There are dozens of ways you can start a blog and work from home – reviewing products is one of them.
You could potentially earn more than $1,000 a month through a blog dedicated to the art of reviewing. But first of all you need a review WordPress theme to start a blog like that.
On top of that, you’ll get dozens of free products that you can keep after you’ve written your review.
Getting started isn’t as difficult as you might think. With a determination to make your business work and a general understanding of what makes a successful product blog, you can generate a healthy income through your efforts.
Choose a Specific Niche
Every successful site must have a designated niche. Typically, the narrower your niche, the more followers you’ll get. Rather than branding your site as one that reviews products of all kinds, choose a specific kind of product, like Apple products, mattresses, or even snoring solutions. There should be enough products in any specific niche to keep you busy without going too broad and losing your target market.
The most important part of choosing your niche is covering something you feel passionately about. If people can sense that you have a love for great tech accessories, they’ll feel like they can trust your review. As you generate trust through your readership, you’ll gain more followers and businesses who want you to test their products.
Get Inspiration from Other Product Review Sites
When choosing a niche and before you begin designing your site, gain some inspiration from other product review sites. You might find that one particular niche has high-profit potential or that another is oversaturated with competition. You can also get ideas about successful design and what a typical review looks like.
Mattress Clarity is a great example of an ultra-fine niche product review site. The design is very simple, but it includes detailed information, quality photography, and easy navigation for visitors.
Snoring Devices That Work is another good example of a product review site that’s very niche specific. It also features a functional design that makes it easy for readers to access each review.
If you want to enter the highly competitive realm of technology reviews, look at sites like CNET and TechRadar, which are more detailed and reflect a huge audience.
Technology will be a more difficult niche to penetrate because of the vast coverage that’s already permeated the web, while mattress and snoring solution review sites will have a more open market with less competition.
As you look over different review sites, watch for things like competition and typical site design to learn how to stand out, but remain functional with your own website.
Decide on Web Hosting Details
After you’ve defined your niche, it’s time to build a website around it. Here are some important considerations to make with your site’s design.
- Web Hosting and Creation: Decide on your web hosting service (like InMotion Hosting or Hostgator) and website builders (like WordPress or Ucraft or Strikingly). The exact hosting and creation services you use don’t matter, as long as you’re comfortable or familiar with the platforms, and they fit within your budget.
- Website Template: The template should be simple, but visually appealing. It also shouldn’t be too complex to create, as you don’t want to spend a lot of money at first. If your business takes off, you can upgrade the site later, but in the meantime, there are hundreds of free and cheap templates that will meet your needs.
- Domain Name: Finally, choose your domain name. It should be memorable and unique, but uncomplicated. Domain names that are easy to spell and remember to tend to get more traffic. It should also reflect the purpose of your site. Mattress Clarity, for example, is easy to spell, remember, and recognize as a site that reviews mattresses.
Brush Up on Writing and Photography Skills
The mark of a good product reviewer is one who can not only test a product but also write about the experience with total transparency. If you don’t have a knack for grammar or paragraph structure, this may not be the right career for you.
Another important component of a product review site is quality photography. People want pictures with great lighting that show the product in action. This will require a good camera, a basic understanding of lighting practices, and basic editing skills.
You don’t have to be a master at either writing or photography, but you should have some basic skills and a desire to learn more. As you practice and research what you need for success, you’ll continue to improve.
Learn or Outsource Digital Marketing
Once you’ve published your site and developed a few pieces of content to go with it, you must get it in front of the right people through marketing. It’s hard to explain all the facets of digital marketing in one small section, so you should do some research on your own. But to get you started, here are some of the things you’ll need for a successful site:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Use content and distribution techniques to help your site rank higher in the search engine results.
- Target Audience: Use customer personas and geo-targeted advertising to get your site in front of the people who are most likely to use your content.
- Social Media Profiles: Create a social presence on Facebook and other relevant social sites to share your products and increase your social following.
- Paid Advertising: Consider geo-targeted social media ads that will get your content in front of the right people.
These are just a few of the ways you can market your product review site and get the attention your site deserves. Research each of these concepts in detail and apply them liberally to improve your brand’s reach.
WordPress Product Review Themes 2017
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