Except if you are a software company like G2, if you start a review blog, it's because you want to make money from blogging.
This means any guide you are going to follow in building it must be tailored to the purpose of you making money from your review blog, and that's what this blog post is all about.
A review blog is traditionally different from other blogs such as a mom blog or a fitness blog.
So, I'm going to take you through the right way to build a review blog and turn it into a revenue-generating business within a short time.
7 Steps to start a review blog
If you have no experience building or running a review blog before, follow this guide step by step to see the maximum benefit of the post.
Choose an industry to focus on
Well, unless you are as big as Amazon, you cannot review everything.
Even Amazon started with a specific industry: books.
This information isn't as technical as it is a mindset, and it's indispensable if you are going to have success running a review blog.
So, the first step you need to take is to figure out which niche your review blog is going to specialize in.
Is this going to be a book review blog, or a sports review one?
Here are some things you must put into consideration before you finally decide on which niche your review blog should focus on:
- Am I good enough to create offbeat content about this thing?
- Am I passionate about it enough to create content consistently about it?
- What are the sellable things I can review in this industry?
- Is it profitable to sell these things?
- Does this industry have affiliate programs I can join?
- What channel am I going to use to promote my review blog if I go into it?
- Can I honestly compete in this industry and succeed?
Every single question asked here is necessary if you want to succeed as a review blogger.
While the how-to matters, if you start a review blog without first sorting these questions out, you are setting yourself up for failure.
So, think critically, and let's begin the building, which is the next step.
Get a domain name
For a site to be found on the Internet, it needs a domain name.
We also call it a website address, and as you know, no one can be without a location.
A website address is your site's domain name and it's what people will type in their browser in order to find you.
Zapier.com is an example of a website address, and so you need to get one.
This will normally cost you between $16 — $24 maximum. It's actually very cheap.
If you want to get it through my recommendation, I can show you how to get it free for the first year on Bluehost.
I will do that in the next section, but before we get into it, here are some rules you should have in mind before you purchase a domain name:
- Use a name that's easy to remember.
- Don't make it too long.
- Get a .com name if you can.
- Make your domain name your website's name if you can.
- If you are registering your blog as a business, try and use the company name as a domain name if it's easy to do so.
If we are clear on all these, we can definitely proceed to the next step in building a review blog.
Get a hosting
A hosting provider grants you a space on their server to keep your website/blog and make it accessible to anyone from anywhere.
Remember that all the documents on your website will need to be stored somewhere on the Internet before everyone and not just you can access it.
A hosting provider is what gives you that, and that's what you need to do next.
There are many hosting providers out there, but I will simply recommend the one that I use: Bluehost.
Here is why I use Bluehost:
- 24/7 customer support
I have had issues with my websites a few times, and among the services I've used online, none is as responsive and helpful as Bluehost. Their customer support is live 24/7, literally, whether that's on a live chat or a phone call.
2. Very popular
I started using Bluehost because I see a lot of trusted bloggers and big content marketers are using them.
So, their popularity means they are more cautious about their product and can't risk having downtime or they'll annoy a lot of businesses.
They do have downtime, as everyone does, but rarely. In my three years of using their service, they've only experienced downtime once and it was quickly resolved.
So, go to Bluehost now and get a hosting plan.
Tab on Get Started.
Choose your hosting package. You can choose the cheapest one since you are just getting started. You can upgrade later when you start making money.
Now go choose a domain name.
Remember I told you I can help you get your domain name free for the first year?
In one of the two boxes displayed to you, you'll see where you can get a domain name if you don't already have one.
Type in your domain name and wait for it to check if it's available.
If someone else has chosen it, it will give you other suggestions.
If none of them is okay for you, you can keep tweaking it until you get a name that's available.
Some tricks you can use to tweak your domain name include adding some suffixes to your original name such as HQ, club, hub.
For example, softwareviewhub.com.
If none of that is available, you can change to other TLD like .net or .org. But .com is the best. Just make sure you don't go outside the three.
Now, that you have your domain name, it's time to go and insert your client and payment info.
Also, choose a plan between 12 months — 24 months — 36 months.
Choosing 36 months makes sense as it would save you a lot of money.
But you can start with the 12-month package if you aren't sure yet.
Next, create login info and password.
An email will be sent to you containing your login detail as you created it on Bluehost.
Log in to your Bluehost account and start building your blog.
On the left side, click on my Sites —-> Log into WordPress. Then insert your login information.
Once you are logged in, click on Create Website and follow the instructions.
Your website will be live in no time.
Design your review blog
Like I said in the beginning, if you want to start a review blog you'll make money from, you can't just follow the generic ideas of building a blog.
It has to be done in a unique way.
So, here goes.
Choose a theme
The kind of products/services you want to be reviewing will determine the kind of theme you'd use.
And your style of review is also a determinant.
Therefore, it is advisable that you go to theme forest and type search for "review blog."
It will show you a lot of examples that you can choose from.
Once you purchase one, download it and then upload it to your website. I will show you how to do that shortly.
If you are not willing to pay, you can settle for one of these free themes on WordPress, here is how to do it.
In your dashboard, go to Appearance. Then go to Theme.
