If you are an affiliate marketer looking to learn how to write a product review (so effective, it gets sales, not just clicks) then look no further.
In the next 10 minutes you’ll discover why I often get more affiliate sales than my competitors and hear me uncover my proprietary affiliate commission-boosting method, step-by-step, right in front of you.
My job as a super affiliate marketer is to ALWAYS be authentic and know what I’m promoting better than the product owner itself. Does it sound hard to believe? Not, if you do what I do; you too will soon start to crank out affiliate product reviews like never before, and get (more) sales, not just clicks.
What is a product review
and why should you care?
A product review is NOT a template you buy, fill in the blanks and see $300+ in your paypal account overnight…
A product review is NOT a hard-sell “fool the reader” blurb that fills your pockets with cash…
A product review is NOT a sponsored blog post where others bribe you (for little) to sugarcoat their lame stuff…
A product review IS: your personal experience with a product (service or program) you found so useful that you cannot help but tell others about it and share your findings — the good, the bad and the ugly.
The best product reviews I’ve written…
Or stumbled upon, were the ones that are specifically targeted to the ideal reader/buyer and fill in the missing links. That’s why such reviews will always make a bunch of sales, even with little or less clicks.
Now, let’s compare two affiliate approaches and see the winning method. Suppose we have…
Affiliate A (let’s call him John) who gets 500 clicks on his blog ad, and…
Affiliate B (Mary) who gets 300 clicks as a result of her blog post (link) product review.
John would get 1% conversion, 2% if he’s lucky or 5% if he’s already “known in the field”.
Total sales John make: 5% X 500 clicks = 25 sales
Mary would get at least 10%, sometimes 20% and even 25% sales conversion because of her personal review, pulling-in 75 sales (25% X 300 clicks)
Ask any reputable super affiliate and they’ll tell how by writing even a simple, mini-product review would double if not triple their sales compared with merely placing a sidebar ad or text link in their posts.
You have to understand:
what makes a winning product review
Yes, it is important if you are already honest and known in the field (like an authority, guru, or whatever). But if you simply place a sidebar ad or embed your content with text links on your blog, then your sales will never skyrocket as when doing product reviews.
That’s why banners and text links are 10x times less effective than a personal, insightful product review. It always has been that way and it will always be!
People do NOT buy products but solutions to their problems…
Or results to their needs!
I learned this the hard way:
People often buy the right solution at the right time for needs or wants they think they have.
That’s why pre-selling your affiliate product recommendation is key, so NEVER tell someone about a product until you talk about their problem, and lead to the ideal solution…
A link or a banner ad cannot tell the (whole) story. These two methods are similar to spam, or cold-calling, as inefficient and time-wasters as when trying to sell a car to a stranger on the street.
Don’t understand me wrong: your car might be the hottest driving machine in town, just that a stranger will refuse your (irresistible) offer because she doesn’t know you, she doesn’t like you… hmm, I guess she doesn’t even trust you!
How can she? Did you spend time with her? Did you tell her your story? Did she know why you’re selling the car, why to her and why today? No. Because this takes time and we don’t want to waste time, we want to make money… bad approach.
It’s all about THEM and YOU… not just you!
Whenever you’re recommending something, free or paid, you risk your reputation. It’s either going up, or down.
Yes, your reputation is on the line, whether you consciously think that way, or not.
Get this: you’re not only recommending a product (through your product review, banner or text link), but also the customer support team and their service.
If the product is good, but the support duds, refunds will probably sprung up, making you less sales and spreading the word about your promotion and marketing practice.
Imagine this…
Last week I told one of my best friends to watch “The Town” movie. I thought it was a good one because I’ve seen it. My friend didn’t like it. He cannot stand Ben. Now, do you think I’ll ever recommend him a Ben Affleck movie ever again? Nah, I’ll change my strategy, instead I will make sure to ask about his favorite actors, find about his genre likes and only afterward make custom-tailored suggestions.
