I am getting Tipsy, Newbies can't be that Intoxicating, Can they?
Feb 09 '08
The Bottom Line Read On....
Epinions has been offering Promotions lately which goad users to write more reviews. The first Promotional attempt weighted review quantity higher than review quality with the initial 10 for 10 write off. Epinions rewarded writers with $10 for every 10 reviews they wrote that were at least somewhat helpful. This flooded the site with an astronomical amount of lousy reviews. Epinions second attempt weighted quality a little bit higher by rewarding writers of very helpful reviews doubly while continuing the same promotion. The site continues to be flooded with sub-par reviews. Newcomers are not the only offenders of shirking the hard work or effort required to write great reviews. A lot of seasoned veterans and trusted members of the site completely disregarded any respect or admiration they have earned and succumbed to the all mighty dollar bill. This might come back and haunt members who chose to pay for two hamburgers tomorrow, for a hamburger today. Some members were immediately effected by this and received ratings they were unaccustomed to. Members of the upper echelon of Epinions dodged the initial bullet and received their customary very helpful ratings even though I am sure many members rated them while gritting their teeth or in trembling fear. I have heard of this upper echelon debate or disputation at Epinions and am confident this aristocracy exists. If many of the reviews they are pumping out held a different author name or didn’t have the right hat at the top of the page, they would be rated much differently and more deservingly. However, Web of Trusts and good old fashioned fear can buy members a rating upgrade and pumped out reviews get rated higher if the reviewer has reached this upper echelon.
However, with the Promotions malarkey aside, Epinions has acquired multitudinous amounts of new writers and reviewers. Many Newbies are without comprehension of how to write a very helpful review or even why they might want strive for the Very Helpful, or dare I say Most Helpful, rating. I have been asked for a lot of advice lately from Newbies and fellow members on how to write better reviews and fit in at epinions. So I figured I would put it together here and direct people to it or leave it out there for all to see.
There are numerous reasons for me writing this article. Foremost I want to help Newbies, site newcomers, to write better and higher rated reviews. Secondly I want to give all Epinions writers some tips and advice I have picked up over the 9 years I have been a member. I have refrained from deleting all of my pre-Y2K reviews, leaving some for comparison to current reviews I have written since learning a good system and developing a style and site personality. Subsequent to learning how to write exclusively VH or MH reviews, I made many of the same mistakes I see the Newbies making today.
GETTING STARTED
-------------There’s No Easy Money, yet----------------
As a Newbie it is hard to get the hits and ratings required to earn top dollar for your reviews. This is two fold because reviews get placement according to how they are rated by fellow epinions members, and the placement often determines their earning potential. Getting a good rating as a Newbie is difficult because most of them have not figured out just how to write a very helpful review. They also lack the network of friends, web of trust, and notoriety that established members posses. However, a well written and informative review can rise to the top but it will still find trouble reaching the pinnacle. There are Hats at epinions which give certain members reviews higher placement such as Lead, Advisor, and Top Reviewer. These are statuses that the individual reviewer has earned or been rewarded with which bumps their reviews to the top of the list. For example, if ten writers reviewed one product, and you searched for reviews on the given product, ten reviews would pop up. The order of these reviews is important. The first one garners the most attention and hits, this descends right on down the line. Most consumers do not read all ten reviews, they read the first one or the first few, make a decision, and move on, leaving the rest of the reviews untouched or without the coveted epinions hit. The hits translate into money.
-------Understanding Review Placement----
You might be wondering just how you can get your review to the top of the list. You might not want to hear this but it is extremely tough as a Newbie. If you can thread a rope through a needle hole, you at least have an outside shot. I shouldn’t say never because there is the outside chance that a Newbie can write a review that earns Most Helpful ratings from category Leads and Advisors. I will explain the Most Helpful placement soon. Back to review placement. At the top of the list are the category Lead’s reviews. Next come the Advisors, Top Reviewers, and Popular Authors, in that order. This order remains the same based on each review getting the same amount of similar ratings. If one review is more popular amongst epinion members it will move up the list. If a review is only deemed helpful rather than very helpful it will move down the list. Once the hierarchy is established, placement then comes down to which reviews are rated the highest and which reviews are rated the most. I hope you are beginning to see why not only writing a great review is important, but equally important is popularity. These are things which are difficult to obtain for a Newbie.
