How to Write Successful Online Reviews

Because we offer a special new capsule in the HubTool that augments reviews on HubPages with star ratings (which can feature either an author’s rating or readers’ ratings), you may be thinking about publishing some review Hubs. Before you proceed, keep in mind that it is not necessarily easy for online reviews to succeed. Reviews are a very competitive type of online content. Many sites have established clear dominance over specific review types and it can be very difficult to outrank these established experts. That said, there are quite a few simple things you can do to work around these barriers and create better, smarter, more successful resources. In this week’s Online Writing Insider (How to Write a Successful Online Review), we share some tips on doing just that. We hope you find them to be helpful!

General Review Tips:

• Write reviews on products, places, and services that are not already extensively reviewed online.
• Only write reviews on products, places, and services that you have experienced firsthand- be genuine!
• Make sure the words you use in your review reflect the words people would search for when looking for information on this product, place, or service.
• Make it on a collection of things and write a more thorough review on the best product.
• Write the review from the perspective of an audience that is potentially interested (e.g. mothers, students, whoever you are).
• Do competitive research before: see what reviews already exist.

Product Review Tips:

• Include as many original photos as possible.
• Add a specific slant to your review (e.g. Can the X Phone Survive a Mother of 3? An Honest Review).

Place Review Tip:

• Instead of making your review just about a place (high competition) address the type of place (e.g. dog friendly restaurants).

Service Review Tip:

• Make your review for the service as specific as possible – if it is part of a chain, be sure to specify which local area in you received this service.

Are there any other article types you would like some tips on writing? Tell us about them! Send us suggestions, questions, and feedback in an email to podcast-at-HubPages-dot-com. We hope to hear from you!