Guest Post - Reviewing/Giveaways for Beginners Part I

 This is a fabulous educational post written by Emmi from Mommy's "Free" Time!  She has a wonderful website you just gotta check out!   Stay tuned because this is Part I of how to get started with reviews and giveaways - tomorrow will be Part II and Thursday will be Part III.  If your new to blogging then you definitely want to come back to check these out!!

Well as they say in most support groups, admitting it and verbalizing it is only the first step! Product reviewing is fun but it’s also a time consuming job that one has to be dedicated to and serious about. In the next couple of days I want to give you the ins and outs of how to become a product reviewer from my own personal experiences. Hopefully, you will find something that you can use or that can help you in your “reviewing journey”. If not, I hope you at least find it an entertaining read.

Step One: Why do you want to review products? If your answer is, “ I want free stuff”, then reviewing is not for you. Product reviewing is a business. You are providing a valuable service to companies that they pay top dollars for in other circumstances. You are giving them free advertising! Of course a company would love to spend a few dollars on shipping and materials to have a mommy blogger that is read by thousands to review it instead of paying the fees that Amazon, Google or Yahoo would charge them! Reviewing takes time, research, great writing skills. This also translates into lots of time on the computer, long nights, and fitting this into your family life! Is it possible? Yes, just ask all the mommy bloggers, both SAHM and working moms!

Step Two: What do you want to review? This is where I almost made my first mistake. In the beginning I thought I would just review anything and everything! Hey, I’m new, I don’t have many followers how am I going to get a company to send me something to review?? Isn’t it better to just review whatever I can get?
Yes and no. Of course it’s not easy to get into reviewing but here’s a suggestion that a fellow blogger told me. Pick a theme. My blog is all about products for families that make life easier, healthier and more efficient. Yes it’s a little broad but that also makes it easy for me to get a lot of products to review. However, this is completely up to you. Say you have a food blog. Should you be reviewing building blocks for toddlers? I would say no! How does that fit your theme? But you say, “that’s the only company that will send me something”. To that I answer, “maybe your blog is a little too new or maybe you need some help with pitching (we’ll talk about that in the next post).
As for the yes part. Review whatever you can get? Not quite. Review whatever you have. Look for things in your house that fit with your theme. I began with reviewing some awesome educational toys that my kids got for Christmas. Many companies and readers thought I had been supplied the items even though I disclosed (more about disclosure in a later post) that these were products I had purchased myself.  I even reviewed a new razor I bought! Anything that will show off your skills! (These can also be used in pitch letters as evidence of your reviewing skills).

Step Three: Make an outline and follow it. For each review you do, it helps to have an outline. It can be a loose outline that varies or a strict outline you use every time. For example, my loose outline is: personal story, introduce product with info, my take on the product (includes strengths and weaknesses), where to buy it, win it (if there is a giveaway), and disclosure statement. 
So now we have the basics. Tomorrow, I’ll share with you more in depth, how to pitch a company, including sample pitch letter, and how to write a comprehensive review. Hope you enjoyed!