-------Putting it all together----
Ok, so you can see how review placement is important to getting the most hits, and the most hits generally generate the most money. But in order to get a high review placement there are a couple of things you can do. First, write an excellent review. Second, get it rated high and often. Build a Web of Trust and get your name out there, just like in high-school, make yourself popular. It is a great idea to check and see how many reviews and just who has reviewed the product you intend to review. I am willing to bet that a Newbie or any epinions writer can get the number one placement with their review if they write an exclusive or first review of a product. If you are writing reviews for money and you see a product that has been reviewed by all of the Leads and Advisors, I hate to say it but you should probably move on and sit that one out. Your chances of getting any hits even for a great review are slim to none.
Once you establish yourself as a successful member of the epinions community, your hits, ratings, and earnings will all improve.
BECOMING A GREAT REVIEWER
----Read a lot of Reviews----
Too many Newbies come to epinions and write their first review before reading even one review. They get negative feedback, fight it or respond negatively, and give up on the site. They never give themselves a chance to succeed or become established.
You have probably heard this numerous times before, but the easiest way to become a better writer is to be a perceptive and conscientious reader. The same applies for being a good reviewer, read as many reviews as you possibly can. As you read them, look for things that work and do not work. What catches your eye or your attention? Is it informative and entertaining? Do they cover all of the bases? Too short or too long? Does the reviewer have a personality or is it a cookie cutter review? Does the reviewer take a stance? These are all questions you should be able to answer after reading reviews and developing your own personality as an epinions member. Don’t be afraid to borrow some ideas from other writers on how they set up their reviews. Some reviewers are successful by setting up their reviews as a question and answer review. Some are successful being straight forward and basic while others prefer to exercise a more liberal writing style, displaying their character throughout the review. Learn from these other reviewers about style, set-up, information provided, and length. Don’t be afraid to borrow or steal some of their style and set up while you define or find your own. It is always appreciated when you drop them a note explaining what you like about their reviews and what you might borrow from them. I have had a couple of cases of this and if nothing else, I paid a little more attention to these reviewers.
Even members who have been around for some time and just can’t seem to figure out how to write all Very Helpful reviews should give this a shot. Compare some of your reviews to the ones which get the VH ratings and look for differences. I love reading other peoples reviews. I feel like it keeps me sharp for writing my own and I have learned an immense amount about writing and reviewing in the process.
----Get Out there and Rate, be your own Publicist----
This goes along with reading a lot of reviews, rate a lot of reviews. This will be advantageous to you as a member of epinions in several ways. The best way to get your name out there isn’t simply to write great reviews, but to rate them as well. I have read some excellent reviews that were a couple of days old and I was still one of the first ten to rate it. Popular reviewers get ten ratings within the first ten minutes of a review being published. It is a shame to see these good writers not getting rated or good review placements because they are lacking popularity and hits. So how do you get popular you might ask? Rate other peoples reviews. Every time you rate a review, you leave a link to your profile, it’s your name next to a rating. This is visible to not only the writer of the review, but to other epinion members. I always give members who rate my reviews a look. If I don’t already know them I click on their name and read about their profile and read some of their reviews. It is a small customary courtesy of returning the favor that most epinions members partake in. If you rate theirs, they will rate yours. This does not mean you have to give them the same rating they gave you, rate fairly and honestly. This will give yourself some publicity on the site.
Leaving feedback on reviews is another great way to get your name out there. Some members have grown accustomed to seeing many members rate their reviews. If you can offer a little bit of advice, positive or negative criticism, or drop them a question in the comments section of the review, this will also get your name out there as well. I always check the comment sections of my reviews and am diligent about answering any questions or comments. This builds a more popular profile on the site.
