up a Review Page
A review page can be done in different ways; you can follow a set format or just wing it with some pros and cons. The main thing to remember is that you are not selling the product here. What you are doing is warming them up and then sending them on to the sales page through your affiliate link. This is also called a pre-sell.
A great product review page should tell more about the product, give some insider scoop, be your honest opinions, talk about the benefits to the review reader, mention a negative, explain precisely how you have benefited, and allow your enthusiasm to shine through. You are not only educating the reader, you’re making them want to click through to the product’s sales page.
I think the most captivating thing you can do in a product review is offer personal proof. For example, if I bought product xyz and found it to be:
easy to install and use (and I’m not techy at all),
cut my research time in half,
allowed me to write double the number of articles,
which then got me double the traffic and double the sales…
I’ve got personal proof as well as a list of benefits. Do you think my enthusiasm for the product will shine through? You bet.
People want to know about a product because they want to know if it will save them time, make them money, allow them to make money while they are sleeping, is easy to use, and is a good value. If there is something wrong with it, you need to be honest and tell them. It might not be for beginners, or it might be grey hat, or maybe it’s for beginners and not experienced marketers. There should at least be some small negative or two that you can share, because you want them to continue to trust you and your reviews. No one product is good for every person.
Product reviews are tailor made for blogs. You might have a product review blog that is nothing but product reviews, or you might have an Internet marketing blog where product reviews can be one of the things you share with your readers. Make yours honest and believable and tell your own story. If you do, you should have readers clicking through your affiliate link and one step closer to purchasing.
If you want to see an example of my Internet marketing product review page you can click here:
http://www.imnirvana.com/alanreviews/
As you can see, Wordpress is perfect for this. I use a wonderful review blog style theme and plugin that makes setting up the reviews a snap. The reviews come with “star ratings” and readers can even add their own reviews which makes my reviews even more powerful since social proof is huge. Readers don’t only get my reviews but also reviews of others. This is one of the reasons why Amazon is so popular. You get to see the reviews and ratings of other customers. You can check the review Wordpress theme and plugin I use here.
If you’re new to affiliate marketing Rosalind Gardner’s ebook, The Super Affiliate Handbook, is a fantastic guide. She made millions as a super affiliate by setting up a review style site in the dating niche. Click here to learn more about The Super Affiliate Handbook.
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Topics: Affiliate Marketing | 5 Comments »
May 25th, 2009 at 6:01 am
I always write reviews of everything I do online, which of course gives me a lot to talk about. So yes, reviews are a great thing to do.
What may not be so great are paid reviews, one because your integrity could be challenged, and two, because search engines don’t necessarily like them. But if you’re not afraid to trash something you really hate from time to time, whether you get paid or not, you should be just fine.
May 30th, 2009 at 10:07 am
This is an awesome review of doing product reviews! LOL!
I have to admit that once I started seeing reviews sites as thinly disguised ads, I decided not to even look into it as an extra income stream. Nobody likes being tricked.
But you have brought like to the fact that real reviews WILL garner the proper attention. So I’ve decided to re-open the case for review sites.
That’s for such an informative post!
My best to you,
~cj
May 30th, 2009 at 10:10 am
(that was supposed to be \”Brought LIGHT to the fact… you may edit that, if you like and delete this one!)
May 31st, 2009 at 9:44 am
Thanks CJ! Glad you’re giving product reviews another look. They really are a great way of generating affiliate sales!
May 31st, 2009 at 9:49 am
Thanks for your comment Mitch. I agree that being paid a flat fee to write a review is not the way to go. As an affiliate marketer I do receive commissions for the sales of products I recommend but that’s why I wrote this post because it’s important to write a real review, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not write a review for the sake of the commission. Today’s Internet customer is very savvy and they can smell a rat a mile away. Especially in the Internet marketing space.