Encouragement to Write Reviews, Collaboration Opportunities, and Survey Invitation

Welcome to day 28 of 31 days to build a better blog and the 28th episode of the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and today, I’m issuing you with a challenge to write a review on your blog. Some of you will be struggling already to think about how you could write a review in your blog, but don’t worry, I’m going to suggest a whole heap of different types of reviews that you could write on your blog today and give you some really good tips on how to write that review. I’ve also got some examples of reviews that you can check out at today’s show notes at problogger.com/podcast/28.

Hi. It’s Darren from ProBlogger. Welcome to day 28 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Today, we have our very last writing challenge of the 31 days. Today, I want to challenge you to write a review post. For some of you, this won’t be a massive challenge as you may regularly write them already. I know some of you probably have blogs that are just purely reviews, so today, it’s business as usual for you.

For many others, this will be something quite new. I keep coming across bloggers who’ve never written a review, even though it would be a legitimate type of posts for their blog. Let’s just briefly talk about why review posts are something to consider for your blog. The main reason is that the web is used every day by millions of people looking to make decisions, choose between options, seek advice about buying something or using something. They use the web to make sense of the array of choices that they’ve got in front of them.

This is just what we do all day every day on Google. I suspect there’s a large percentage of searches that are really searches for reviews or people’s opinions on the sorts of choices and decisions that we make every day, so writing a review on your blog positions you to be found at the end of those searches. Reviews are also great places for you to insert your opinions, which we found on day 19, which is something that can be really good for your blog. It sets you apart and makes you distinct. 

There’s also an opportunity with reviews to monetize your blog, whether that be through promoting products as an affiliate or working with brands who want to reach audiences who are in a buying- or decision-making mode. If you’re writing reviews on your blog for people who are making purchase decisions, you’re going to find advertisers wanting to align themselves with you more and more.

This is how I’ve made my first commercial blog. It was a camera review blog, I wrote reviews and I aggregated other people’s reviews from around the web. My two sources of income on that blog were advertising revenue, both through ad networks like AdSense and Chitika, but also advertisers wanting to put their ads on my blog because they knew people were making a buying decision, and then the other revenue source was affiliate income. Some of the products that I reviewed, I then gave a link to where people could purchase that product.

Some of you are probably saying, “Well, this is all well and good but my niche doesn’t relate well to reviews. There’s nothing to review. I don’t talk about products.” Don’t fear. For almost every blog that I can think of, there’s at least something that you could write some kind of review on, whether it’s a product or a service, whether it’s something that you can monetize in some way or something else.

Books are one great example of this. If you’re writing a blog about a topic, the chances are pretty good that someone has written a book on it, and if not a book, an ebook or a magazine. There are plenty of […]. I just didn’t know those three things—books, ebooks, and magazines. Maybe a movie, if you write a personal blog or review of a movie could also help someone to decide whether they want to view that movie or television show, another blog, a website, a course.

If you’re a food blogger, a restaurant or a recipe. If you’re a travel blogger, a hotel or a tourist destination. If you’re a style or fashion blogger, some new line of clothes, some new style or some outfit. If you’re a political blogger why don’t you review a speech that was given by a politician or a television show that covered politics? If you’re a tech blogger, there are 101 gadgets you could review. If you’re a DIY blogger, some tool or equipment that you might use as you do your DIY.

If you’re an art blogger, an exhibition, a gallery, an artist. If you’re a parenting blogger, a toy or some product that relates to parenting kids. If you’re a music blogger, an instrument, a CD—although, the people even view them or listen to them anymore—some an album. There are plenty of things out there, whether they’re products, services, brands, or even podcasts. Choose a product that you’re going to review today and begin to write a blog post on it.

I’ve included a few tips in the workbook on how to write good reviews. Really briefly, let me run through some of them. Firstly, you want to give your opinion. This seems pretty obvious, but it’s amazing how many bloggers just don’t like to give them as we talked about on day 19, so an honest opinion of both the positive and negatives of the thing that you’re reviewing.