---Make a Decision, Will your Reviews be Half Empty or Half Full----
Hopefully neither, hopefully your reviews will be completely full. Some writers overdo it with information and length. I have been accused of this myself but it has never hurt me or gotten me a bad rating. Too many writers are trying to squeek by with the minimum amount of information or words to fill the review. Most Newbies are guilty of this and even some of the better reviewers have succumbed to sliding under this limbo pole during promotional periods. When a consumer finishes reading a review, all of their questions should be answered. They should not have any questions about the product if you have done your job as a thorough and very helpful reviewer. Are you going to be a reviewer who writes the least amount possible to try to get ratings or are you going to be a reviewer who writes a thorough and complete review, not needing to worry about ratings? This is a question you need to ask yourself. One of the best ways to build your popularity and Web of Trust is to only write Very Helpful reviews. Be consistent as a reviewer. Other members get into a habit of seeing a members name above a review and giving a Very Helpful rating. Get them into the habit of rating all of your reviews Very Helpful.
----Write about products you feel strongly about----
There is a high likelihood that you will write better reviews if you feel strongly about the product you are reviewing. This doesn’t mean you have to love the product, you might hate it. One of my better reviews is about a product I detested. I think I did a better job writing this review because I felt strongly about it and even felt more compelled to drive home my feeling to the consumer. I tried not to leave any stones unturned. I mostly write reviews about products I like or have had good luck with but this forum is open to all. I am much more thorough writing about products I feel strongly about. I have written some reviews about products that were ho-hum and found myself reaching for words, ideas, and inspiration just to finish the review. When I write about products I like, I have no problem at all and it is visible to my readers and consumers. I also have the confidence to write a Very Helpful review when I feel that I have tested and become well acquainted with a product or item.
----Be an Expert, not an Imbecile----
If you come across as an expert or an experienced user of a product you are reviewing, you will get better results as an epinions member. Too many reviewers make the mistake of downgrading themselves within the first two lines of a review. They state how they are no expert, or how inexperienced they are, or that they are not much of a whatever. This is a huge turn-off as a consumer interested in a product. When I am reading reviews about a specific product I am interested in and I see this, I immediately skip to the next review. Why would I want to read a review written by an imbecile? I don’t! People realize most of the reviews they read are not written by experts or professionals and they are fine with it. List your experience level if you feel that it applies to the product. Otherwise, it will be evident to the reader as they read through the review. Give an honest review of the product to the best of your ability. Be firm with your statements. Try to cover all of the bases and answer any questions you can come up with about the product. If your skill level is not the highest, it is alright to mention this but also mention how the product can be used by someone with your skill level. Take a golf club for example. Professional golfers will probably not be writing a lot of reviews at epinions, however many consumers look for reviews before making a golf club purchase. Let them know your ability as a golfer and how a certain club you are reviewing has helped or hindered your game. This might help them to make a more informed decision as an interested consumer.
----Don’t be a One Timer----
One thing about epinions that can drive me crazy is when members write reviews about things they have tried once. They may have rented a car for a day, been to a ballpark or state park one time, played a golf course once, just bought a new product and are excited to review it, or are just very inexperienced about the thing they are reviewing. They borrowed a camera from a relative for the day, used a friends this or that. I realize that on rare occasions this could work with the right reviewer and right product, but come on, do they honestly feel that they can write an educated and experienced review of a product with such little experience? I don’t think so. When I am looking for advice on products, I want that advice to come from someone who has a decent amount of knowledge about and experience with the product. These things are gained over time. Some products do not require time or experience but most of them do and try to keep that in mind when deciding to review a product.
WRITING THE REVIEW
----Start with a good foundation----
When building anything, a sturdy foundation lays the groundwork for success. In the case of a review, it is experience with a product. Test and try a product before reviewing it. Put it through the wringer. Pay attention to the details and convey them to the reader of the review. Learn as much as you can about the product and the company producing it. Read other reviews about it if they are available. Ask other users about it, get others opinions while keeping your own. Knowledge is the foundation that needs to be set before writing a great review.
