Once you have a product in hand to test, it is time to write the review. How and what you write should obviously be in your own words and style of writing. However, there are a few things that every blogger who writes reviews needs to be aware of. Transparency. Disclosure. Honesty.


You should always tell your readers that X COMPANY sent you a free product {service, trip, etc} to review. You can do this within the post and I also recommend that you add some text at the bottom of the post that very clearly states the same thing. This is important for several reasons. One, your readers. They need to know how you acquired the product, if you have a relationship with the company, and so on for there to be a trusting relationship. Trust and mutual respect is paramount in every relationship--including the one that you have with your readers. You lose your readers' trust--you lose your readers.

Secondly, the FTC has revised their rules on online advertising and endorsements, which can mean up $11,000 fines for bloggers who fail to properly disclose their relationships. It is important that you read the FTC's new guidelines and that you make sure to follow them! I also recommend that you have a blanket review policy, terms of use, or disclaimer on your blog. You can read my Terms of Use HERE. You are more than welcome to use it for your blog as well under a couple of conditions: 1. Change the personal information {i.e. name, blog name, urls, city and state, etc} 2. At the bottom of the Terms of Use, you will see the following text, which you must also include if you choose to use the document:

This Terms of Service and Site Disclaimer was formed with the help of:
Giovanni Di Sauro
Kim Grabinski

One question that I have been asked is "What do I do if I dislike the product? Do I still review it? What do I tell the company?" What I do is let the company know of my concerns, suggestions on how to improve the product, let them know that I will NOT be blogging about the product, and offer to send the product back if they would like. Some people criticize bloggers who don't publish negative reviews, but I honestly don't see the problem. I consider what I do as product recommendations. If I see value in something, then I tell my readers about it. If I hate it, then I skip it. Magazines do this all the time. That being said, don't be afraid to include constructive criticism or suggestions on improving the product in your reviews. For instance, sometimes a product will be valuable for one group of people, but will not be for another. Example: I wrote a review for the Boon Potty Bench a while back. It is an excellent potty for girls, but the opening may be too small for some boys so I made sure to let my readers know that.

One thing that I want to stress is to not be afraid to tell a company or pr rep that you dislike the product. Some bloggers fear that the company or pr rep will stop working with them or take them off their "list". Yes, a few may get upset, but the truth is that most companies or pr reps will really appreciate your honesty. This brings me to my next point--you can avoid most of these issues by only agreeing to review a product when you truly feel that you or your readers will love it. Granted, it is hard to know 100% before you receive the product, but you can make sure to heavily screen and research the products you are pitched or that you ask to review before you say yes or write a company asking for the review. Yes, it does mean that you will have to say NO to a lot of pitches that pr reps and companies send you. That's ok. I say no to more than 75% of the pitches that I receive. I am comfortable with the words No, thank you and you should be too . Companies and pr reps are not going to stop working with you because you say no. Thank them {the company or pr rep} for the opportunity, but let them know that you will have to pass this time. Reassure them that you would like to work with them on future campaigns that are a better fit for your blog. It's as easy as that. The point is to never, ever tell your readers that you like something when you don't.