It’s not only about the product you recommend, but also who you recommend that can build or demolish your reputation as well as your friend/relationship connections.
If I told you to click this link and buy SEMRush (a keyword research and competitive tool I just subscribed with 48 hours ago) would you do it simply because I told you so?
No, unless I tell you the benefits and advantages of this tool and what it could mean for your business and search engine rankings, right? I’ll hold that for another post (product review) though – thank you for the idea!
What kind of Affiliate Products
you can (and should) review…
Anything you can think of: from physical products, offline and online services, digital products, software tools, you name it. There’s no limit to what you can review and generate affiliate sales with.
Digital marketing and media trend analyst site – Emarketer.com says in a report they sell for $695 (yes, that’s not a typo!)
“Reading product reviews is a growing part of consumers’ prepurchase search ritual. Over the past few years, consumers have increased the number of reviews they read and the overall time they spend reading them.”
Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey shows that…
“Recommendations by personal acquaintances and opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally, according to the latest twice-yearly Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries.
The Nielsen survey, the largest of its kind, shows that nine in every ten Internet consumers worldwide (90 percent) trust recommendations from people they know, while seven in every ten (70 percent) trust consumer opinions posted online.”
It’s not always about you, but about the other human at the end of the line that has a major need or problem and needs a solution, now, not next month. And if you step in with the right recommendation and provide with your link, they’ll buy it…
But what about FTC “scary” rules
and (recent) affiliate guidelines…
What do you think happens if you disclose affiliate links (endorsements) and make your affiliate-vendor relation transparent?
Will you get less clicks? Will you cut your affiliate checks and diminish your earnings into half?
Not at all; it’s the opposite. I’ve made more money when I went up front and told readers: this is my link, buy the product or not. It’s your choice. And I’ve also made even more money when I told them: buy from my link, I get a commissions for telling you about it, and I’ll also send you this bonus ___ if you order today (or by XX.XX. date).
Here’s what FTC says about affiliate/endorsement disclosure (you have not to worry about it)
“It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.” — Will Rogers, American actor and comedian
FTC wants to protect both: your consumer and your reputation. When you understand this key principle, you won’t get scared about FTC rules but embrace what they’re doing and be open to their suggestions.
Personally, I purchase online and offline regardless of the affiliate-vendor relationship. If a review is honest, I can tell. My gut feeling tells me if a person is lying or not. I don’t have to read their affiliate disclosure to decide if I like what I read, trust the product and buy.
What about you?
How I Went from Zero to $1,000’s
in Affiliate Commissions
I’ve started just like you: from scratch… with no site and no domain name, knowing nothing about placing links or displaying banners on a web page.
First time I recall driving 57 clicks (or hits?) to an affiliate link and thought to quit because all I got was no sales and sheer frustration. After talking back and forth with the vendor and other affiliates, I soon realized that writing affiliate product reviews is KEY. And the rest is history.
Now, let’s be honest, nobody can write a good product review, unless they know:
1. What the product or service you’re going to talk about does!
2. Who was it created/designated for!
3. What problem, issue or challenge it solves, and more importantly, how!
You do all this by performing in depth research and close product (service) inspect.
There are no shortcuts, trust me on this one. The more you study the product, the better your review.
Input equals output. What you learn/discover from your analyst is something you jot down or memorize. Your experiment with the product is a direct reflection of your (written) product review and vice-versa.
Anybody can tell straight up from your review if you’ve personally tested the product or not. This gut feeling makes people want to buy from you and tell others, or not buy and tell their friends not too.
There are so many fake reviews out there, everywhere, in any niche; just Google around and you will see what I’m talking about. The Internet needs to be a better place, with carefully-selected, closely- reviewed products and services.
How to really write
affiliate product reviews that sell!
Here are the 5 top (proprietary) methods I use (after I closely inspect, read or try the product).
#1 – Keyword Research
You know the product, you know what it does and who it helps. Now, it’s time you perform keyword research. I’ve told you I’m currently use Google AdWord’s free tool (will consider paid solutions next) – feel free to use whatever it fits you, just simplify things, it should be easier that way.
