I Want to do Product Reviews!

This is the familiarity of my inbox this past week.  Why?  Well, who doesn’t want to do product reviews?  You get free stuff and all you do is tell others about it.

Well, yes, it does sound easy, but is it?

Not really.  To some reviewers out there it may not be hard and I’m not saying it is hard.  It’s time consuming.  If you want to write a review that is good, then it won’t take you that long to do it.  If you want to write a review that is great, well that will take you some time.  {kinda like those college papers}

When I have a product that I have to review I do several things. 

1. Check box/package for any press info. {read thoroughly in any}
2. If there isn’t any press info, I head to the companies web site and read up on not only the item(s) that I received but about the company itself. {unless it’s a well known company that I already know about}
3. Try out the item.  If it’s food, we eat it…All of us.  I want my kids reviews too!  If it’s clothes, the child or adult that it’s for will wear it and it gets washed at least once.  If it’s a toy, it gets played with.  If it’s a book, it gets read…And so on and so forth. So yea there is a lot of testing involved.
4. Any notes that I may have I jot down in a draft post so that I can be sure to include them in my review. 
5. I sit down and write.  I try to include personal photos…After all you want people to know your actually reviewing this stuff and not just telling about it and giving a false opinion.  Sometimes including personal photos isn’t always possible.  But you should ALWAYS include photos!  If you can’t get them from the web site, ask your contact to send you some.  {They don’t mind!}
6. Read and reread your review.  Use spell check…I do this all the time but still miss things…I am not an English teacher by any means, only human. : )
7. Post the review and email the contact with the link.  This is important because they want to see what you’ve wrote.

Now how do you get started?  Well, you have to, have to, have to, have a blog.  How else are people going to find out what you think about a product?

Next up…write in it.  A new blog without anything is hard to get noticed.  Plus you want companies and PR reps to see your writing style. {oh I also recommend a design to stand out from the others}  Start visiting other blogs and commenting, leaving your link…You want traffic, after all if nobody is reading your blog then why would I want to send you my product for free?  Exchange links…Lot’s of bloggers out there will be more than happy to trade up link buttons with you.  This will get your blog noticed by others too.

Writing…let’s go back to this.  You know your shampoo your using…write a review for it.  Then head to the companies website and send the link to them.  Do the same thing to other items as well.  Think of everything you use in this light, this will get your review style out there as well.  It will get reviews on your blog and so on. 

Join up to different review groups out there.  There are tons!  I have several on my sidebar listed under Mom Blog Tours…But there are more.  Check out other review blogs and see who they are affiliated with and join those too.  Some of them have waiting lists others do not.  

Get Twitter.  Why?  Because I don’t think there is one reviewer out there that doesn’t have it.  Plus I have been ask several times how many followers I have on Twitter.  Everytime you create a post, tweet about it with the link. 

Lastly...Contact, contact, and contact some more.  You want to contact anybody and everybody that has sent out an item for review to another blog.  So visit lot’s of other review blogs to see what they’ve received. {this is where you’ll find a huge resource for lot’s of products}  Work on your pitch.  Contacting and saying “hey send me this and I’ll write about it” won’t get you anywhere but deleted.  Use Google to see what you should include in your pitch.  There are SO many blogs out there now that competition is fierce, you want your pitch to stand out above the rest. {think of your pitch like your resume}

Contact not only those companies, but PR companies too.  Google to locate some and contact them too.  You want to get your blogs face out there.  You want them to eventually come to you.  And they will, but it takes time. 

You can email 100 companies and only hear back from 15.  This happens, don’t be discouraged, just contact more.  Pick up the phone if you have to and call them.  {I have yet to call, but if push comes to shove, I will}

Ok, last thing this time…There are new rules that you much abide by.  You have to now disclose in your post whether you were paid for your review, etc.  Scroll down and check out the bottom of some of my posts, you will see I have a little disclosure included so that I won’t be having any legal problems.  Apparently you can get fined for not abiding by the new rules!

There are lot’s more little things that you should be doing to start, just take a look around at my blog as well as others and you’ll see lot’s of similarities.