Product and service reviews are a natural fit for affiliate marketing web sites. You have products and services to sell and your target audience wants to buy. You can help them choose the products best suited to their needs and profit from it too.
Most Buyers Research Products Online
These days, when someone is considering a purchase, they will probably do their research on the Internet. The number of resources for shoppers just keeps growing. I no longer makes sense to drive from store to store trying to choose between similar brands and models.
Instead, shoppers are going to go online and type queries like:
The list could go on and on. You want to be one of the first websites they find when doing their research. As you build out your site, reviews should be a significant percentage of your posts. It’s a natural way to work your affiliate links into your content.
Target Your Audience with Your Reviews
Whatever your niche, there are related products or services that your readers buy and use. Those are the subjects of your reviews.
To use photography as an example, you could review cameras, lenses, accessories, places to take photos (work in products by mentioning places to stay, appropriate clothing, cameras and lenses needed for the location, etc.), print services…and so on.
As another example, think about a website devoted to a subset of knitting. You can review yarn, knitting needles, pattern suppliers, books, knitting bags…you get the idea.
Write reviews of the products and services you like. Other people are interested in those same products.
Keep Your Reviews Honest
Write about products and services you use or have extensively researched. Phony reviews that just promote your affiliate links will not help you in the long run. You want to build your reputation as an authority in your chosen niche. You do that by providing quality content – including honest reviews.
Make your review personal. Tell your audience how you use the product and how it helps you. If you don’t currently own the product, explain why you want it and how you expect to benefit.
If you don’t like a product say so. I’ll get into negative reviews a little later. They can also be money makers.
Try Using a Template
Think about using a standard template for all your reviews. It will help you with as you write them and it will give your readers a consistent format to help them find just what they are looking for about the product.
Here is a example template that you can copy and modify to fit your own needs.
PRODUCT_NAME
Manufacturer: {manufacturer or service providers name}
Overall Ranking: {rank goes here]Price: {price of product(s) go here}
Where to Buy: {your affiliate link}
INTRODUCTION
{General information about the product goes here}
{Also a good place for a product picture}
PROS/CONS
{A list of the pros/cons of the product}
WHO IT IS FOR
{Who benefits from this product? Is it a good for beginners/intermediate/advanced/everyone?}
WHAT’S INCLUDED
{what is included with the package, accessories, training?}
SUPPORT
{does the product offer quality and timely support? Can you contact the manufacture directly?}
PRICE
Enter your text here...
{How much does the product costs? Are their several price points?}
FINAL OPINION/VERDICT
{A final synopsis along with your recommendation}
{Include your affiliate link again}
Resources
{Here you can posts videos, books or websites that pertain to the product you are reviewing. It is a good place to add affiliate links that are NOT to the reviewed product. For example you could link to a book with your Amazon Associate link}
Positive vs Negative Reviews
Positive vs Negative Reviews
Most of your reviews should be positive. You are trying to subtly get people to buy these products after all.
You should include the cons along with the pros to keep your review honest. Just make sure the pros outweigh the cons and, if you can, explain how you work around any drawbacks. It adds to your credibility and can warn your readers away from poor products.
It is OK to throw in a negative review on occasion. If handles correctly, a carefully written negative review can help build your authority.
Don’t ever bash a good product just because it competes with one you market. Only write negative reviews about products or services you honestly believe are poor quality or even dangerous. If you trash good products, your comment section is going to be flooded by defenders of that product. You can delete those comments but then your credibility goes right down the drain.
More About Comments
I mentioned comments in the last section when I warned against bashing good products.
Even is you write honest reviews, good or bad, you will get some people you disagree with your assessment and leave comments saying so. How you deal with those comments will say a lot about your integrity and can build up or knock down your sites authority standing.
One type of comment you can safely delete is from another affiliate marketer spamming your site with their own affiliate links. Just dump those right away.
Harder to deal with are the sincere reader who just prefers a competitors product and points that out in a comment. I think you should allow that comment to stand and reply with a well reasoned response. Use a “Yes product XYZ is good but here is why I think product ABC is better” argument. Don’t bash the mentioned product and absolutely don’t make the poster look foolish – that won’t win you points with any of your readers.
Then there is the “You don’t know anything, why do you even have a website?” type of comment. How you deal with these depends a lot on how much authority your website has. If you have a large and loyal following then you can allow the comment and take the high ground with your reply. Say something like “I’m very sorry you feel that way. Perhaps this isn’t the best community for you.” Do that and you other followers are likely to jump in a trash your detractor for you but you, as the website owner, should never engage in an a comment war.
Most of your comments are likely to be from readers who found the review helpful or who already use the product and back up your endorsement. These are the comments you love to get – approve them at once!
Adding Affiliate Links
In the sample template, I indicated two places where it is natural to add your affiliate link. It probably isn’t a good idea to add the link to every mention of the product name. I don’t have any inside information to Google’s site ranking algorithm but they don’t seem to like pages stuffed with affiliate links. Using two or three links, depending on the length of the review, seem best. That’s my opinion. You might want to experiment for yourself.
Once you have some reviews on your website, you can link back to those reviews from other posts you write. That will help keep the direct affiliate link count down on those pages as well. Internal links can actually help your page ranking while too many external affiliate links can hurt it.
The links you add should be to your best affiliate partners. Stick with the quality providers who pay good commissions. Fly-by-nighters who don’t deliver on time or who overcharge aren’t helping you develop a large following regardless of how much commission they pay.
If you can’t find a good affiliate program associated with the product you are reviewing, think Amazon.com. They don’t pay the most but they do carry just about anything you can think of. You Amazon Associate membership should be your fall back plan when nothing else is suitable.
Micro Reviews
There is a special category of review that you can work into just about any article you write. I call them “Micro Reviews.”
An example might be better than an explanation to show what I mean.
Say you are writing about a knitting project and giving step-by-step instructions for completing it.
At some point you could say; “I find XYZ brand yarn to be best for this project.”
Select the text XYZ brand yarn and link it to that brand of yarn through your affiliate link.
You might not think of that simple statement as a review but it really is. You have used that product and you prefer it for this situation. I fits naturally into your writing and is actually pretty likely to be clicked.
Summery
Reviews should be a key tool for promoting your affiliate products. They provide a service to your readers by helping them make purchasing decisions and they add to the authority of your website.
Give them a try. You too can make money with reviews.
As always, I welcome your questions, comments and suggestions below