It’s not about rushing things, but keep it simple, not simplistic.
#2 – Long-tail key term optimization
Use Google’s tool and you might find key terms related to the product title you’re promoting. They’re the best “buyers” keywords to focus on and optimize your blog post/product review.
SEO means search engine optimization. Optimization is not bad. Optimization is what we need and want in life. We want to get more, and do better.
Then it’s in your responsibility to help your reader find your product review in Google’s first page results. Don’t let fake reviews rank there. Optimize your post and readers will find it easier because it’s custom-tailored to their specific wants.
SEO is a label you put on your content just like we label books with the right title and emails with the correct subject line.
If SEO is bad, then you’re not getting the full picture. You’re actually telling me that optimized subject lines and book titles is wrong? Not optimizing is bad and “black-hat”, a wrong practice!
#3 – Competitive Research
I spent 3 hours and 50 minutes (as per my content marketing research formula) just to find the right articles, sources and facts to help me crank out this post you’re reading now (not including the 6 hours+ for actual writing end editing)
Was it helpful? Am I right when I say that if I had not performed such extensive research, my writing would have been regular, blatant and boring?
#4 – Product Review Write
By now you’ve already noticed that learning How to Write a Product Review is actually not just about writing but product inspection and competitive research.
Since you’ve gathered all the information in one place (on paper on in a word doc for e.g.), writing is easy, natural. Practice makes it perfect. You are not born skilled, you have to become!
Your review should ALWAYS include…
- Product title
- Product benefits/advantages
- Product ideas – how you’re using it in your life or business
- Product missing link(s) – what you dislike about it, but found a solution that fills the gap
- Product call to action – it helps get the sale and reach maximum conversion (if done right)
- Product bonus offer (offer one or two exclusive items, not a bunch of useless “goodies”)
*** HIGHLY IMPORTANT:
Before you write your review, study at least 5 to 7 other reviews on the same or similar products if yours is the first. Your affiliate product review should be the best since you’ve been already exposed to your competitors’ reviews. But let’s not forget your personal experience with the product, this is priority #1 and this is what reflects the most in your review.
#5 – Product Review Edit
Editing is a different process than writing, so it should be performed separately. This is where you remove words or interchange phrases, add product images and link them to your affiliate url.
A picture is worth a thousand words or 1001 words is worth more than a picture as a Chinesse proverb says.
Once you’re done, publish your review on your blog and wait for comments and sales to come in.
I sometimes spend about an hour just to edit the post and make sure it looks good prior pushing the send button.
Now it’s your turn to comment. What do you have to share about How to Write a Product Review … do you have any questions to ask or things to add to the conversation?
P.S. If you need help on how to write product reviews, contact me. I provide consulting and do-it-on-your-behalf content writing services: affiliate product reviews, viral blog posts, emails, etc…
Blog Commenting SEO: How I Get Top 3 Google Blog Rankings and Free Blog Traffic
Frustrated about your Google blog rankings? Sick and tired of not getting (massive) free blog traffic just like any other pro blogger? Read my blog commenting SEO formula. It helps rank your blog on the top 3 Google listings for keyword related terms which bring you free blog traffic.
Personally, I’m tired of the so-called “Rank in Google Overnight” software programs or magic formulas. I tried some of them, and most are or sound “black-hat”. Today you’re ranked on first page, tomorrow you’re banned or un-listed by Google for weeks or months.
We should avoid this like nothing else. I do NOT teach black-hat. I do NOT practice it.
What am I going to share with you next though is what I know and what works for me.
And before we dive in, here’s PROOF (just you know I’m not making this up)
I rank number #3 on first page Google for “product review template” and made $51 last week on ClickBank just because of this page/keyword ranking alone. Imagine what happens when you have 10, 25 or 50 long-tail keyword optimize pages like this?
I could be making… $510…$1,275…$2,550. Others are probably making lots more. What about you?
