Article by Wendy McCance
part 1 in a 2 part series
I am really excited to write this article for you. Product review sites for a long time had been a big mystery to me. I would see many blogs that seemed so well-connected and couldn’t understand how these bloggers got so many fabulous opportunities. I was most curious to know if there was really money to be made by doing product reviews.
I have read many articles since I started blogging, but I have never found an article that lays out the information you need to know if you are interested in doing product reviews. Well, I’d like to change that by offering you all of the information I have gained by joining many of these sites.
First off, I couldn’t figure out how so many bloggers found the product review sites that they were connected to. I realized that many of those badges that bloggers show in their sidebar are for the review sites. Click on the badge and you are taken to the site. Sounds easy and maybe a bit obvious, but we all start somewhere and when I began looking into blogging as a possible money-maker, it just didn’t occur to me.
Once you are connected to a few product review sites, you do get to know some of the other bloggers who are using the same site themself. I would check out their blogs and was able to find product review sites that I had never heard of. It’s a lot easier to find additional potential product review sites this way.
Here is the secret to getting requests for using your blog for product reviews, it’s all in your numbers and how you set up your blog. Below is a typical checklist of things you need if you are serious about doing product reviews:
- You need a blog that has been around at least 6 months with a good amount of articles (say at least 50) and a strong amount of action on the site. Companies will look for blogs that have a lot of comments, followers, likes and sharing of your articles. The more of each category you have, the better your chance of getting some great offers.
- Your blog needs to be a dot com site. WordPress.com won’t work because WordPress doesn’t allow you to monetize your blog when you are using the free version. Dot coms are taken more seriously because they rank higher on Google analytics and Alexa. This means that your blog would be easier to find in a search.
- Your blog must have a template that allows for images to be placed on your post. When discussing a product, you will need to have a photo of what you are writing about.
- When you fill out an application on a product review site, you will need to have the following if you want to guarantee a shot at doing a lot of reviews: a Facebook Page, a Google + account, Pintrest page, a decent Alexa score, a Twitter account and the number of unique visits and page views per month your blog gets according to Google analytics.
You don’t have to worry if some of the numbers aren’t high (I have 25
Pintrest followers). Companies want to see that you are all over the
web and that at least some of your numbers are decent (I have 1,100 Twitter
followers and didn’t pay for those numbers. They are all organic).
Because this article is getting long, I will be doing a part 2 where I mention the exact sites I have signed up for and which sites have been a great fit for me.
I hope this article has given you some valuable information. If you have any questions or comments about your own experiences with product review sites, please share your thoughts with us. I would be happy to answer any question I can about this topic.
For more information, check out the next article, How to Make Money Using Product Review Sites Part 2.
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Wendy McCance
To contact Wendy McCance about a writing or social media assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]
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Thank-you Wendy. Very interesting information. I still have so much to learn…
Renee 🙂
I’m so glad you found the info helpful. 🙂
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Thanks Wendy, that’s a good summary.
Thank you Angela.
Great information Wendy. I can see where Google would rank dot com sites higher than the free wordpress.com sites. 🙂
Thanks so much for your comment.
Wendy, thanks so much for this incredibly informative and helpful article. I really look forward to the next part! I have heard about ‘Google analytics’ but not Alexa. I don’t have Twitter, nor am I on Pinterest! All this is such a sharp learning curve for me, but with advice such as you offer, I am excited about the possibilities that may lie ahead! I would love to talk to you all day about this ‘stuff’ in an effort to better understand it all 🙂
Hi Sherri, thanks so much for your comment. Believe me when I say I started out the same way. My kids used to tease me because they knew more about computers and the web than me. Wishing you all the best in your venture. 🙂
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