It doesn’t help my anxiety, that’s for sure.

So I need a system. Perhaps a simply mail/filing system for paperwork and maybe something as simple as some sort storage containers, preferably with dividers, for the various items I need to review. Reviewers, how do you keep it all straight?

That is exactly why the majority of the reviews on this blog were simply things I had purchased. Not too long ago, another blogger asked me for contact information for a handful of brands but I’d purchased all of the items, except one, by myself. That concept seems pretty foreign to some, especially when it’s so easy to find PR folks and send pitches and get people to send you free stuff in exchange for a blog post. If you expect that every post you write is going to be about something that you didn’t have to pay for, you’re going to start focusing on your blog as a business, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, you reviews can quickly start to suffer because of it.

Or maybe your reviews already suck. Not sure if this is true for you? Read on.

Your “review” is actually just a reposting of the press release.

A good review reiterates important information but claims and hype are easy to find–online, on TV, in print and even from company representatives themselves. Your blog should tell us something more because you’ve used the product unless, wait..

You didn’t use the product

You cannot post a review unless you’ve seen, touched, smelled and maybe even licked a product. Maybe you didn’t get to keep it but you can’t post a review if the closest you’ve gotten the item was the freakin’ press release. Remember how I said that the review should tell us something more? (Look up!) That something more isn’t how you think the product would work if you actually used it.

You didn’t spend enough time with the product or service.

Actually, a lot of reviewers are on me with this one, I think. Heads up if you’re a representative. A thorough review is impossible if you can only use the product once. So stop sending us single bags of tea! And reviewers? Stop accepting single bags of tea. Let your contact know that it’s not acceptable, not good business practice and just plain silly. What do they expect?! With that said, some products have a learning curve and sometimes you need to read the manual and if you don’t have time for that, you shouldn’t be writing a review in the first place.

Your post contains more pictures than text.

I know I don’t tend to use many pictures and I rarely take pictures of my review products because, in my opinion, that’s the point of review–to paint a picture with words. I like to see pictures when reading reviews, especially if the concept is difficult to understand from words alone, if a product is elaborate, if you want to show size, if the product looks nothing like it’s described and the list goes on. Nevertheless, your review probably shouldn’t contain a picture of every step of the way or every minuscule detail. We get the picture, literally. I recognize that this is based on a personal preferences but it has a good basis: we all know that Blogger-hosted blogs and review blogs meet in the place on a Venn diagram that is known as “the slowest loading part of the Internet bar none.”

Your review is overly optimistic.

I like to rip apart products. I want you to know every possible complaint a person could have, no matter how trivial. I’m that sort of person. You don’t have to be but if you love every product you ever review, I’m not going to view you as a trusted resource.

You didn’t post your review.

I have a policy. I refuse to work with companies who can’t tolerate a negative review. At the end of the day, it is publicity for them, but I cannot stress enough that the purpose of this blog is to help other consumers. Therefore, I won’t even think of working with a company that requires approval before I post or who bars me from posting a negative review at all. You know what? Not every product is awesome. I’m sorry. It’s true.

I consider companies and bloggers who avoid the negative to be unethical. Seriously. If I knew these people in real life, I’d literally slap them on the hands the way a mother does to scold a small child. Especially those who voluntarily withhold negative reviews. What are you thinking?! A negative review is just as important as a positive one and a company that can take one in strive or, better yet, create something better based on criticisms is exactly the kind of company I want to work with and promote.

Bloggers, I strongly encourage you to reconsider working with companies who would ask this of you (Even better, give those companies a schooling!) and recognize that you’re under no obligation to love every product (in fact, I don’t encourage this behavior as explained above). Not only that but you’re actually hurting the consumer and wasting any time you spent using a product or writing up a review, when you don’t post it.

In the mean time, I just thought I’d mention something that I have become aware of here. I know when selling a product or service, a company wants to target certain people. Sometimes these demographics are age, career or gender based and sometimes they are location based. I have noticed that almost all of the car insurance commercials I see here feature a representative who is Mexican American and, frequently with an accent. I’m not sure if this angle is effective. It must be because it’s so prevalent. Maybe I’m just used to the world catering to us white folks but do people really care about the skin colour of someone talking about auto insurance quote during a one minute commercial? I mean, what the hell does that have to do with the quality of the service?

I’m really excited about an upcoming opportunity, however. I will be able to review a pan from the Rachael Ray Cookware at Cookware.com. I chose a perfect sized “brownie pan” because I don’t have one. I’ve been using a larger cake pan for years and they always turn out too thin. So, I’ll be able to have good brownies. Not quite home made, though. I still use a mix. ;)

• DeviantArt Prints
• Rubbermaid 40-Piece Easy Find Lid Food Storage Set
• Drano Dual Force
• Zombieland

I will also be announcing a giveaway in the next couple days. It’s my first, so I’m excited! Even more so because it will be Halloween themed!

Professorial Communication: Now, I know that as reviewers we are technically asking for free product to review but that does not mean we deserve any less courtesy regarding communication. Whether you communicate through letter, phone or e-mail, you are expected to act in a professional manner, as long as you are representing a business. This includes courtesy e-mails (with greetings and signatures) in a timely manner or returning calls only during appropriate hours and getting our names correct. Furthermore, we may say things you do not necessarily like things you have to say but you should always remain calm and return our messages. It’s only courtesy.