Now, don’t let the potential fool you. It is unlimited. But it doesn’t mean you’ll ever reach the sky, right?
Some products claim the potential is there and you can reach it. That’s B.S. Never believe such product claims.
You know those sales pitches. They should never be taken as trustworthy, unless their creators have believable proof and not some fake screen shots. 98% are fake anyway. Or they’re misleading people that the revenue was generate from free traffic or Facebook, when the truth is that they’ve paid AdWords or other PPC engines to drive their traffic, and are fooling us guys.
Be aware!
How I Get Top 3 Google Listings
and Free Blog Traffic…
On almost any long-tail keyword I want to rank for. My proprietary system is laid out right in front of you. Are you ready to steal my secrets and get free blog traffic? OK, let’s start…
Step #1
On-page Blog SEO
What I do exactly is make sure that my blog is optimized for the search engines, particularly Google. They (and I) look at content optimization the same way a book author (or publisher) would look at his cover.
And it comes into mind two key questions:
You want to attract the right audience to open and buy your book. In our case, we want our visitors (the right ones, not just anybody) to open/click our blog post and read it. If you get their attention, you are one step closer to generating clicks which lead to sales.
No attention, no clicks, no sales! That’s why your blog post title (headline) is the most important part in your content marketing strategy. As important as the first three words you say when meeting someone new or a friend of yours. What you say is targeted and memorable, or you better not say it!
What blog commenting “spammers” and “black-hat” practitioners do has nothing to do with optimization, but directing readers to “so-and-so” content or pure junk, just to get the click or make the quick buck.
This is not optimization,
but tricking and deceiving visitors.
And for this reason alone, people think SEO is black-hat entirely, or at least, they put a bad label on the terminology and its practice.
Re-read that and please, do not make the same mistake thinking alike. Search engine optimization is a concept that you have to fully grasp before you judge or criticize those who practice it.
Whenever we entitle a book, movie, blog post or whatever, we actually “optimize” it in order to attract the right audience and get rid of the kind of prospects who are not (or will never be) interested in what we have to offer or sell.
It is in our duty to make the Internet a better place and provide relevant content to right target audience. It is our responsibility to work with search engines (and benefit from their results and traffic) – because all Google wants is to separate the bad from the good.
Next time you hear someone trashing SEO, why not direct them to this post to change their view?
How I do on-page blog SEO:
You have to understand that my blog commenting SEO formula won’t work unless your blog home page is optimized for the right visitor. That means…
Your home page navigation bar title (what people see at the top of their browser) should include key terms related and highly-relevant to your overall content.
This is the first thing Google will show in their listing when indexing your blog or whatever page you optimize for.
My home page says…
Codrut Turcanu [the most productive Internet Marketing copywriter] – because I optimize for “Internet Marketing copywriter”. I want my visitors (new and returning) feel and perceive me as the #1 copywriter when it comes to Internet Marketing industry. And my content does the task.
In this regard, I also make sure my blog header is optimized, that’s why you see a similar text…
“Codrut Turcanu, the most productive Internet Marketing copywriter”
Why do I do this? Because:
I want to be relevant and avoid deceiving people
with wrong content or banner ads.
Google plays a key role on relevancy. I am able to rank in top 3 and maintain my spot not because I submit my links to all kinds of web 2.0 bookmarking sites, but because my content is relevant, thus when people click on my links, this makes Google consider ranking my blog higher in their SERP (search engine results page)
Not only that, but if your blog sidebar is content-relevant, that means if you’re showcasing the latest or other related posts, this helps visitor access your content faster. Do you think they’ll return to your blog more often? Definitely! I make an habit to show visitors relevant content in my blog’s sidebar, instead of pushing pop-ups or banner ads in their face.
When people come from Google (or other sites/blogs) and land on my blog, they don’t want to join my list, unless I particularly advertised a squeeze page. They don’t want to buy my product, unless I specifically wrote a product review blog post. All they are looking for is content, so I make it (stupid) EASY for them to access it.
