Product Reviews: Should You Join the Circus?

[David Jackson]

One of the first things most newbies do when they start promoting affiliate products is write a review about the products. Why? Because everybody else is doing it. And generally, most newbies follow the herd. They feel much safer doing that, rather than forge their own path.

There's only one problem...thousands of other affiliates are also writing reviews about the same exact products. It's really quite a circus. The question is should you join that circus?

Question: If thousands of affiliate marketers are all writing product reviews about the exact same products, how in the world is your review going to get noticed?

Answer: Chances are, your product review is not going to get noticed. Unless you're a skilled marketer and/or copywriter, your review is going to get buried in the sea of other product reviews.

But there is another way - a much better way, in my opinion. Instead of writing product reviews, why not write informative articles that don't actually mention the products? And include your affiliate link at the end of the article in your resource box.

This is the method I use to sell affiliate products, and it's very effective. Here's why: When prospects see an advertisement, ( and yes, product reviews are advertisements) their defensive shield automatically deploys. Getting past that shield can often be difficult, and can have a significant impact on your conversion ratio, as well as your ROI.

On the other hand, when prospects read a well-written, informative article, their defensive shields are down, because they're not reading an advertisement - so there's no reason to be on alert.

As a result, when prospects arrive at your website, they are more relaxed and less apprehensive, because they arrived willingly - without sales pressure, trickery or hype. And because they just read your article, there is a certain degree of familiarity and trust already established - greatly increasing the chances that they will purchase whatever it is that you're selling.

Now I realize not everyone has the ability to write articles. However, this is easily remedied, because there are article writing services that will write articles for you quite affordably. One such service is Bill Platt's thephantomwriters.com, which is the only article writing service that I feel comfortable recommending at this time.

In conclusion, I'm not suggesting that you don't write product reviews. After all, there are plenty of affiliate marketers who are successfully using product reviews to sell products.

I'm merely suggesting a viable alternative to that method.

David Jackson

 

[kpfingaz]

And its good to see that you practice what you preach. You could have simply called this "Phantom Writers Review" which would have undoubtedly went unnoticed by me. But this came off so well because I read it through and if I had needed the service, I would have definitely checked it out.

Props.

Jay

 

[David Jackson]

You could have simply called this "Phantom Writers Review" which would have undoubtedly went unnoticed by me. But this came off so well because I read it through and if I had needed the service, I would have definitely checked it out.

Jay, you have badly misinterpreted my post. First of all, there are absolutely no affiliate links in it - not a single one. Therefore, I don't make a dime by mentioning their name. Second, I am not affiliated with The Phantom Writers in any way, shape or form.

Because there are so many article writing services that are either scams or just plain incompetent, I merely used The Phantom Writers as an example of a trustworthy and reliable article writing service. Owner Bill Platt is one of the truly good guys on the Internet.

David Jackson

 

[Linda Buquet]

I don't think he misinterpreted your post David.
I think he was actually giving you a compliment on how you wrote it.

 

[David Jackson]

I don't think he misinterpreted your post David.
I think he was actually giving you a compliment on how you wrote it.

Linda, he made reference to my post as The Phantom Writers Review. It's definitely not a review of The Phantom Writers. In fact, it's not a review at all. And if he thinks that it is, then he misinterpreted what I wrote.

David Jackson

 

[kpfingaz]

I didn't misinterpret it David. I also don't see your post as a review of The Phantom Writers either.

All I'm saying is that your genuine recommendation of the Phantom Writers would get more people to check it out rather than if you had said "This is a Phantom Writers Review". I know that the intention of your post was to put across an entirely different message (which I got) so I apologize if I turned this into something else.

Whether or not you realize what you did, this is actually how it should be done as opposed to writing a product review.

Jay

 

[David Jackson]

I didn't misinterpret it David. I also don't see your post as a review of The Phantom Writers either.

All I'm saying is that your genuine recommendation of the Phantom Writers would get more people to check it out rather than if you had said "This is a Phantom Writers Review". I know that the intention of your post was to put across an entirely different message (which I got) so I apologize if I turned this into something else.

Whether or not you realize what you did, this is actually how it should be done as opposed to writing a product review.

Thank you for clearing that up, Jay. When you used the words "Phantom Writers Review," it gave the impression that you thought that I had written a review about TPW. Your explanation puts into context what you meant.

I thank you for the compliment!

David Jackson

 

[Jack Wevers]

Thank you for your interesting post David.

I have to say that I've started with writing product reviews as a newbie and it really
worked out for me. Of course I went to do some other things like article writing as well but like you've said there are plenty of affiliate marketers who are successfully using product reviews to sell products.

 

[David Jackson]

Thank you for your interesting post David.

You're quite welcome, Ines. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

David Jackson

 

[jumar112]

On the other hand, when prospects read a well-written, informative article, their defensive shields are down, because they're not reading an advertisement - so there's no reason to be on alert.

This is so very true.

I have found that many more people are writing the reviews of not only what they liked about the product, but what they didn't like as well.

 

[victorm]

very common sense post, David - thank you very much.
with no intention to hijack the thread, I think the same applies to any "latest method to make money online" - if you did not invent it (and I do not mean by that re-discover it), chances are people with more time and resources on their hands are doing it already. think incentive websites, think surveys or the 2009 darling, membership sites. but if you put a spin on any of these, and you test your idea, you might be able to capitalize on a proven market with a real product - how many Spanish incentive websites are there?

Good luck!