A Blogger's Guide to Product Reviews

Free stuff for sharing my opinion! Sign me up. That's the way many mommy bloggers view product reviews. Not so fast. Before you sit down to blog about a new stroller or a trendy line of onesies think about the opportunity: A well-written and well-executed review can boost the traffic on your site and increase your credibility.

Whether you are writing your first review or post number 5000, it never hurts to take a step back and talk about the art of a great product review. The Three E's--Experience, Educate, Edit-are the cornerstone of great blogging.

Experience: Testing is the most important phase of the process. A reviewer must have hands on experience. Don't try to write a review on something you've read about or glimpsed at a friend's house. Readers want to know details.

For example, I recently did a review of a device designed to heat and puree baby food. I'd seen the device demonstrated at a few trade shows and knew the basic idea. But I certainly wasn't qualified to write about the unit. When I got the sample, I set aside an evening for testing. I took copious notes on every phase of the process. How hard was it to assemble? Were all the parts included? Were the instructions clear? Only after I set the model up and tested a few recipes was I ready to sit down and write. And you know what? On close examination, I found the recipes vague and hard to follow. Without my testing, I wouldn't have been able to share this knowledge with readers.

TIP: Keep a notepad and camera nearby when doing your reviews.

Educate: Be as clear as possible in your writing. Bullet points, lists and pros and cons are extremely helpful. Your readers are considering spending their hard-earned cash on the gadgets and gear you review. It is up to you to honestly educate them. When I write a review I always consider these three things:

1.) Pro: what are the pluses of this device, piece of clothing, toy etc? When I review new clothing lines like the one from Marie Chantal, I talk about the fabric, finish and styling. Her clothes have exquisite details and rich trims.

2.) Con: Identify the problems. A gorgeous velvet dress from Marie Chantal comes with a lofty price tags and a "dry clean only" label.

3.) Best for: Match the product up with the likely consumer. For Marie Chantal clothing, that would be a mom who isn't on a budget and can afford to put style before practicality.

TIP: I like to use pictures whenever possible to give a visual reference for my reviews.

Edit: One of my biggest beefs with many blogging reviews is the rambling sentence structure. If you do a good job Experiencing and Educating, you can' stop there. Our readers are busy moms; they need to get the information we can share FAST. Sometimes they are reading during a bay's nap or late at night, so make good use of each word. Read your post at least twice to see where you can trim sentences and better organize you thoughts.

If you keep the three E's in mind for your next review, you'll be doing you blog and your readers a big favor.