When your visitors spend more time on your blog,
they will probably spend more time clicking
on your ads, and making you more money
In fact, that’s what statistics and common sense tell us. If you love spending more time with your friends, then it means you increase your chance to do more things altogether, expanding your relationship and taking it to the next level. It is the same case scenario in all the other type of relationship…
When you understand that business, life and marketing is built on and lives on identical principles (trust gaining and relationship building) you will unlock the keys to generating wealth in your life and in other people’s lives.
It is not about the numbers which counts, it is the quality of your content and relationship that is key.
Don’t tell me you have 10k followers if nobody clicks or re-tweets your message.
Don’t tell me you got 3k visitors a day if you nobody joins your list or comments on your blog.
Don’t tell me you’re making $5k a day if you’re not happy with what you do, indeed.
Just recently I noticed something amazing. Upon deciding to write in depth blog posts, I mean, highly-relevant and researched content (remember, as per my content marketing research formula it takes me up to 15 hours to create such articles you’re reading now, from A to Z: research, writing, editing, etc) visitors time spent on the blog doubled and bounce rate cut by 15%.
That means my relevant & awesome content made visitors stick with my blog twice as previous three months alone. Notice: your content has not only to be relevant, but red-hot too.
In both screen shots (before & after) you’ll notice that around 80% of visitors are new, first-time visitors. This tells a lot about the relevancy and helpfulness of your content. It’s not about you or me, it’s always about THEM (your readers and visitors) – always!
Step #2
Off-page blog SEO
This concept refers to the text and link you utilize to optimize your blog post for, on other relevant blogs, sites and social media channels.
You’re doing off-site SEO whenever you link back to your blog from a YouTube video description, EzineArticles resource box url/hyperlinked key term, or blog comment/”name” field key word.
All these should be highly-targeted. That means if my home page is on-site optimized for “Internet Marketing copywriter”, then I want to make sure all the keyword links and key terms that link back to my home page, or whatever blog post I want to rank for, should utilize this long-tail keyword.
Since I prefer to target 3, 4 and 5 words and not one or two words, I always rank high in Google for relevant key terms. Although I get less traffic, at least all the hundreds key terms I list for in top 3 will outreach the volume of one or two one-word or two-word keywords I’d rank for.
However, ranking for one or two word keywords is a myth, a dream, non sense. Why would you want to do it? First of all: everybody is trying to act dumb online and spend $20+ per generic, short terms, thus competition is fierce. And the traffic is very low quality.
You (I, and others) don’t search for “copywriting” when we want to learn how to write a pitch, but type in “how to write a sales letter”. You probably won’t search for “copywriting guru” if you wanted to hire an IM related copywriter, but type in “Internet Marketing copywriter”. You get the point.
Keep off-page relevant just as you’d do on-page optimization.
How I do off-page blog SEO:
Whenever I comment on highly-relevant blog (posts) I make sure to leave these details:
#1 – My brand name (“Codrut Turcanu” added by @ and a highly-relevant keyword) – I insert the keyword only if the blog allows (hint: look for “CommentLuv” plugin enabled blogs and they should allow such practice)
#2 – My email (in case I want to continue the conversation if other people reply to the post I comment on or if they say something about my own comment)
I always subscribe for “email updates” otherwise I would sound like I go to the party just to eat, drink and say goodby, showing no interest in others, and what they have to say.
Never comment “what a great post, thank you!” but add to the conversation, otherwise, you better leave without commenting at all.
#3 – My blog home page url (or blog post link)
Some blog platforms don’t allow links other than the domain name root url. If you include for e.g. yourdomainname.com/your-blog-post your comment might not reach the moderator.
Whenever you comment on a blog and include such link, make sure it says… “your comment is waiting for moderation” or something like that, otherwise it won’t go through, and you’ll have to write again, and submit it with your domain root link.
Sometimes it shows as “duplicate comment” for the same reason. Wait a few minutes, clear your cookies and comment again, if you really want to leave your feedback on that blog.
