How to become a reviewer ?

I was wondering how a person could become a reviewer.

I plan on posting a few reviews myself, especially after I get my Streamlight LED 3C.

But I was wondering how to become a major reviewer, maybe even as good as some of you, that get units sent to them by companies for review.

I am somewhat new to this, but, I am VERY picky, maticulous, and have high standards for these types of things. And I am usually full of suggestions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Get some flashlights, write reviews of them and post them on your web site with lots of pictures. Post the URL's here, link to other sites, have good informative articles, and invite lots of other sites link to yours. Put up new material as often as you can, so people will keep coming back to your site. And presto, you're a major reviewer.

LOL

Sounds good paulr !

I plan on making a new geocites site. I have a homepage on there, but I figure I should open a new account just for this. I just HATE that I have to use a free webhost for this. They dont alow you to direct link the pics.

But, its the best I can do for now. I might make it a general review site though. Because I was thinking about reviewing some other things I own also. Like GPS, guns, stereo, digital cameras, computer, etc.

As far as pics::: I am a digital camera nut. So I would have tons of pics for the reviews.

As I stated before,,, I am very picky about things, and am quick to point out flaws, and strong points. And, I am VERY hard on my equipment !!! I will be beating the crap out of all of them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Any comments, suggestions, or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot!

[ QUOTE ]
I am a digital camera nut.

[/ QUOTE ]

We must be long lost brothers /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I look forward to seeing your site progress.

One thing I see in many reviews such as knife reviews are worthless tests. Knife magazines are the worst at having a strict routine for testing...you know whether they are reviewing a swiss-army-knife or a massive bowie, they cut rope, whittle a stick or two and cut a tomato. I see some of the same things in flashlight reviews, very strict tests of the same type for many types of lights. While that is quite good for comaprative testing, it does not do much to give an impression of performance in real use.

As an eaxample, lets say I take my 2 Streamlights (3c and 4aa) and compare them. The 3c has a slightly larger beam than the 4aa, but in practical terms such as walking through a dark room, there is no detectable visual difference. Or my CMG Ultra vs my standard mini-mag. A side-by-side beamshot at 3 feet would suggest that the mag wins hands down. However for flooding an average room in a house, the CMG definately performs better for me so the practical test is more valuable to me than the comparative beamshot.

Didnt mean to ramble on, just wanted to toss that in.

To become a major reviewer, You:

Spend lots of money on flashlights.

Spend lots of money on light meters & other test gear.

Do lots of tests with your new flashlights.

Spend lots of time writing about the pros & cons of each of the flashlights.

Open new discussion threads on CPF with this information.

PRESTO ! you will then be a reviewer!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There's some free hosting places that let you direct link, but have pretty severe bandwidth limits.

If you want a popular site, you'll probably have to bite the bullet and pay for hosting. You can get pretty good hosting for as little as $5-10 a month, so you won't go broke. Register your own domain ($10/year) so you can switch hosts whenever you want without changing your URL. This thread has some more specific recommendations.

>>you that get units sent to them by companies for review

If this is your primary goal ... i.e. get free flashlights ... it probably isn't going to happen any time soon.

It takes years to build up any kind of reputation ... but more importantly, it takes a passion for the product.

Another requirement is the ability to communicate ... using good grammer (you that get) and spelling (maticulous??)

There's no such thing as a free lunch. You have to earn it.

I_rv is absolutely right about good writing and passion (as well as knowledge) about the product. I'll say one thing in your favor: the photography on your geocities page is very good. Put it together with well-written, cogent reviews and good HTML layout and you'll have a nice site.

If you don`t have a whole lot of free time, my advice on becoming a Reviewer would be: Don`t!

It takes a lot of time (and money for test equipment, batteries, hosting, etc) to properly evaluate lights, and if that time isn`t there you`ll end up where I am with a backlog you can`t see the end of, and no idea when you`ll even finish the current one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif


But if you don`t feel like you`re dead every evening after work (like I do) and your week-ends are open and free, I`d say go for it. There can never be too many flashlight reviewers.