----I like to make an Outline first:----
Most of the time when I am starting a new review of a product, I do an outline of what I want to cover. For example, if I am reviewing a knife, I might make an outline like this. Opener, this is where I give my experience with the product, maybe tell a little bit of history about it and cover the basics. What is it: This is where I explain just what the product is. I explain it to the readers as a mass, not excluding any skill levels or any readers. I keep this part basic. Then I might get into the various parts of the knife and get more descriptive. The Blade:, The Handle:, The Sheath: I like to explain what these parts are made from, how they have held up for me, comfort of the handle, sharpness of the blade, toughness of the sheath. If I know what the blade is made from, which I usually do, I explain the type of steel used and what that means to the consumer. I explain what shape the blade is and what it is intended for and I go into as many details as I can. The next section I might set up in the outline is the durability of the knife. This is important to me as a consumer so I feel that it is important to other people as well. After that, I like to list uses, maintenance, company history, maybe how to sharpen it and I always end my reviews of a product with the price and availability of the given product reviewed. All of these sections are simply typed on their own in the outline and after I feel like I have a good set-up, I commence to writing the review by filling in these sections one by one. I believe this helps me to cover everything. If I try to write it all at once and as one large section rather than several small sections, I seem to forget to include information and get sidetracked. If I can keep the sections to a paragraph or two I seem to be at my best and the reviews are packed with information. Sometimes an outlined section might spawn another, sometimes they might get erased or already be covered in another section, but this helps me to be thorough and remain on subject. Check out this knife review if you want to see the final product. You can probably understand just how I set up the outline by the titles and bold headers. I have found this style and outline to be incredibly easy and thorough in writing reviews. It might work for you, it might not.
----Dress it Up----
I like to dress up my reviews with html codes to make them look more professional, more appealing, easier to read, and to focus readers on important sections. Most people don’t thoroughly read reviews, they rather scan through them. People are scanners. They love reading headlines and if the headline entices them, they continue to read on. When I write a review I like to cover everything I possibly can. If I am writing about a fishing reel, I still give the basics no matter who I think might read it because I do not want to exclude any readers. The more experienced fishermen who are interested in reading the review will scan through to the sections they might be interested in by reading the bold headers and titles. The might skip over the basics likeWhat is a baitcaster? and read the section titled, New Features of this Baitcaster. I don’t lose anything by including more information or information the experienced fisherman doesn’t need but I would lose readers or ratings if I didn’t include information that an inexperienced reader might want to know. By setting it up in an easy way to read or scan, it appeals to both the experienced and inexperienced readers. I like to use bold and italic whenever it fits. Don’t go overboard with these, use them sparingly and they will have more of an impact on the reader. I also like to dress up my reviews with links to my other reviews. At one time I included a bunch of links on every review. I thought it was cool that I could do this and I figured it would get me more hits. However, by reading many, many, reviews of other epinionators, I found them annoying when there were unrelated links or too many links. I realized I was doing the same thing so I condensed them, made them easier to read, and only include the ones that a reader might truly be interested in. I am learning everyday.
----Write it somewhere else----
This will greatly help your spelling and punctuation if you write the review somewhere other than the space provided by epinions. I laugh right now when I think of the days when I did this. I spent more and more time proofreading and still missed errors that I inadvertently published. Finally, it dawned on me to write the reviews at WordPerfect where spelling mistakes are highlighted and can be corrected as easy as running the spell checker. This beat the heck out of typing it at the epinions site, sending it through, looking at all of the highlighted mis-spelled words, editing my review, and usually doing the same thing again, over and over. It is very evident which reviews are written with WordPerfect or any other program and which ones are not. Using a program that capitalizes letters automatically is another tell tale sign. This will help you in writing Very Helpful reviews. Reviews that have errors usually get lower ratings and are not taken seriously.
