Greetings! Do you want to get paid to write reviews of helpful products?
Part of having a website or blog is helping your visitors out by writing product reviews for your niche that could be helpful to your readers.
You are providing a service for your readers as well as people who are searching the internet for reviews of products that they want before they purchase.
This post was originally published December 7th, 2017 and has been updated to be current with new information. This post may contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure is here.
Welcome to Fearless Affiliate.
My name is Irma and I help new bloggers to learn the ropes. There is a lot to take in that first year of blogging, from choosing a niche to changing your mindset from worker bee mentality to that of successful entrepreneur.
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How To Earn Money Writing Reviews
Earning affiliate income is one of the first ways bloggers learn to make online income. It can be tricky to balance finding decent products and writing effective copy to encourage sales.
But that is the basis of affiliate marketing.
Your job is to find and review the products that can make life better/easier for your visitors.
You do the product research and they decide whether to purchase or not.
This is helpful for many people who are confused by the number of products available to them.
Your reviews can help people choose between multiple options.
Review products may be digital or physical. They may be products you have purchased or were given.
You do not necessarily need to buy the product yourself, if you have prior knowledge of its workings.
But reviews that are authentically based on your use create better reviews.
Because how can you review a product without trying it?
This will separate you from the dozens of people who read other people’s reviews and then copy the details.
I don’t know about you, but if I read the same basic review over and over, I know the reviews have been copied.
So I go looking for the review that is based on actual use.
You can tell by the little details in the post, like the thoughts and feelings of the reviewer.
People who copy other reviews do not come across as someone with an understanding of that product.
Make Money With Sponsored Product Reviews
Sponsors are people with products in your niche. Some sponsors come to you with opportunities. Other times you must apply to them.
You may be required to have a certain number of monthly pageviews, social media followers, subscribers or other criteria.
Your product review must state that you are being compensated, if you are.
You may also be required to promote your review in a specific way.
Some sponsorship companies you can apply to are (and this list is not extensive. There are tons of companies):
Tomoson – They will tell you the requirements as you apply
IZEA – You choose the company to work for.
gen.video – Do video reviews and test products on camera
SheSpeaks – For female influencers
What Should I review?
To become an authentic reviewer, start with products that you actually use.
Mommy bloggers review baby and child products, like diaper services or learning toys…things you buy for your child.
“Outdoors” bloggers review camping gear or off-road accessory products like roof racks.
Blogging about blogging bloggers review hosting, themes, and courses.
There are plenty of products to review.
And you can easily find more using affiliate product networks like Clickbank or ShareASale.
Related Post: How To Find Affiliate Products
Find products for your own niche, review the product, write up the review and publish…simple, no?
Pretty much every niche has affiliate programs related to it.
Type your niche “+ affiliate” into a search bar. For example “camping gear affiliate”.
You must do your due diligence to be sure that the products that you are promoting are worthwhile promoting. A glowing review of a crappy product will only hurt your website, and potential future traffic.
Not only is this a service for your readers, but it is also a service for YOU!
How better to clarify exactly who your audience is than by reviewing items related to it?
The longer your site is online, the more people will visit, and they will comment on the things that are helpful to them.
This helps you to understand them better.
Be sure to engage your readers by asking them to comment on your review.
Or ask them to comment on what they want to see reviewed (even better!).
Another point to make is that your review does not have to be a product, per se.
It can be an experience, like jumping out of a plane, or what to pack for a three month back-packing trip, or you may want to provide tips from your personal experience on how to avoid a troubling situation, like romance scams.
How To Write A Review
How you write the review is entirely up to you.
Some people will tell you to follow a formula of how to layout the review, but since this is your website and reflects you and your personality, then you should try to be unique.
If your review layout looks like everyone else’s you may get lost in the crowd.
Other people are likely reviewing the same or similar products and so you do not want to appear to have duplicate content!
Basically, you want to cover all of these topics in your review:
- Product Name: Also the model number or other information specific to that particular item
- Price: The retail price, and possibly any high-low numbers if the price fluctuates a lot between retailers.
