With the recent fire from the FTC in the United States requiring full
disclosures from bloggers on their relationships with firms in regards
to product reviews – product reviewing on blogs has gotten its 5 minutes
of fame. The thing is that in reality, legitimate product reviewing on
blogs and other media outlets has been going on since the beginning, and
they can be a tremendous source of traffic, subscribers and revenue for
your blog.
If you take a minute and scour your favorite blogs on the web, you’ll
find a very high percentage of those blogs review a product related to
their niche periodically. As you look around, you might find that your
favorite blogs are reviewing products a lot more than you originally
thought! Before we jump into the how…let’s look at the why on both sides
of the fence.
Why Do Bloggers Review Products On Their Blogs?
As a blogger, this is an easy question for you to answer, but lets
break it down to the basics. Why do you want to post product reviews on
your blog?
Useful, Quality Blog Content – Product reviews are a
source of quality content for your blog. Your readers want to know what
you think about products and services that relate to your niche. Your
blog is their resource for topic related information, and – by providing
this resource – you can assist your readers by providing useful
information that impacts buying decisions. By offering product reviews
on your blog, you are expanding the resourcefulness of your content for
your readers.
Search Engine Gold – For quite sometime now, I have
been calling product reviews search engine gold for a reason. Properly
written product reviews can bring a massive amount of new visitors to
your blog. By writing product reviews, you are targeting long and short
tail keyword strings that have very low competition. Over time, you will
create a massive library of content that is extremely search engine
friendly. On top of that, product reviews are attractive link bait as
other bloggers, forum users and general internet emailers will link to
your review articles as a resource for information.
Increased Blog Revenue – Product reviews are still
the number one way to increase affiliate revenue on blogs. Want to
increase your affiliate sales outside of the pennies you are generating
from banner ad placement? Review that product on your site and include
your affiliate link at the bottom of your review to increase
conversions. Little tip: Honest reviews that outline both the good and
bad on a product convert at a much higher rate than glorified
advertisements.
Why Do Companies Give Bloggers Product To Review?
Now we know why you want to review product on your blog, but why do
manufactures, firms and service providers actually want to give you
their product to review for nothing (or even for a fee!)?
Cheap, Long Lasting Advertising and Promotion – Once
a newspaper or magazine hits the newsstand, you see the ads and then
throw that mag away until the next issue comes out. That advertisement
is only good until the next issue. With the web, your product review
stays on your blog unless you decide to shut it down. The company that
provides you with the review product get the increased benefit of long
term promotion by giving you something to review on your blog. Future
readers will find the article in the archives, search engine users will
find your review in the results and you will refer back to your product
reviews over time. For the company in question, you – as the blogger –
provide more value with a product review over the larger media
competition.
Did I Mention Cheap? – What many bloggers fail to
realize is the true cost of the review product provided to the blogger.
For the company involved, their true manufacturing cost is the cost to
them. What did it cost the company to product the product for review?
Not nearly what it costs off the shelf for the typically retail buyer.
When you convert this to software and services, all of their costs are
in the back end development, so they are even more willing to work with
bloggers to get the word out because the true cost is an email!
Social Media Is Changing The Retail Environment – If
someone would have told you 10 years ago that Amazon.com would be the
largest book retailer in the world and the iTunes music store would be
the largest music retailer in the world, would you have believed them?
The online world has completely changed how people shop and make
purchasing decisions. Firms, companies and service providers know this
and they want to tap into your audience. Free review product is their
ticket to the big show that converts into increased sales.
How Do I Get Free Products To Review On My Blog?
Unless you are an internet hot shot who already has a huge amount of
credibility online, you are going to have to cold call, email and fax
your perspective review product companies. For many bloggers, this can
be a nerve racking road as they have little experience in the corporate
sales and marketing world. Here are a couple of tips to get you going…
Research Before Contacting – If you are just
starting out in review blogging, do some research and see which
companies in your niche will be receptive to giving out free product for
review purposes. Check out other blogs in your niche and look for
patterns. Is there one or two companies that seem to have reviews on
every site? Contact those companies first with your idea and try to look
for one of their products that is not well represented online (not a
lot of reviews). This will be a great starting point to get things
rolling and increase your chances of success on the first go ’round.
Contact Perspective Companies By Email – Email rules
the world at this point in time, so you are going to have to research
the company and find a valid email address. Many times, this email
address will go to a default inbox, so it is essential that you cut the
fluff at the beginning of the email and get straight to the point to
insure it gets on the right computer screen. When contacting companies
about review product, 100% honesty about traffic, subscribers and
expectations is essential to success. With a little research, web savvy
companies are going to be able to tell if you are stretching the truth
and your credibility is shot. Even small blogs can get a ton of review
product if they are creative and stick to the honest truth.
Do Not Limit Yourself To Email – Especially with
larger companies, your email can get trashed without even being read. If
the companies website lists contact information for sales and marketing
professionals within the firm, contact those specific people via fax or
snail mail with what you would like to accomplish on your blog. Most
bloggers are not doing this and it will show your dedication to targeted
results.
Stay In Contact – Once you have reached an
agreement, stay in contact with updates. Send an email when you receive
the product, when you finish the review process, once the review is
posted and a follow up email with educated results. It is your job as
the blogger to keep them informed, so take that part of your job
seriously.
Reviewing Tips That Equal Affiliate Conversions
There is a misconception among bloggers and other review naysayers
that there are glorified advertisements on the web to convert into sales
even when the product is terrible. The truth…those glorified
advertisement convert at a rate that is much lower than an honest review
from a blogger. As a blogger, the credibility of your content is
everything. New and old readers are going to absorb your content and
present their own educated opinions based upon how you presented the
facts. If you throw up a review that is blatantly positive in an attempt
to increase revenue on your blog, the reader is going to see straight
through it and leave your site (without clicking your affiliate link).
The #1 best way to increase affiliate sales is to be completely honest and fact based in your reviewing.
Spell Out The Perfect Consumer For The Product In Question
– A perfect way to convert visitors into affiliate income is to spell
out exactly who you think the product would be perfect for! Is there a
certain group in your niche that would greatly benefit from that product
while another might not see any benefit? Lay that out for them. Your
readers want to know if that product will work to fill their needs…so
tell them!
Show The Good And Bad – There is no such thing as a
perfect product. By specifically stating the good and bad points, you
are showing that there is also room for improvement. The side affect to
this is that companies eat this information up as constructive feedback
to make their product better in future revisions. By stating what you
think the high and low points are…you are adding value to your review
process.
Keep Things Fact Based – Your opinion is your
opinion, but it needs to be based off of fact. If you throw up a review
that is a bunch of opinion with no reason why…you are going to have a
difficult time with review blogging. Every one of your opinions on the
product need to be backed up with facts.
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