Now I know there is a stickied guide on reviews, but I felt that it missed something, so here we go:
A quality review. They are not that hard to find, but they are harder to make. You can easily separate the best from the worst. How?
A quality review is always detailed, unbiased, critical and well written (good use of language and grammar). A bad review is usually biased, short on details, wrong (fact flaws) and poorly written. Now you can easily see that these are completely opposite things.
Now you want to do something more than reading reviews, you want to write them. You want to express yourself and help people the way people helped you. You know how a good review is supposed to be, so what can make you write a bad one? A lot! but don’t worry, read on.
You can start out by making a good setup for the review. And make sure that it covers all necessary fields. If you are uncomfortable with the setup you are using, make a new one. It’s necessary that you like your own setup.
You need to spend a lot of time. Play with the object you are reviewing for a week. Use the object for different things and see how it performs at them. Take notes if needed.¨
Be as detailed as possible. Get everything you can find about the object in your review. Include the specs (if there are any) and give the sources while you are at it. And while being detailed, you have to be really critical to the object you are reviewing. You can’t just look at the ground and guess what’s under it, you have to dig deep and write down every single flaw you find.
Never base the review on your own biased opinion. Base the review on the object itself and how it performs. You can include your own opinion, but don’t make your own opinion a fact. Don’t say “I really like how this yoyo plays.” say “This yoyo plays smooth and floaty, which is something I personally like.”
Rating systems. You might think that a cool, flashy rating system will improve your review and give a precise measuring of the object’s quality, but it will probably just show your own biased opinion. Let the readers make up their own opinion about the object. Your job is not to give the object a rating, your job is to bring out all the facts.
If you want to include some pictures, be my guest. If you don’t want to include pictures, include pictures. The readers need to see the object, and they also need to see the object compared to others. This lets the readers know exactly how the object looks, which is extremely important.
Always write with proper grammar. It does not have to be perfect to the last detail, but easy to read. And part your review into paragraphs. This makes the review easier to read while make it appear a lot tidier.
Follow these steps and you will be spawning good reviews in no time. If you want a picture of a how a good review looks like, I highly suggest that you check out the review section at yoyoskills.com as it contains the best yoyo-related reviews.
Good luck!