- Best Price: Or best price that you found in your research.
- Warranty info: Or other pertinent info that the reader might find valuable
- Your rating: You can use stars, points, bar graph or whatever your skill level allows.
- An overview of the product.
- Pro’s and con’s
- Special features that make it stand out above others or past models
- Conclusion, with good quality links to the product sales page. This is where you earn the money, so make sure that the links open in a new page and have good photos.
Feel free to dress up your review as much as you like. Add media if you can, like your own YouTube videos (i.e unboxing).
Or if you actually have the product that you are reviewing, some photos that you took.
Why do reviews?
Part of presenting yourself and your style to the online world is telling your readers about good stuff that you have found and want to share with them.
- If you believe in the product that you are reviewing, then your readers will as well.
- When they buy from your product link, and like the product, they will know that they can trust your judgment.
- In the future, they will be more likely to buy from you again, and to leave positive comments on your review pages.
More comments = more traffic = moving up the Google rankings = more visitors clicking links = more commissions!
Comments are not the big deal that they used to be in blogging. However, they can be additional info that readers may enjoy.
Another benefit is that becoming a better reviewer means you know what items to target when you create your own products.
You will know what people are really looking for; then you can provide it during product creation. win-win.
So basically:
- You review products to help your visitors find quality, helpful items
- You learn from doing reviews what your audience really wants (from their comments or messages)
I’m always reviewing products that I buy.
I enjoy reading the negative reviews as well to see if any of the negatives would affect my purchase decision. On Amazon, I go straight to the 1 star reviews to see what’s up.
I also check photos and descriptions to see if it matches the product that the reviewer talks about. When I see a mis-match, I move on.
Being honest about the cons is helpful to your readers.
This is especially important for higher-priced products where people are extra-wary of being scammed or ripped-off.
Where do I put my review (on my site)?
If you enjoy doing the reviews, then make a page for them.
Each review is its own blog post. List these posts on one handy-to-access page.
Adding links to all of your reviews on one page so visitors can read all of your reviews from one place.
This is also great for new visitors, since they can find all of your reviews at one click.
Be sure to update reviews as things change, like price, newer models, updated content, better materials etc.
Or, if the review is specific to one particular topic on your site, put a link to the review there. As long as your visitors can find it 🙂
Be sure to follow SEO best practices when writing and publishing your review.
Include proper keyword placement and keyworded meta description.
Make it easy for people looking for this information to find it.
When should I do reviews?
As often as you want to provide the information to your readers.
If you have learned something new or have just purchased a product and would like to share that with the world, then you should!
I review a lot at the places that I shop online, like Amazon or online clothing stores.
I’ve been deceived by certain products on amazon, in that when they sold out of one product, they brought in a new one, but left the old reviews up.
When I think that I am buying a 5 disk set of some tv show, only to receive a 2 disk set with none of the special features, they get a negative review.
As more people experience problems like this, the competition to find a credible review for a product is going to become more fierce.
You owe it to your readers, but more importantly to yourself, to write HONEST reviews.
If you bought a juicer that had a white plastic housing that stained the first time you juiced beets, then tell people.
That actually happened to me, and I did not care about that problem, but other people might.
When I bought my second juicer, it was black 😉
Conclusion
I hope that this post has encouraged you to think about and to write some reviews.
With billions of products on the net and billions of people searching for quality products, this is one of the better ways to earn money with your website.
It can be slow to start.
But as your website gains momentum and a larger following, you will find that your commissions get bigger and show up more often, and pretty soon that old 9-to-5 job is a thing of the past….. 🙂
If you like this post, please share it with anyone that you think can benefit from it. Sharing is caring!
Are you ready to start your blog and/or side hustle?
Now is the time to create your own future and future income.
Please sign up for my weekly newsletter of tips and free stuff for bloggers, like my Copywriting Checklist. Use it to help write better product review copy.
Happy blogging and follow me on Pinterest!
-Irma 🙂
