Reviews and “Meta-reviews” - Be honest about the products you promote online!
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/how-to-write-a-killer-product-review-that-generates-affiliate-sales
Very good stuff in there. A very comprehensive guide on Why and How to write an honest product review... BUT, there is a little something I wish I could add to it's already great comprehensiveness.
Here's the thing: In page 4 of the guide, titled Content Research, you learn about how to find the core information of the review you will write, which is:
- How the product works
- How well the product actually works
You are given two options to find this out:
- Get the product and test it by yourself
- Read about the product from other customer reviews
Getting the product and trying it out is definitely the best option, because then your review will be based on your first-hand personal experience using the product itself.
If you are willing to invest in the product and you have enough money to buy it, then buy it. But, if for any reason you will not buy the product, then another option could be borrowing it from somebody else you know who actually owns it.
Now, the second option is acceptable by all means... but, what I feel Josephthl didn't put enough emphasis on (he briefly mentions this on page 7 and 8) is that you need to be honest with your audience about it when you write your review.
If you didn't buy and test the product you are about to review, but instead will be writing your review based on the discussions, opinions and reviews of others, then I believe you should mention that fact in the “meta-review” you will be writing.
By “meta-review” I mean a review of reviews. In other words, you will not be reviewing the product first-hand, but instead will be reporting on the discussions, opinions and reviews other people have already published online about said product.
So, if you didn't get the product yourself, don't make the reader think that you actually got it by using phrases like:
“I purchased the Kindle Lighted Leather Cover a few weeks ago and decided to write a review about my experiences with it so far.”
No. Be transparent. Instead, report that you haven't got the product yourself, but that based on the research you have done about the product you would recommend (or NOT recommend) to your audience that they go buy it. You could write something like this:
“Now, I haven't bought the Kindle Lighted Leather Cover, because I don't own a Kindle. However, based on a little research I did about this particular Kindle case, I would totally recommend you get it (or 'I wouldn't recommend you get it' | or 'you might be interested in it' ) if you do own a Kindle device.
This is what I found out about the Lighted Leather Cover for the Kindle:
** Meta-review goes here** ”
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Something else I wanted to add to Josephthl's tutorial is:
Don't be afraid of writing unfavorable reviews.
As he mentions in the guide, many affiliates see product reviews only as a tool to make affiliate commissions, so they write them just as if they were selling pages, instead of writing them as... well... reviews!
A review should not be viewed solely as a way to earn cash, but as a tool to help other people decide if a product really fits their needs or not, and if said product is truly worth their money.
Put yourself in the shoes of a customer and think... how would you feel if you are not sure about buying a certain product, and you search reviews for that product on Google only to find a bunch of pages that read just like if they were sales pages? ... pretty frustrating, right?
As a customer, you want to listen to both sides of the story. You want to know the good, the bad (and the ugly :P) of the product. You want reviewers to help you decide if that one product really fits your particular needs or not, regardless if the reviewer makes an affiliate commission from you or not.
And as a reviewer, you have the duty of not only recommending good products, but also warning people about crappy products. Think about Steve from ivetriedthat.com for a great example on this :D
Let's say that a certain product starts popping up in your niche, and it's starting to become popular. If you have the cash, you decide to buy it and try it. You give it a shot... and it doesn't work as promised, or it's glitchy, or it turns out there are much better alternatives out there, or it's unnecessary, etc. If that were to happen, then why don't warn your audience about this faulty product by writing a review for it?
Something very helpful you can do is to suggest better alternatives than the aforementioned product at the end of your review. If the faulty product is software, an alternative could be a free online resource or downloadable shareware that does the same thing, but better. If you want to suggest a paid solution you trust in, and you want to include an affiliate link to it, that would be fine too.
Same thing with physical products: if you trust in the quality of a particular product (because you've used it yourself, or it has very good reviews overall), then offer it as an alternative by including an affiliate link to it if you can.
And finally, if you are writing an unfavorable review... do NOT include an affiliate link to the product you are reviewing!!
If you want, include a plain link to the main webpage of the product, or include no links to the product at all. But I repeat, do NOT include an affiliate link to the product if you will be recommending to your audience that they don't get that product. If you do include an affiliate link, you will be seen as a hypocrite.
Showing images of the product in your review is totally ok, though... as long as you don't embed an affiliate link on them ;D
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There. That's a little something I wanted to take off my chest :D
But before I go, I wanted to mention that after this post, I shared a pretty long article where I summarized 7 posts from my old blog about IM and some lessons I learned back then... but for some weird reason my article was deleted. I don't know if the problem is that it was too long, or that it didn't pass the copyscape test even if it was just a summary. I can't tell why it was deleted... and neither Kyle nor Carson would leave a message on my profile to tell me why my article was deleted...
I'm starting to think they are not fond of Seto Kaiba :(
If I can still write blogs here on WA, then I would love to share each of those lessons in the future as individual articles entirely written from scratch (... again). And if not... then I'll try to do that the day I go premium.
Either way, I wish you success in your online endeavors! :D
Recent Comments
10
Opps, wrong blog. I was reading two blogs back to back. I better go see what I wrote in the other one, lol. Lets try this again, thanks for sharing, I always wondered about the Meta reviews. Sometimes it just does not pay to buy or join something just for the sake of the review.
Precisely Shawn. If you can report on the "Freemium" version of a product, do that, and then write about the Premium version of the product based on other people's reviews... and be honest about it.
Now that I think about it, borrowing the product (or membership) from somebody else you know could be a possibility too.
Most of the products or services I've attempted to promote have always been those I've had some sort of actual dealings with. In some cases, since I'm limited in funds all the time, I get as close to a product as I can, such as free trials, free memberships, etc.
I always make sure I've indicated this and, even though this would probably lessen my credibility, do include that I've not been to the premium of sorts, or if at all in my own experience with the product, do indicate that within.
I never started my GoPro campaign to any great degree until I actually had the camera in hand. It's too awkward to try to do this without first-hand experience with a product.
Now, even in research of a product, with first-hand knowledge about unscrupulous marketing methods done out there, usually covers up an inferior product. You will find this in my reviews on a product I've not had experience with myself. I also research other folks' reactions to the product and note these.
Before I had my GoPro camera, this is how I promoted it.
Precisely Daniel!
Actually, I think that being completely transparent about not trying the Premium version of a product gives you even MORE credibility than telling people you actually got it... when you didn't.
Honesty sells :D
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"Coming up next, the last blog post I'll write here in WA *until I go Premium*, for a total of 7 posts... haha, just like my old blog! :D" - Ugh. Threats. Nasty. :( R. x
Looks like someone has a crush on me!! :D
You? Crushed? Tell me who to PayPal. :P R. x
R. x? I think you mean xoxo
xD