Do you use the products you review? follow up
I asked a question "do you use the products you review". the example I used was of an air roaster, which I am actually looking at buying.
The question came about because I was looking at other affiliate programs like WA (nothing as good as WA) for a review I was thinking about writing.
I noticed that many of the programs cost quite a lot of money. The one I was going to review was $1995.
I wondered then about writing reviews without personally buying and using the product because the costs could be huge. Particularly if your research has suggested the product may not be to your liking.
Eventually, I know I will make money from my experience at WA but at the moment I would have to rob the Bank of England to be able to afford all of the products I would like to review.
Thank you to everyone who replied to my question and for all of the wonderful suggestions that I could put in place to do a review. Fortunately, without my having to buy a tropical island retreat, with sandy beaches, a cabana boy serving pineapple cocktails while listening to Adele (great review topics).
Then again, that would be an awesome excuse to go to a tropical island retreat, with sandy beaches and a cabana boy serving pineapple cocktails while listening to Adele.
Ahhhh, but the dream lives on.
Recent Comments
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So far I have reviewed products I either own myself, or have seen in use up close and personal. I've also taken the word of trusted friends who are in love with some of the products I've featured, even if I don't use them myself.
I don't feel bad about giving factual information about various products, whether I've used them or not, and have done so without offering my personal opinion.
I guess it depends on the general topic of the article; for example, I wrote about cookware made in America. I don't own all of the lines I talked about, but I can certainly verify that they all fit into the category as promised by my headline. That's not exactly a review, though, right?
Thank you for your reply and it has helped me a lot. I haven't written a review of anything I haven't tried and wouldn't without stating I hadn't personally tried it out.
But I was interested in how you could review big ticket items for your niche without personally buying them.
I agree and have considered the way you suggested, through trusted friends, research and how the information is presented.
Sharon
What you are saying makes complete sense.
However, if you think out of the box realize that most people won't be able to afford to purchase that program either. I did a post where I mentioned a product but said that I couldn't afford it at xxx price. I then talked about Wealthy Affiliate, which I found to be very affordable.
Great idea. I thought of using a similar tactic in writing considering how the information was presented.
Thank you for the help.
Sharon
Excellent point.
I would only be able to speak about something I have used.
You can buy something, try it and return it if you don't like it and if the store allows returns.
There are companies that will hire you to do reviews. They actually send you the products.
I think that reviewing items would be a fun thing to do.
Thank you for your post.
Susan
You are right Susan, doing reviews for products sent by companies would be great.
Thank you for your help.
Sharon
Hey Sharon! I also agree that if you are reviewing a physical product, like a roaster, you should have actually used the product. I get a little frustrated with Amazon reviews that give a product 5 stars or, in some cases, 1 star, when it's abundantly obvious that they haven't even used the product.
There's a company that's is somewhat similar to WA that I looked into. I went to the initial meeting where they introduce you to the concept of the product. I also did some of the training online and worked with a coach. Fortunately, I did all of that for free.
They have different levels of monetary commitment. The more you commit the better the opportunity looks in way of monetary gain.
The guy who posted the ad that I responded to had been working the program for 6 months and still hadn't made any money. He had invested over $30,000. (by the way, he was still genuinely excited by the program and what he was doing) The coach I worked with said he invested over $40,000 and that he made his money back with in a few months.
How can you invest that kind of money just to write a review?
Thanks for the post, Sharon! It's definitely thought provoking!
SM
oh wow, that is a lot of money. I totally agree with you when it comes to investing your money, particularly if you have something like Wealthy Affiliate that I love, I do not want to spend money on a similar product just to review it.
The cost of some of them is phenomenal.
I know you can get free programs to compare with Wealthy Affiliate but that wasn't what I was trying to point out.
Thank you for sharing your story. It is a thought provoking topic I thought.
Sharon
Your review rings true and you have more to say if you own. you will know what the Quirks are that an other review maybe not. But you can write with passion or not if you own it.
When doing a Product review you should buy the product.
Look around in your Home and Garden see what you use and write one from there.
If you thinking of a digital product review or membership program at least to the fairness of the creator you should have used or tried the program.
So my answer to your question is yes.
Lol! Nice visual there.
I have reviewed products I've experienced using at some point in my life, mainly because I felt I could speak with conviction about each one. I'm sure you can review a product/service objectively, without having to buy it, if you do enough research on it though.
thank you for your reply. I think you can be objective with lots of research and adding that it is your opinion.
I will let you know what my island and other visuals are like when I do that review. lol.
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good post