Realistic Expectations and Appreciation: I know I’m not every blogger but just receiving a product for free does not guarantee a positive review. A quality product is the only thing that gets you that. If your reviewer has a valid criticism you should take it in stride and be thankful, yes thankful, for their thoughts. If you don’t know how you can improve, how can you make a better product? Furthermore, if you don’t want to improve upon your product, someone else will. And when it comes to appreciation, recognize that all bloggers are unique and have something different to offer. We are individuals.

Specific Instructions: Let us know if you want specific links or a certain characteristic of your product highlighted. As long as you don’t want us to lie, most bloggers are more than happy to help you out. If there is something about your product that makes it really appealing, chances are we want our readers to know, too.

Packaging and Delivery: Reviewers don’t expect products to be hand delivered, tomorrow by George Clooney (but, you know, I wouldn’t complain). We do like to be kept in the loop with shipping numbers and prefer that items will ship within an appropriate amount of time. Furthermore, packaging should be complete enough that products arrive in usable condition. Having to return products (especially on our own dime) tends to sour those consumer relations that you’re working so hard to build.

Honesty: This is a biggy. At the end of the day, all those corporate giants are made up of people just like you or I. I know that, everyone does. Ultimately, those people are as imperfect as you or I. I know that, too. Mistakes will happen. Products will not be perfect. Misunderstandings occur. The list goes on. I understand that and I can even accept it as long as a company is forthright about it. Glossing over those little mistakes is a big mistake when people find out about it and word of mouth in the blogosphere can easily reduce your company image. The same goes for facts about your products. Your product may not do everything and the laundry but I’ll be much happier to know what it does do than some unfounded claim. Misleading advertising does no one any good. Just tell us the facts, please.

I think you’ll find that when both bloggers and companies follow some common sense guidelines, the result is a smooth working consumer relation based on trust which can help everyone involved.

Back to that meet-up (which I believe Gary attended?). It was the fifth annual conference and I saw a link to this article in my Twitter updates about some debate which occurred there. To sum it up, Mom blogs obviously make up a significant portion of BlogHer members and are a growing “corner” of the blogosphere as well. Companies have started taking notice of blogs for PR, especially this group. There’s a lot of free product (or even rent-a-product, sometimes) and many of the giveaways I recently blogged about are possible because of this.

Of course, free product generally means reviews (many of those giveaways occur on what I would consider review blogs, like this one). Apparently, free product often means “positive reviews, no matter what”. I had never considered that. I have always been more than honest when writing my reviews, whether I paid for the product or got it for free. I am not afraid to write a bad review and have more than once. I am difficult to please and that is why some people appreciate my reviews. They know if I approve of something, it must be damned good and I am glad to help in that way.

But if a blogger is writing a review that is good simply because they’re excited for free product, then they are failing. They are failing themselves, their blogs, their readers and, yes, even the company who sent free product. A “false positive” review doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t help the consumer make an educated shopping decision nor does it help a company make improvements on its products. It doesn’t help the reputation of the blogger. It is worthless.

It may also soon be illegal. Last month, a few articles floated around the ‘net like this one on CNET about how the Federal Trade Commission is considering policing blog reviews in return for payments or freebies. It initially caused some uproar in one community I am apart of but it seems like the only people who will run into problems are those who give false positives and/or do not disclose their practices so it seems to me that those who are honest have nothing to worry about.

And those who aren’t so honest? Have nothing worth reading. I don’t understand what the debate is. How can anyone argue that anything positive can come from being less than truthful without constantly waiting for a wallop from Mom? Especially when they are moms themselves?

If you’re with me on this one and, quite honestly, I don’t know why you wouldn’t be, you might want to keep an eye out for these reivews. I think keeping a couple things in mind can help you detect them.

Specifics

Fake reviews tend to gloss over the specifics you can only get from using a product a time or two. They may only list biased information and advertising claims. A good review, whether positive or negative, looks at specifics like the 5Ws (Who, What, Where, When, Why and let’s throw in a How for good measure ;)) or how the product appeals to all 5 senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, and audio).

All Pros

Rarely do I run across a product that has absolutely no cons. There’s always room for improvement.

Lack of Information

False positive reviews are often part of posts with giveaways and other PR type material so don’t be surprised if the “review” is no more than a few sentences and contains very little information (whether specs or experience) at all.

Too Much Feeling

Over enthusiasm at simply having the opportunity may be a bad sign. I find bloggers who can “take it in stride” are more seasoned and better reviewers, overall. They know how to be objective(An emotion-based review usually makes a poor product review in general – not just a false positive).

These are all good to keep in mind if you are a review blogger, too! It’s probably easier to fudge your way through a fake review but a good review is also good content. As a visitor, I appreciate a decent review better and you can bet that I’ve noticed a distinct difference in review quality between the different communities I am apart of (although, a review doesn’t have to be falsely positive to be bad). Maybe I’ll write about that in the future, eh?