Can You Get Paid for Writing Reviews and Make Money as a Review Writer?

“What?… what are you saying? Earning money as review writer? Hah… You must be joking, right?”

Is this the feeling you got when you read the title of today’s blog? If yes, then let me pinch you slightly and give you a wake-up call to believe that the topic of our discussion today is not any kind of bluff.

Yes, there are thousands of people out there who have make an undisclosed amount of money writing reviews on anything under the sun and I mean literally anything; you could review movies seen recently, the new ice-cream flavor in town or a new Apple product you have used or maybe, a detective agency you hired to snoop around your better half! The possibilities are endless….

Earning money as a review writer has become quite easy and I will guide you through the process of what review writing is and how you can get paid for writing reviews.

Sounds interesting? Well I am sure most of us never thought of earning by reviewing products of daily use. Let’s see how this making money online strategy works…

What are Reviews?

In your house, do you have a refrigerator or a washing machine? Or do you use a mobile phone? Yes? What do you feel about these products? Are they working according to their potential and giving you the best return from your investment? Is their functionality the same as what its manufacturers had claimed when you bought it?

Here, your view can either be assertive or negative according to the product you use. And mind you, your view actually counts because its what you have to pen down as a review writer.

As a review writer, you are expected to present both the positive and negative aspects of a product. Doing so, you are helping countless other buyers to make an informed decision about products.

There are various online companies that hire review writers and the pay rate varies depending on the kind of reviews you provide and how the readers’ respond to them.

At this point, you have to note down four things:

1. Don’t mistake review writing as performing online survey services. While online surveys can be faked, review writing needs to be truthful, that is, you cannot write a review until you have used the product for some time.
2. It is not necessary for you to purchase every product you want to review. Depending on your product choice, the company you have signed up with sends you products for ‘testing’ or you can associate yourself with an unlimited amount of product manufacturers, ask them to send you products and you can review them. This second category of review writing is best suited for those people who have active blogs with a good amount of readership.
3. Never ever sign up with review writing companies that ask you to pay upfront. I have told my readers countless times – Never Pay for Receiving Work. You work, you are paid and that’s it!
4. Reviews are not for product promotions. You are not asked to promote the product so that it can be sold. You are only asked to give your OPINION and EXPERIENCE. Don’t promote it.

Earning Money as Review Writer

Review writing for any product has become trendy these days with the evolution of Internet. Getting paid to give honest feedback was unimaginable even two decades back.

There are many entrepreneurs who setup websites, line them up with products and allows visitors or review writers to write about the features and functionality of those products.

If you think that you are a subject matter expert for any particular subject and you have very good writing skills, you can provide your reviews on such kinds of review websites.

However, either expertise on a subject matter or good writing skills can also work in your favor as you can easily learn any of them. And you are even good to go if you do not know anything about Subject and Writing. In that case, you have to spend a bit more time on learning both before you can start writing reviews to earn money.

With good writing skills and expertise in subject matter, you should also know the format of a product review and what exact points you must mention while providing a review. Learning this will make you a professional review writer and with this knowledge, you will find many clients for yourself. So, let us learn how to write a professional product review.

Writing a Product Review

Anything that can be bought or sold is known as a product whether it be a big Villa, an apartment or even a small thread. While writing a review, there are various important points you cannot afford to miss. These are:

1. What exactly does the user want to read or know in the review?
As a matter of fact, you can craft the best possible review with best metaphors but until the time you don’t cater to what the reader wants to read in your review, you have not done a good job.

So, while writing a review, think from the perspective of a reader. Think what a person would be interested in before buying a product. Or what information you looked for or expected before purchasing the product yourself and compare your expectations with the results, and you have the material for a dynamite review.

2. Decide the matter that you want to carry to the reader

If you are a subject matter expert (as a review writer, you must learn to be), there is no doubt you will have comprehensive knowledge of the product but the main thing is how you present the information. You can do it in both ways: complex way or simple way. I prefer the simple way. Complicated reviews can confuse the reader. Therefore, the best way is to lay the facts bare for the readers and allow them to make their decision.

3. Be ruthless

Reviews are not about showing off your writing skills. Yes, certain amount of creativity is necessary to retain the readers’ interest but don’t make the language all flowery and/or too big of words. Write simple sentences. Always remember your readership.

4. Write about the subject matter, not you!

Check out any page of Amazon.com customer reviews and you’ll come across people who will mention their stories about how some ‘family friend’ suggested a book, but not quite sure because that ‘family friend’ was not a bookworm himself… but still had the gall to suggest a book and how you bought the book just to prove him otherwise…OMG! Who wants to know such stupid things???

As mentioned before, a reader, or I would rather say, a review reader wants to read all about how the product performs than your account of how you came to acquire it.

Finding Review Writing Projects:

Finding review writing projects is no big deal. There are two options: first, you can search for online review writing websites or product sites needing review writers on a daily basis; secondly, if you want to try this vocation as a freelancer, you can contact various online freelance writing companies like ReviewMe.com, odesk.com, freelancer.com, elance.com and others where you can bid on short-term review writing projects. Either way, make sure you are paid at par, that is, don’t sell your services cheap just to beat out the competition or gain more clients.

Like other ways of advertising your services online, you can target social networking sites to promote your review writing skills.

The smart thing about review writing is that it costs hardly a few bucks as an expense, which includes your Internet cost; everything else is almost free.

Once you grow your stature as a review writer, you can form your own team of review writers under your payroll. Add a few more languages apart from English to your skills and you will be one of those few writers out there who can write reviews in different languages and that will grow your stature globally.

All in all, earn money writing reviews is quite easy given that you have the willingness to learn the subject matter and have good writing skills.

Leave a comment below if you are a review writer or just to give other readers here at Income Insiders some suggestions how you make money online writing reviews!