How to Access 35 High-Traffic Blogs: reaching a combined 500,000+ growing Audience…
I scoured the web to compile a word document list (“High-Traffic Blogs I Love”) revealing 35 high-popular blogs (LINKS) in the Internet Marketing niche (topics range from blogging, make money online and affiliate marketing) that I follow consistently. I need to keep me up to date on my industry but also I enjoy sharing my wisdom with new crowds.
I spent 30 hours (5 days in row) compiling this list and couldn’t run my blog commenting SEO formula without it. The blogs found inside range from page rank 2 to page rank 6. Content is often updated and the growing number of comments makes these blog communities amazing and fun to interact with.
Some blogs get 100+ of comments per post. You might recognize pro bloggers such as John Chow and Yaro Starak, just to name two of my favorites. You should see the list, it includes 33 others.
I often visit these blogs (daily and weekly) to share my value-added comments with their respective target audience. If you have a blog that has anything to do with online marketing or “make money online”, SEO or maybe blogging? Then you need to put your hands on the list – or spend 30 hours as I did, hoping to find the exact blogs I’ve found.
I’d say the list is gold nugget even if you’re just promoting affiliate programs, you could participate in the comments section with your short url (e.g. http://bit.ly – sign-up, is free!) and re-direct these links to whatever products you’re promoting.
Don’t make the mistake to think this is the same old list of blogs that are ranked in a directory or “TOP” lists…
You won’t find most of these blogs online that easily, unless you want to spend days as I did…
I didn’t add other information inside other than the links, which is enough. To help me save a ton of time when commenting or visiting these blogs, I created a “bookmark” folder in my Firefox browser called “Blogs I Love” and added all the 35 links.
I spend 3 to 5 hours a day, two or three days a week reading and commenting on those blogs. And because I have created this folder, they’re just one click away from me!
Now, if you ask about the DO-follow, you should know…
Some blogs are do-follow, others are not. The majority are CommentLuv enabled so you can benefit from direct visitors that click on your “latest post” links, and not only on your “brand name or keyword”.
A good portion of these blogs are Twitter profile enabled – meaning they allow your Twitter link, thus increasing your followers count and quality overtime. This option alone brought me new connections and friends that I now frequently email with, guest post and help each others make more money online.
It’s not about the numbers, it’s about the quality of your contacts though, and guess what!
I don’t blog comment for the sake of
getting a do-follow back link
I comment because I want to; I like meeting new people, making friends and interacting within these blog communities.
You cannot believe how many connections you could make and how much your traffic will grow!
I cannot resist to SHARE my knowledge, ASK questions, LEARN new things. And this 35 blogs list is what helps me achieve all this and more (including traffic and back-links)
Am I crazy? No. I don’t comment strictly on do-follow blogs. If I do this, I lose my other target audience who is as relevant as on “do-follow” blogs. And I want to reach the target audience in the first place, regardless if a blog is do-follow, or not.
Yup. I love to share what I know with other relevant audiences; I don’t keep it for my blog only. I want more people know what I know, do what I do, and reap the rewards.
If you want my 35 blogs list I can let you have it for only $29, one-time. I spent 30 hours compiling it, and it’s my secret blog commenting weapon. Cannot allow everybody access it, unless they really want it. So a measly $29 is what proves they appreciate my work.
If you want to tap into a growing audience of 500,000+ visitors and blog readers, click here to buy the 35 blogs list (by card or paypal) – you get instant download access (no opt-in list to join!)
I reserve the right to sell my list to 10 people or less, is that precious! Are you one of them?
If you have something to say about my Blog Commenting SEO formula:How I Get Top 3 Google Blog Rankings and Free Blog Traffic, then join the conversation. The ball is in your court now…
P.S. I forgot to mention that my 35 blogs list (“High-Traffic Blogs I Love”) also includes 3 bonus links and I constantly update the document with new high-popular, high-traffic blogs. Some of which you never heard of!
P.P.S. This company offers SEO Consulting if you’re interested in such a service.