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How To Make Your Review Fit In And Stand OutAug 14 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line With these tips, you will be on your way to success at Epinions.
When you sit down to write a review or editorial for Epinions, what's the first thing on your mind? You're probably thinking. "What should I do to make this review informative and entertaining?” More accurately "How can I make it fit in to the Epinions community and still stand out?” A task that may seem daunting at first, especially when you're competing with people who have been here from the beginning and already have a 600-review head start. I can't exactly call myself an expert in the field. But I do have some tips. 1: Lurk before you write. Don't just hop in and start putting up reviews the minute you find the site. Lurk around a while and read a large number of the highly placed reviews before you begin. In particular pay attention to the reviews written by the advisors in the particular categories. In the long run, you will most likely find yourself reading more reviews than writing them. I myself first located Epinions in November of 2000. After finding it I lurked around the site for about three months before I signed up and started writing reviews. While I'm not suggesting you wait that long, it's still good advice to not jump in too quickly. Test the water first. 2: Carve out your own niche. When you start writing focus on things you know a great deal about. For instance, I write primarily music and movie reviews because that's what I'm familiar with. Don't limit yourself too much. But don't spread yourself too far. The trick is to carve out a niche of your own. A good example of this is a well-known Epinions reviewer who is a music advisor. He reviews albums that are generally thought of as bad and gives them their due. His focus is mainly on bad 80s music. Another example is in the category of movies. Anyone can write a lot of movie reviews. But not everyone out there attempts to review all of Tim Burton's movies. 3: Don't limit yourself to just 100 words. The minimum amount of words required in a review is 100. But don't just go for the minimum. It's hard to describe something in just 100 words. Don't be afraid to be lengthy. 4: Quality not quantity On the other hand don't substitute length for quality. You can put up a lengthy review that gives only a minimum of information. Don't do that. 5: Choose a good title. I know I elaborated on this in an essay under the Choosing A Title For Your Review topic. But this is an important topic. Pick a good title. One that's informative and eye catching. An example. When I wrote my most recent movie review (Of "Natural Born Killers") I came up with a title that I felt would draw readers in and also summed up the themes of the movie. The title was "It's a serious business. Murder, that is". The title would catch people’s eyes and would also give some indication of the films themes about the tabloid media and the American appetite for sleaze. 6: Use at least a modicum of decent spelling and grammar. If you want people to take your review seriously, you need to take time to polish it. That includes make sure that your review has good spelling and grammar. While many Epinions regulars aren't picky about an occasional typo or wording error, a high number of them do not look good. After I write a review, I run it through Microsoft Word's spelling and grammar checker. I also proofread the review to make sure it is clear. 7: Develop your own distinctive writing style. This is perhaps the most important point. Develop a distinctive writing style that will make your review stand out. Don't just list details about the product; try to make the review interesting. In other words, be entertaining and informative. For example, in my review of Bio-Dome I wrote, "If you have the choice of watching Bio-Dome or having your fingernails pulled out one by one, go with the fingernail pulling. It's a lot less painful." Conclusion. With these tips, you will be on your way to success at Epinions.  |
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