Let’s make this simple: review sites are dead.
OK, while that’s not quite true what is true is that there are a LOT of review sites out there across just about every possible niche you can think of. When I start hearing the ladies in the neighborhood as me whether I think “Best-Nikon-D1-Review.org” is a legit site I know that it’s time to rethink the traditional affiliate review site.
I have a friend that’s CEO of a tech firm and he has a wise saying – “instead of trying to leap… why don’t we take a little step to the left or to the right?”
(admittedly, it sounds better when he says it)
The point is that you don’t want to stop making review sites.
You want to reframe what they are.
Goodbye reviews… hello “curated shopping experience.”
My future range hood?
We’re in the middle of a kitchen remodel right now and my wife and I will have daily discussions about the merits of copper pot rocks vs. island vent hoods. Now the answer to just about every question is “WWCD” – what would Carla do? You see, my wife’s BFF is something of a design snob and her mother is a well known interior designer. That pretty much means I don’t have an opinion worth a schiz.
But that’s ok because Carla and her mom are EXACTLY what my wife needs and EXACTLY what your visitors need. A curator.
Let’s face it – it’s hard to shop on Amazon. There are all those products and reviews and links and buttons to press. My goodness! I can just get to be too much.
That’s where you come in. Your site offers a hand selected collection of the finest collection of cork bath mats perfectly matched with embroidered lace toilet paper – or whatever. This is nothing new, somaliers have been “pairing” wine with food for centuries and GRRanimals made a splash in the 70s by helping kids (and moms) mix and match their clothes without looking like a dork.
(They’re still going strong and I learned way back then that you can’t match a giraffe with a frog… a fashion nightmare!)
The folks at Pinterest figured this out and were brilliant enough to let all of us make online corkboards of products we like, organize them all together, and then let Pinterest monetize every link to a merchant site using SkimLinks.
So instead of thinking about the next review site on juicers, think about giving your visitors the best juicing guide possible. A guide that helps them understand all the major brands, the most popular juicers, the best recipes for wheat grass, alfalfa sprout, mint julip juice, and of course the difference between a good blender and a great juicer.
Click here to expand.
In fact, Amazon is doing just this – literally. And they’re targeting their PPC advertising with a new set of landing pages that hand select products within a category like juicers.
In some sense a guide is a poor man’s curator and while it’s not as powerful as building a trusted relationship with the visitor, getting them onto a list, and emailing them your hand picked selections, a guide is more powerful than just a review psychologically.
A great example that you can model (hint hint) is One Kings Lane.
You can do this too...
You have to be a member to shop there so it has an element of exclusivity. The fact that “membership” really means you gave them your email address is besides the point. With your membership you get their taste and style in all things home and fashion. Every day I get an email that has a theme like “A Day of Outdoor Living” and the great folks over at One Kings Lane have picked out fabulous and tasteful products in related categories like “Alfresco Dining” and “Beach Towels.”
Of course, you don’t have to be a merchant to do this. You just need to build a little tribe in a niche and then help them understand your style by mailing them examples of it all the time – complete with affiliate links.
The beauty of this is that there isn’t a lot of content. Or at least there doesn’t always have to be a lot of text. This is all about the experience, the style, and the taste. You target a demographic and you market via pictures and experiences and stories.
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