EDIT: Here’s a cool review theme with a custom ‘review’ post type… a different approach to using the plugin described below.
These review sites convert like crazy and using WordPress and a slick plugin by Dan Grossman make them pretty simple to setup. It’s not like a review site where you give your opinion about 3-5 similar products and create a Buy Now link for each one (which is also a high converting type of site), it’s quite a bit different. The reviews on these sites are actually from customers of the products (or services). The example given on the Review Site Plugin page is a review site for web hosting providers, but it can be for virtually anything. You can go very micro niche on these types of sites. You could have a review site for just Windows Hosting Providers for example or hotels in Windsor, Ontario, Canada as another viable example.
After you have decided on a product or service you need a theme. A one-column theme works best. The plugin includes customized themes with the download. They are customized for easy integration of each element of the review plugin. Additionally, the themes have built-in support for the hReview microformat! If you aren’t sure what that is, I’ll tell you this, it equates to loads more traffic from the search engines!
On the actual post page is where you will put the description of the product. In the comments area is where a past customer of the product leaves their reviews….or a customer that returns after purchasing it through your site, or in the case of the hotel site…booking a hotel room online.
The comments display like they normally would but the the ratings are integrated into the theme files. You decide before hand using the review plugin admin interface as to what you would like the customer to base the ratings on and what the maximum values are. It’s pretty flexible. The software will then calculate and display an average of the ratings. It will also determine by the ratings if it was a positive or negative review and add those up as well.
To get the ball rolling on the reviews, depending on the niche, there should be a forum for the company or service you are promoting. For example, if you have a hosting company reviews site, you might go to the LunarPages and the GoDaddy forums and ask customers to drop by and tell you what they think about their hosting package. You will get mixed reviews naturally. Do not filter out the bad ones. It’s important that the reviews are genuine. It will improve conversions if there are also bad reviews, believe me.
If you decide to set one of these up and run into any snags, leave a comment and I will try to lend a hand. If you like the hotel idea (and it works well) and you want to set one up for your city, I use TravelNow.com as the affiliate in case you are wondering (same company as Hotels.com). Good luck!
Take a look at some of the other features of the plugin here or download it here…. OR…. TRY THIS REVIEW THEME
May 20, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Nice timing on the post!
I am just about to start a web hosting reviews site and was just about to start on a design and figure out how to pretty much do exactly what this plugin does!
Thanks for the post, you just saved me an a**load of time ;)
Jarrets last blog post..Setting Goals
May 20, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Glad to hear it! If you have any questions along the way, you know where I’m at
May 21, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Thanks for the link. I will definitely give this a shot. Looks like it could be a great solution.
Good blog you got going here. Keep em going strong.
Nick Reeses last blog post..Introducing One Minute Take-Aways
May 21, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Appreciate it Nick.
June 6, 2008 at 2:48 am
I love this idea.
I was thinking to give it a try to for the hotels for an european city, but i was wondering if there isn’t already to strong competition: venere.com , tripadvisor.com , globalhotelreview.com .
In your opinion is it worth for a well known european city ?
ciao
alexander
Big Bloggers last blog post..Win 3 iPhones with Upstartblogger
June 6, 2008 at 11:00 am
Hey Big Blogger…
I don’t think that any niche or any product or service would be impossible. Some are easier than others, granted…but if you look at the Keyword Niche Market you can tackle any niche (IMO)…Maybe I’ll make a case study about that shortly when I’m not so swamped…check out the linked videos in the post to see how.
Thanks for the comment.