Oh - please - don`t use Geosh!tt!ies as a host. They have to be the worst there is. Get even remotely popular and your site spends 90% of its time offline, like Sean`s excellent flashlight site does. Avoid the free Tripod service too, it`s horrendously pop-up infested these days (I think it`s up to 3 now, with banners on pages too /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif ). The pay-for ad-free service is good though, but it all depends on what you can afford/want to be able to afford.


Good luck if you go for it! Oh, and don`t expect the freebies to roll in right away. If you`re good, they will come, but it takes time!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

What Chris said... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

My site was originally set up to be an extention of CPF and it was focused on Mods with a couple of reviews of lights I had thrown in for good measure.

I purchased more lights and reviewed them before I modded them.

Eventually I got tired of modding (actually the modders on CPF became much better than I!) so I started focusing on reviews. Aparantly the manufacturers liked what they saw because they responded positively to my inquiries for review samples. Now I'm up to 86 reviews on the site - not bad!

Now my site, after many revisions, is moving to the "next level". Watch out for a domain name change very soon !!! (if it goes through...)

Thanks alot !!!

All of you had great advise. I agree completely with you about the CRAPPY free hosting. I use geocities now, its not great, but I thought it was alot better than some other free ones I saw.

I graduated from a computer IT school. I am pretty good at HTML, webdesign, graphics and the like. My home page - www.geocities.com/johntrotto - was made in about 4 days. So its not the best in the world.

Spelin and Gramer::: oh, come on guys! OK, I admit, Im not tthe best speller in the world. But I have to admit, I dont take ALOT of care when posting messages. Now, on a website its different. I spell check things, and look over them. (yes I know this forum has a spell check button ) but hey, thats another 15 seconds!

Free Stuff: My main goal was not to get free stuff. I guess it did sound like that alittle in my original post. I was just wondering what it took to get to that level. And I was right in my thinking, from what you all have said. Lots of good reviews, lots of pics.

Pics: Thanks for the complimentts on my pics! Knowing me, my reviews will have TOO many pics. LOL

Same testing over and over: : : I agree, that while doing the same test on every light is good for comparison, each light has its place. And should be tested that way. As I said before, I am very hard on things, I would put each light through its own, unique testing, best suited to its features. And,,, in the real world. Sure, some testing will be done indoors, but alot will be done in the woods, water, ice, rain, dirt, and mud of the real world.

Well, to start with, the site will be on geocities. Hopefully alittle later I will be able to pay for good hosting. But this should be a good start.

I hope to start soon. But it will take a few weeks to start every thing up.

Thanks again for all the advise !

I had a small website about LEDs for awhile, then CMG sent me their Infinity in yellow & red - those were the first flashlights I reviewed on my site about three years ago. I also reviewed the Photon II and a few others; plus a CPF member sent me my first white LED flashlights (I think the TurboSpyder, the Lightwave 2000, and the Quantum 2000 were first). Somewhere along the line, I added LED replacement bulbs and "other things that glow". After that, things pretty much took off of their own accord. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Sure, I get a lot of freebies, but I still have to buy some of the lights & batteries and host the website with my own money. Not to mention the cost of test instruments and the time you spend using & beating the flashlight, drowning the flashlight in the toliet or sink, setting up photographs, and sitting at your computer with an HTML editor open.
(Beating on & drowning the flashlight sounds like it could be a lot of fun, but it can actually be quite tiring). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Then you FTP everything up, and the email should roll on in if your website is even marginally popular.

<font color="800080">and the email should roll on in if your website is even marginally popular.
</font>


I must be doing something wrong. 98% of all the e-mail I get is spam, unless I`m particuarly active on Ebay in a week in which case it might get to as good as only 75% spam.

Admittedly my little orange and brown site is still only small and I`ve not yet sent out mailshots to flashlight companies asking if threy`d be interested in me reviewing their products so really only rely on word of mouth. The way things are at the moment though, I couldn`t cope with more of them coming in, so kind of like it the way it is for now.


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