Part III: Tips on Making Easy, Effective and Quality Reviews

I hope you’re still not sick and tired of this. We’re on the last part now, thank God. From Part I (discussing about tips on making easy reviews) to Part II (discussing about tips on making effective reviews), we now come to the

Third part,
Tips on Making Quality Reviews

I Recommend: Read, Part I and Part II first!

The thing with making quality reviews is that it focuses on the technical aspect of your write-up. How is the topic presented? How clear and informative is it? Was it able to relay the message/opinion well? Is the grammar perfect (or near perfect at the very least)? Does it look like a junk post or does it look like a post really worth reading from start to finish? Those are some of the questions you might want to ask yourself if you want to evaluate the quality of your review.

Here are good keys on ensuring a quality review

• Make sure first that what you’re reviewing is reputable and legitimate by itself. If the cons are bigger than the pros, I suggest you run away and don’t bother with a review. The rule of the thumb is to always review something that you yourself would be willing to try. You can always say that what you’re reviewing is a great thing, but take head, you may end up in serious trouble if what you were saying is not that true and not that good at all.

• Tell about the credibility of the site/product/service. Talk about the current standing and how well it is doing against it’s fellow competitors (or among the members of it’s niche). Better if you could give a list of the famous and reputable sites or companies that are affiliated to what you’re reviewing. If you are reviewing another person’s blog for example, you can tell about the achievements of the blog. Starting for example with the pagerank, technorati authority, visitors and pageviews per month. Then you can include some of the famous sites that are linking to it or has a partnership with it (if there is any). If the blog is just a rising blog, give sample of some of the good posts found in it.

• Always indicate sources to back you up, just in case people will be doubtful and wants to double-check. Good for building trust too.

• Write about the important aspects of your topic, something that would strike interest to the readers. Are you reviewing a product? Tell the edge, benefits, and other plus factors of the product. Are you reviewing a company or an ad network? Tell about it’s performance and the growing number of members and customers that it’s been receiving. Are you reviewing a site or blog? Tell about the quality of the posts in it, how many readers are following it (either in visits r through RSS). Those are just example, I’m sure you get the point.

• It’s good to finish with an overall statement, a conclusion, and a recommendation. That’s the one-two-three classic combination. You get the summary part. Just add some finishing opinions, like how you rate the product/site/service yourself, some inside secrets you want to dish out, or messages like a recommendation straight to the product/site/service your reviewing for it to be improved.

It’s not just the readers your after when you’re doing a review, it’s also about the topic you’re reviewing. Providing quality impression and feedback will always put you ahead the advertiser’s list (if you’re dong a sponsored review) or a boost for your own reputation at the very least.

That’s it! The three part blogging tip is finished (the longest one I’ve ever written to date). Hope you pick something good from everything I’ve blabbed about.

Special thanks again to SuccessFactors for the eGuide that have served as my inspiration for writing this blogging tip. You can grab the eGuide, The Secret to Effective, No-Hassle Performance Reviews, absolutely free, but unfortunately it ran out of stock about last week.
P.S. Remember this address, http://betterbloggingforbloggers.tradepub.com/ if you want access to free downloads and free magazine subscriptions of all sorts. There are a lot of great free eGuides and whitepapers now in there by the way.

I’m done with my review on how to review! Thanks for those who have fully read the three part series!