Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

You have probably read product or service reviews online. I know I have. You also have spotted fake ones or perhaps ones that just really make little to no sense. A lot of people rely on reviews from both blogs and other review sites to determine if a product or service is well worth the money.

There are reasons why people do fake reviews:

• They were paid by someone else to do it.
• They want to make money through paid to post programs.
• They want to make money through affiliate advertising.

Do I have to list more? As you can see, it all boils down to making money.

However, it does more than make someone money. Fake reviews on sites or blogs:

• Have little regard to their own readers and do not care to provide honest reviews.
• Have little regard to actually working with companies to feature a worthwhile product.

You basically lied while earning money. The economy might not be that great, but when people have money to spend, they will spend it on products and services that they can trust.

And what happens if your readers call you out on a fake review? Retracting your post seems really unprofessional and pretty much a turn off for readers. Remember, that article could be deleted, but how many places did that article get pinged? How long does that article stay in the search engines? How about- how long will it take for you to regain your reader’s trust?

That is what you should be focusing on.

What can you do to avoid writing a bad review that might be construed as fake on your blog?

Well, the obvious would be to write a real honest review. Try the product or service first or do not attempt to write about it at all. If there is any pay involved, or affiliate programs attached, Without focusing on that, make be thorough and try to cover as much as you can like: product description, first thoughts, expectations, end result of product or service’s use, and final thoughts.

It might take a little more time to blog a real review, but in the end, you are letting your readers know where their money is best spent. Being helpful = #win!

Writing product reviews is not always easy. It does involve actually having used the product, being able to describe the item or service, and a lot of times, you may have to make sure you have a disclosure just in case you get compensation for your review.

Here is a guide to writing product reviews on your blog.

Set up a Site Disclosure Policy

You should have a site wide disclosure and also disclose on the posts you are receiving compensation for. In the United States you are required to disclose paid endorsements. Some of the paid to blog services like Pay Per Post (an Izea property) requires that you have a site wide and a post disclosure.

The policy should state that your blog will from time to time publish paid reviews on products.

Blog with Integrity

If you did not try out a product or service and just threw a post together, while some people might not notice, those who did use the product might call your bluff. Making money is always nice, but if you are sacrificing your integrity, you are basically lying to your readers… for chump change.

Your honesty is important. There are companies out there that really want to know your honest opinion. In not writing a truthful product review, you really risk your reputation with brands wanting to approach you to review their product or service.

There are sites out there, like Fiverr for example, that have opportunities for you to make money by posting fake reviews. Do not get caught up in this as it does nothing but shoot your reputation down. Only take review opportunities that encourage your honest feedback.

Choose Products or Services to Review that are Relevant to Your Site

If you have a review about diapers and your blog is about tech gear, this is not an ideal post to publish. Choose opportunities that match your site’s focus. In choosing every opportunity under the sun, you risk confusing your readers. Products that are relevant to your site will help build the authority you need to grow your blog.

Be Thorough When Writing A Product Review

You want to be as informative as possible so being thorough is extremely important with product reviews. If you do not write enough information, your review could be seen as you did not like the product or there really was not much to say about it.

Other than your own opinion, you can even do some research on the product and maybe share some of the reactions out on the social network sites. Twitter can be a great example of a site you can pull reactions Just do a search on the product or service and all the people who have mentioned it on Twitter will show up in the results.

Think of every angle you can cover to make your review better than other sites in your niche that may also be talking about the same thing.

Of course, there are other tips, but I would love to know what are some of your suggestions to people writing product reviews on their blogs?

Almost forgot to mention, but I finished the website review for Honeymarie.com. If you would like to request a website review, feel free to request one.

Please remember to read the information and guidelines for reviews before requesting one.

Before I forget, thank you Alyssa for submitting your review. I hope the review helps you in what you are looking for your website.

I recently finished the website review for DirtyMartini, but noticed the only other reviews I have posted are ones that I have done at Rev.iew.me. I still have to make a badge for Kristin so she can have it for her website.

You can request a review for your website too through Blondish.net or if you are a member of Rev.iew.me, you can request one there.

I have been hearing about a site called Rev.iew.me, that is another review community, so I went to check it out. I ended up joining and have already posted 2 reviews. I will be posting my reviews here that I have done from there, and moving my old reviews here that I had done at Cinnamon Gum (no longer a site, hence why I did not hyperlink it.)

The site is owned by Jem who knows her stuff when it comes to coding and offers quite a few free and popular scripts.

In light of this, I have been going through the pages and weeding out content. I got rid of most celebrity images and my ringtones that I made. It is illegal, and I have not had the time to pull it down until now. If you want any, I can put a list and you can email me, but I will not offer them on the site for download anymore.

As for reviews, if you wish for a review outside of the site, free free to use my contact form or leave me a comment.