Where possible, give it a rating. I find writings work really well because people like something concrete to make their decision on. If you can tell them how much it rates out of a certain number, whether it be a 5 or a 10, they’re then able to make that judgment for themselves. Be balanced, if it’s bad. Is there something good that you can also say about it, to show that you’re not just there bagging the product or service? If you are going to talk negatively about a product or a service, make it factual rather than the emotive.

Think about the keywords as you’re writing your review. What will people be searching Google for when it comes to this product, service, or thing that you’re reviewing? Words like price, problems, review, compared to. These types of words are things that people plug into Google when they’re searching for advice. Maybe you could incorporate some of these words into your review and maybe even the title of your post.

Another good thing to do in reviews is to make comparisons. Are there alternative products, or services, or things that you’re comparable to the thing that you’re writing about? Knowing how it compares to something else is one useful thing that many people would be looking for, as they’re making decisions between two things.

Where you can use an affiliate link if there is one, but make sure you disclose it. Say who the thing is good for and who it’s not good for. A lot of products are really good for a beginner but they’re not so good for an advanced user. If that’s the case, say it, it will help those who fit into those categories to make a decision.

Be personal with your review. I found that if you can tell a story about how you use the product, how you felt about it, or how you discovered it, that makes it more relatable to people. Definitely use visuals. If you can include images of the thing that you’re reviewing, it brings alive for those who are viewing it. It’s really important to do this and don’t just use the official images of the product. If you can take pictures yourself and show how you use it, then that is really great.

There’s a great blogger here in Australia called Nikki from Styling You who does well. She has a series of posts called, The Model and Me, where she models a piece of clothing and then puts it next to a model wearing that piece of clothing. The official view of the product versus hers and this helps a lot of people make a decision based upon how it looks in the real world rather than just in a fully styled picture. I know that she gets a lot of positive feedback about those types of reviews.

Give details of how people might buy, see, use, or get the thing that you’re reviewing. Invite others to share their opinions. This adds to the quality and the usefulness of the review if your readers are getting not only your opinion but your readers’ opinions as well. Disclose if you’ve got that for free, or if you’re being paid, or you have affiliate links.

Also, disclose any conflicts of interest that you might have. If you’re reviewing a product that’s a competitor, you’re an investor in it, you’re the owner of the company, or it’s a friend’s product, you may want to disclose that to be transparent.

The last thing I’d say is to keep your readers in mind. If they’re a beginner, tailor the review for a beginner. If they’re more advanced, tailor it for them there. Always be asking yourself, what would my readers be asking at the end of this review? Are there questions that I’ve not answered? Ultimately, the main questions you probably want to include are, what does it do? What does it do differently to other products? What does it do well? What does it not do well? Who is it for? And where can I buy it?

If you’re covering those six questions, you probably have written a useful review, but do read through your post and see if there’s another question that’s left unanswered. If you do start getting questions about the product or the review, always update it, add an update at the end answering those commonly asked questions.

Review posts can really do a lot of good for your blog. I encourage you to take today’s challenge whether you feel like reviews really belong on your blog or not, write it, see how it feels, and if it feels good, publish it, and see how your readers respond. I look forward to talking to you tomorrow on day 29 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.

Today’s show notes are at problogger.com/podcast/28, where I link to some of the reviews mentioned in today’s episode as well as some others that I’ve written that you might find interesting. There’s also an opportunity for you to share a link to your review that you write right today. It’s really important. Those of you who have been doing these challenges and sharing your reviews have been giving me feedback that you are seeing some really nice traffic coming to your blogs as a result of doing that.

Head to today’s show notes. Leave us a comment with a link to the review that you write today, and while you’re there, check out some of the other reviews that other participants in this challenge have been submitting. You might just find some other bloggers that you could collaborate with there and some links that you could share on your social media which is useful to those who follow you.

Check out today’s show notes at problogger.com/podcast/28, where I also share a link to a survey that I’d love you to participate in. It’s a survey for ProBlogger Podcast listeners that helps us to shape this particular podcast moving forward. As we’re approaching the end of our 31 days, we’ve already got some plans for the next few episodes, but after that, I’d love to base future episodes upon your needs, challenges, questions, and the situation that you find yourself in as a blogger. Head to the show notes and complete that survey. I look forward to chatting with you tomorrow on day 29 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.