Posted on March 10, 2009 - by Kelly Verge
Review Sites Revisted
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I keep getting asked questions about review sites.
I don’t mind answering because I believe that they are a great tool for affiliate marketers.
Review sites make it easy for visitors to make a buying decision. Done right, the site provides honest unbiased information that the visitor can use to decide which product to buy.
These sites also help pull in traffic from the search engines via long-tail keywords. If your review is detailed and comprehensive, you’ll often be ranked for many phrases that you’ve never considered.
The most common question I get is where to find examples or themes or templates for doing clean and professional review sites. These questions usually come from people who have tried to tweak free themes or templates to turn them into what would be needed for a review site.
I know that I’ve been a big proponent of Conduit sites (because they work), but for those who want a more traditional review site, I’ve found another resource.
The Review Site Store offers a very inexpensive ($15 each) selection of pre-built review sites. Each site is pre-filled with content and reviews so that you could just drop in your affiliate link, upload the site, then start building backlinks.
To me, however, the real value of these sites is that you could easily swap out the header graphics and drop in reviews for any products you’re promoting.
The sites are very professional looking and present a clean streamlined look to your visitors. These are important things when you’re trying to get your visitors to take action – limit their options and make the actions easy to find.
$15 is dirt cheap for a template of this caliber, and considering that the sites come with content, it’s a real no-brainer.
Even if you’re capable of designing a site from the ground up, I recommend taking a look at the layouts he uses for inspiration.
Again, here’s the link: http://reviewsitestore.com
Let me know your thoughts!
Visit My Website
March 12, 2009
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Sorry, but I don’t share your enthusiasm for prepackaged review sites. This is just a sneaky way of affiliate promotion. Not a review.
To me, a review is sharing my experiences of something that I have actually used.
Buying a site full of prewritten, positively spun content in order to make a few dollars is not a method I would use.
Visit My Website
March 12, 2009
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@Eric-
You are absolutely right.
That’s why I said that the best use of these sites in my opinion would be to use them as a basis for your own review sites (i.e. replace header and drop in your own reviews).
Your point about true honest reviews is why I like Conduit sites so well. With a Conduit-style review site, you really are nothing more than a reporter.
Thanks for the feedback!
Visit My Website
April 29, 2009
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I guess it all depends on what you’re selling. If your company offers a product that people typically have questions about prior to purchase, those review sites may come in handy.