----Ask yourself the important Questions----
I may have touched upon this already but I will go over it again because it is important to writing Very Helpful reviews. Before reviewing a product, I ask myself, What did I want to know before I bought it? I also ask myself, What would someone else want to know before buying it? Then I usually set up the outline to the review with these questions and fill in the review with the answers. I don’t like to publish my reviews with Question and Answer format, but some writers have had success publishing in that format. They actually type out the questions and leave them in the review and put the answer below the question. It works and its informative but it just aint my style. You have to remember that when you are writing a review, you are giving information and advice to potential buyers. Don’t forget who you are writing it for and don’t exclude any readers by only being technical. Be general first, then get technical.
----Always Include:----
There are certain things I always include when writing reviews and I look for these things when rating and reading other members reviews. If it is a product, I always include the price and availability. I think this is important to the consumer. Let them know what you paid for it and where you bought it or at least where they can find it. Let them know when you bought it if applicable. Always include the things you like about a product and the things you do not like. These are Pros and Cons but take it farther than the 15 word sections allotted by epinions. Elaborate on what is good or bad about the product. After all, this is why the person is reading your review, to find out more information about the product from an experienced user. Tell the reader what your favorite feature is about the product. Surely there must be something you really like about it if you are taking the time to review it. If there isn’t a favorite thing, tell about your least favorite. Give the reader some inside information. If it is a product you are reviewing, explain to the reader how durable it is. To me, this is very important. I don’t want to buy a product that is doomed to break or fall apart. Let them know how much you use or have used it and what they can expect. Give them your take on it. Let them know just what you think about it, after all, it is your review.
----Get it ready to Publish----
You should always edit and proofread your review before sending it to the press. If you are using a separate place to type it up, sometimes you can misspell words or accidently include words with different meanings that slip by the spell checker. Giving the review a final read through should catch these little buggers. If you don’t think the review flows very well or other readers are having a hard time with your reviews, try reading it aloud to yourself or someone else. A lot of times this will reveal sentences that are incorrectly set up or just worded wrong. If it is possible, let someone else read it or edit it before you send it to the masses. I always relish a second opinion. Constructive criticism to a writer or a review is a great way to become a better writer and fix a review. These are all just some small things I like to do to ensure my reviews get Very Helpful ratings.
CHECKING UP ON IT
----Monitor Ratings----
Alright you have sent your review to the press and it is published for all to see and rate. To me, it isn’t over and done with. If I am not too busy, I like to keep an eye on it for the first half hour or so to make sure it is getting Very Helpful reviews. Too many members are piggyback raters. If they see other members rating a review SH, they will jump on board and do the same. I have not had this problem yet but I have seen some other members experience it and a good review gets swamped with bad ratings. It might be your fault and something that you can fix . That is why I watch it. If I have made a gross error I edit the review, otherwise I let it go and enjoy watching it get the VH or MH ratings. Monitoring the ratings can give you instant feedback about how it is being rated and perceived by epinions members. If you have a problem you can quickly rectify it.
----Read Comments----
This is one of my favorite things about writing a review, the comments section. I love hearing about other members opinions on the product or my review. I have read some excellent stories in my comments sections. I have also been introduced to great members and have expanded my WOT directly from correspondence in the comments sections of reviews. I have also been informed about errors or problems with my review in this section as well. I have been asked several questions about products or the given field. I have given advice about fishing and camping, hiking and traveling, all sorts of stuff in the reviews comment section. I hope you can see just how important and helpful the comments section can be.
----Ask Questions----
If you are still having problems getting the ratings you feel you deserve, ask direct questions to the people rating your review. I have been getting a lot of questions lately about why I rated this review so low or why I won’t change a rating, and I try to leave that information in the comments section of the review, but sometimes I do not and I am contacted by email. This is a great way for a reviewer to get help, or a rating understanding, which ultimately leads to a higher rating. Don’t harass people, but if you honestly feel you deserve better or want to know how to do a better job, or get a higher rating, ask the questions. Like one of my history professors always said, There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.
CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it, some tips and advice that should be able to help you here at epinions. I have had a blast here and find it rewarding both mentally and financially. The community is great and I am making more friends here everyday. Feel free to ask me any questions here in the comments section or drop me an email if you like. Feel free to pass this along to any Newbies or other members whom might benefit from it.
© smallmouth 2008
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