As a blogger, I’ve found that knowing how to write a review properly is one of the best ways to drive traffic and sales, whether you sell your own products or promote affiliate products.
I’ve decided to put together this tutorial to help other bloggers write excellent reviews as well.
Even if you’re not a product review blogger, this is an important skill to hone and one that will serve you well in many different areas of digital marketing.
At the end of this tutorial, you’ll be able to write engaging reviews that give your readers the exact information they want.
Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
Before we get into things, let’s get the basics out of the way.
Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions I see from readers about writing reviews.
What Is a Review?
A review blog is a type of blog post that details your personal experience with a product.
A review explores the product’s pros and cons to help readers decide whether to buy it.
The best reviews are based on your personal experience and feelings about the product.
Writing reviews is one of the best ways to earn money as an affiliate marketer, as it allows you to recommend products and drive traffic to your links.
If you sell your own products, you can review your competitors’ products and recommend yours instead.
What Types of Reviews Can You Write?
You can write positive or negative review blogs and recommend that users buy the product or advise against it.
If it’s a negative review, provide a superior alternative product.
You can review an Amazon product, video course, online membership, software, etc.
What Should a Review Include?
A review must have several parts for it to be complete.
Simply saying you didn’t like the product and not explaining why is insufficient.
Here are the three main components of a good review.
1. An Overview
The overview should explain what the product is, what it does, and who it’s for.
It should explain the problem it is supposed to solve and how well it does that.
You should talk a bit about its creators, if relevant, and delve into the quality of the product.
2. Likes and Dislikes
Next, you need a likes and dislikes section.
You can also label this section as “pros and cons.”
You want to give an unbiased review of the product, which means presenting its good and bad sides, regardless of your conclusion.
3. A Personal Recommendation
Finally, wrap up with your personal recommendation.
If you liked the product and can recommend it in good conscience, explain why.
If not, explain why and give an alternative.
You may give several recommendations based on the reader’s needs and goals.
What You’ll Need To Write a Review
Before you write your review, it’s vital to ensure you have all the tools and information you need to give honest feedback on the product.
The three things you need are:
- An experience or something you’d like to review
- Positive or negative sentiment towards the reviewee
- A platform to write the review on
An Experience or Something You’d Like To Review
First, you need something to review.
It could be a physical or digital product, including an ebook, membership, etc.
However, you could also review an experience.
For example, if you attended an in-person workshop or motivational getaway, you could review that.
If you traveled to a new country, you could review it as a travel blogger.
If you are a food blogger, you can review a restaurant experience you had.
A Positive or Negative Sentiment Towards the Reviewee
You must also have a positive or negative sentiment towards whatever you’re reviewing.
If you don’t have any opinion on the matter, your review won’t be engaging.
People looking for reviews about a topic want to see what you think about it – they don’t want an indecisive review that doesn’t answer whether the product is worth it.
A Platform To Write the Review On
Finally, you need a place to write the review.
Having your own blog is best, as you can be as unfiltered as you want in your thoughts, opinions, and expressions.
You can also post a review on your YouTube channel or on platforms like Medium.
However, when you post a review on a third-party platform, you may have to censor your language.
Step-by-Step Instructions To Write a Review
Finally, let’s get to the meat of the tutorial: how to write a good review, step-by-step, whether you’re expressing positive or negative sentiment.
1. Try Out a Product or Service
First, you need to try out the product yourself.
If you rely on reviews that other bloggers or customers on Amazon have written, your review won’t be authentic, and readers will be able to tell that you simply regurgitate information from others.
By trying it yourself, you can also add a personal touch to your review.
Talking about your own experience rather than simply the product’s features is what will make your review unique and help you rank.
2. Organize Your Thoughts
Once you’ve tried the product, organize your thoughts.
Use a spreadsheet, notebook, or Google Doc to jot down notes.
How did you feel when using the product?
How was your experience signing up and figuring out how to use the software tool?
Did the product give you the solution you desired?
How was customer service throughout – did they resolve issues quickly?
3. Double-Check the Correct Company or Brand
This part is so important.
You need to make sure you’re reviewing the right company or brand.
Sometimes, two companies can release two very similar products.
The brands may even have similar names and logos.
However, the quality can differ significantly from one brand to the other.
4. Provide Specific, Useful Feedback
Try to always be specific rather than general in your feedback.
Saying something like “it’s not a good product” isn’t precise nor valuable.
The story is in the details.
What was terrible about it?
Why would someone want to avoid it?
Or, what was the best part about the product, and how did it help you solve your problem?
5. Discuss Various Elements of Your Experience
When talking about your experience, talk about various elements, both good and bad.
Rarely will you have a purely positive or negative experience, and readers will appreciate it when you tell them both the positive and negative elements.
A larger word count can make your review more authoritative, so discuss more elements of your experience.
6. Be Concise, Yet Specific
You don’t want to go too much into how a product made you feel great.
Nor do you want to go on a long rant about how terrible the product is.
Readers want you to get to the point.
Be specific about what you did or didn’t like, but don’t go off on a tangent.
7. Be Honest, Yet Constructive
It’s essential to be honest and constructive.
If you have negative things to say about a product you recommend, don’t lie or hold back.
However, be productive in your criticism.
Present it as something that will make the product even better rather than a dealbreaker.
8. Avoid Including Personal Information
While you want to detail your experience, there’s no need to include personal information.
For example, if you’re talking about a bad experience at a restaurant due to a server being rude or unprofessional, there’s no need to spell out their name.
9. Be Friendly and Humane
Always be friendly in your review.
Talk to your readers as if you’re talking about your experience to a friend.
It will come across as much more natural.
In addition, be humane and considerate in your review.
Don’t full-on attack the product’s creators when they don’t deserve it (unless they are deliberately selling a scam or low-quality product).
Sometimes, a product might not be worth buying, even if the owners did their best to improve the product’s quality.
10. Proofread Your Review
Before publishing your review, proofread it for spelling and grammar errors.
Having an error-free review will make you seem more professional and trustworthy.
You may use a tool like Grammarly to check for grammar mistakes or Hemingway App to ensure your article is readable.
11. Publish Your Review
Next, publish your review.
After posting it on your blog or Medium channel, share it on your social media channels as well.
Watch for comments and questions on your blog, and respond to comments to encourage engagement.
Pro Tip: Update Your Review
It’s critical to continue updating your review as new information comes out.
For example, if you criticized a product for not including a particular feature, but it now does have that feature, it’s essential to update your review if you want to remain a credible source for future reviews.
Create a spreadsheet of your reviews.
Once a month, go through your reviews to ensure the information is still accurate.
If new information comes out – even if it’s just a price change – update your review.
Updating your review can also help you improve your rankings on Google.
On WordPress, you can edit the blog post’s published date, making it appear like new content in Google’s eyes.
Final Thoughts
Now that you’ve read this tutorial on how to write a review from start to finish, it’s time to start working on your very first review.
As you review more products and see how reviews drive engagements or comments, you’ll learn what readers want to see in your reviews and adapt accordingly.
