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Amazon Reviews - One Per Site Test?

by thegreatpretender
3 replies
Hi everyone,

I'm looking to try out an Amazon review site in my spare time. I have a great idea for a niche that's been as good as untapped by existing review sites. Over time I'd like to create an authority site with a community backing and list that removes dependence on search engines.

The problem: I'd like to test the waters. The products are relatively high value ($400+) and I'd like to really add value through my reviews - so I want to buy everything that I cover and provide truly honest opinions with professionally shot photos, videos, and 2000+ word reviews. Most of the guides here focus on adding several reviews to a site before it's launched, but I'm reluctant to invest $2000+ on buying products before I know that the idea is viable. But I am prepared to buy one product and create a review for this purpose.

The question: is it possible to do a meaningful test with only one product on a site? I'd be dependent on search engine traffic given the site's absolute infancy. Am I likely to rank well and pull in traffic with only one (top-quality) review?

I'd obviously expect traffic levels and conversion rates to increase once the site has some genuine authority, but I'm keen to see proof of concept (ideally making enough sales to cover the initial product outlay!).

Thanks!
#amazon #reviews #site
  • Profile picture of the author adenclark
    I would not bank on gaining much, if any traffic with just one review. Although, that been said, ive seen some shocking websites with only one to three pages that rank high, but only stay for a couple days.

    Maybe it would be best if you did 1 large review with the purchase, then add 10 - 20 shorter reviews per month from research online rather than buying everything, this will help you build up your website to gain traction in the search engines.

    Do one massive review per month and then the rest of the time do the smaller, non purchased reviews. You can always go back to the shorter reviews in the future when you have some commissions rolling in to pay for the items your reviewing and rewrite them to the better spec.

    But thats just my opinion, im sure someone else will have a different one.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyPlan
    It's understandable you would want to keep your hot niche under wraps so as not to spark thousands of instant competitors. So, not knowing what niche/product you are targeting, I would suggest at least buying one product and really getting to know that product very well. And I think you could start with just one product and as you can afford it, add other products over time that you have personally purchased and reviewed. So for instance, if you had the niche of RC helocopters, ( a high end hobby product that can cost up to $1000 or more per), then you would want to buy and use one and then write about it indepth and as honestly as possible. Go beyond the basics of reviews and give your own first person testimonial about the product usage. This will be more convincing than a third person sales type review which might be impartial sounding but gives no reason to the reader to click through and buy that product.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sojourn
      I'd suggest you buy the first product, write the detailed review, add additional reviews where you haven't bought the product, and add non-review content that would be of interest to buyers in the niche.

      This approach:
      • Gives you more hands on experience with the products in the niche which will help you write the reviews on the products you don't buy
      • Gives your site visitors other options in case they don't like the one product you bought
      • Provides you material to use in those non-review posts - how did you pick the product you chose to buy? What surprised you about it when you used it that you think others should know about before they choose one? What features did you think were most important after you used the product that you didn't think would be important before you bought? What did you wish you'd purchased instead? How do you use a particular feature for the best results?
      • Gives you more opportunity for interlinking related posts for SEO benefits and more movement through your site
      If you use the above approach then you can always update the reviews you wrote where you didn't own the product once you've purchased the product.

      This assumes that you're going to rely on some volume of search engine traffic. If you're using other traffic sources then having more pages may not be necessary as just a test of the niche. In that case, you could drive traffic targeted for that one product to that one review and track the results.

      Relying on search engine traffic alone could take you awhile. If there's not a lot of competition for detailed reviews of the one product you do buy you could rank well in Google more quickly than if there's a lot of competition but it's still going to take some time.
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