You'll see some themes that came with your website. If you don't like them, click on add new and look up some themes you like better.
I can recognize Astra and Go, as they are good-looking, easy to customize, and responsive.
One other thing you must not forget when building a review blog is that you must choose a responsive theme.
A responsive theme is the one that's mobile-friendly and is equally good on a PC as well as an iPad.
This is important because most of your site users will do so on their mobile phones.
But you don't need to do any other thing to make that possible. As you choose your preferred theme, you'll see button that lets you test how your theme would look on a mobile.
Create essential pages
For a review blog, you'll need to create some important pages so that both search engines and humans can trust you.
Here are the essential pages you need to create:
Privacy policy
If you start a review blog and make a review of some products you'll want your readers to buy, chances are you'll be using affiliate marketing as well as adsense.
This means your website will be collecting a lot of user data which requires you to discuss how their data are used.
This doesn't mean you need to write a long boring privacy policy like most tech companies do.
You can simply create a privacy policy page where you make affiliate disclosure like I did at some point in this post.
You can also explain your sources of revenue and the type of data your website collects.
If that isn't sufficient for you, you can get some privacy policy templates online and edit them to suit your website's purpose.
About
Before users can trust your review completely, they need to know who you are and why you are qualified to write reviews on the things you are writing reviews about.
Create an 'About' page where you introduce yourself and why you are qualified to write about those things.
There are many other pages you want to create, but after the blog section of your site, these two are the most essential pages you need.
Start writing reviews
Finally, we are at the stage where you do what brings in the money: content creation.
Yes, content doesn't bring money directly. It brings audience and attention is the currency of the web.
So, you need to start creating blog posts that review products you care about.
Here is how to get content ideas.
Conduct keyword research
If you want readers to find your posts organically on Google, SEO is very important.
Keyword research is one of the most essential pillars of SEO.
Keyword research shows you sets of data such as search volume (the number of people that search for that topic on Google each month), keyword ideas (other phrases people are using to search for the same topic, or related topics), competition analysis, and so on.
This set of data enables you to identify opportunities for traffic, blog post ideas, as well as whether a topic is worth creating.
We use tools like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and Semrush to conduct keyword research. You can check any of the tools out whenever you are ready.
See where affiliate program exists
Aside from using keyword research to find keyword, you also need to see if the products you want to review has affiliate programs you can join.
The best way to do this is by going to the website of the product/service you want to review and look if they have an affiliate program.
Normally, this will be among the things they list on their menu bar in the website footer.
Otherwise, you could go to Google and type their name + affiliate program and see if Google shows you anything.
Once you see they have an affiliate program that makes sense, you can review that product.
Stalk your competition
Another way to get this right is by following the competition and see what they are talking about on their blog.
Don't copy their review but you can create a better review and promote it well.
Here are some product review sites you can follow to learn from.
Promote your review blog
Now that you built your review blog, you need to find an audience for it as they won't just appear out of the thing air.
That's where promotion comes in.
Steps to promote your review blog
SEO
Recall that I mentioned this earlier on?
If you want organic traffic, that is, the traffic you don't pay for, you can use SEO.
This means each time someone types a keyword on something you have reviewed on Google, your website is one of the first sites they'll see.
Doing SEO involves conducting keyword research, writing comprehensive articles, having a very fast and good-looking website, link-building, and so on.
You can learn more about SEO online.
Use Pinterest
A lot of people go to Pinterest to search for wonderful things, and the image-heavy style of the platform makes things really attractive.
You can open an account on Pinterest and promote your blog posts through it.
Create a community on social media
This is one of the benefits of having a niche.
If you have a specific niche you talk about a lot, repurpose your blog content to a tweet or a post on Facebook and direct people to the full review on your website.
You can also do the same on Instagram.
As your community grows, many people will go to your website to read honest reviews and eventually make a purchase.
There are several other ways to promote your review blog, but these ones should be enough to get you started.
Make money with your review blog
Making money is the reason why you wanted to start a review blog in the first place, so there is no escaping it.
Making money from a review blog, I believe, is quite a straightforward endeavor.
I'm not saying it is easy, but it is straightforward.
These are some of the ways to do it.
Join affiliate programs
I believe we have discussed affiliate programs earlier in this post.
The simple rule here is that you must ensure that the products you promote are products you trust or have personally used.
Also, they must be relevant to your blog's general overall theme. Otherwise can be disastrous.
Review sites depend on the users' trust to succeed. If your readers smell any lack of originality, they will leave your site for good.
Become a freelance review writer
One of the perks of blogging is that it makes you a better person in many ways.
You cannot run a successful blog without becoming a very good writer.
As blogging requires you to constantly write, the more you write, the better you become at it.
This can also become a service you sell to others and another source of income to you.
Nearly all bloggers have sold writing services at one point or another.
Join Google AdSense
Google AdSense is an advertising network you can join to display ads on your website.
You get a commission through each click on the ad by your website visitors.
It's one of the most popular ways of making money from blogging. But you should place ads on your website with caution as this can clutter up your website and annoy your visitors.
How to write a review on a blog?
How much do review blogs make?
