Seeking a job as a tech & gadget reviewer

mrdeepee

gino_76ph wrote: »

Louisesfreedom mentioned about making/starting my own blog. aside from the free website he mentioned is there anything else? and what shall i include in that blog?will everyone be able to se it? can i advertise my stuff there?

You can start with a blog on a free platform like Blogger but then you're fairly limited in how you can monetize your site because you're bound by the conditions of use set by Blogger.

On the other hand, you can start your own website, which is a lot easier than most people think, and you can do what you like with it to make your business a success.

If you'd like to learn how to get started, you can click here and get some free information.

Hope this helps.

imatt

Firstly, are you going to be aiming to review at purely 'gadget like' items (MP3 players, digital radios, portable TV's, gaming devices, phones) or will you be looking at more mainstream IT /computer items (PC's, laptops, monitors, digital cameras)? Will you aim to review software as well?

Bear in mind that there is considerable crossover. MP3 players and digital cameras are gadgets. However, they are also considered mainstream IT equipment. And let's not get started on tablet computers!!!

Secondly, it may be a good idea to look at computing mags to see the reviews there and how they're written. Titles such as Computer Shopper, PC Pro, PC Advisor and Micro Mart are stuffed with reviews in every issue. Even though they are mainstream computer mags, they examine plenty of gadget like items as well. See if you could get a job writing for them. Sending a review of one of your favourite IT / tech items would be a good start. Competition is bound to be fierce though!

Thirdly if setting up a site / blog, how are you going persuade hardware and software manufacturers to send their items for you to review?

paddyrg

Why not start by reviewing (here, in this thread, even?) your three latest purchases - you'll soon find out if you have a future in reviewing

gino_76ph

Yes. That is true.

How can i persuade hardware and software manufacturers to send their items for me to review?

Since i'm a blog virgin can i ask...will i be making money by:
1. Someone visiting/browsing through my blog?
2. Doing reviews? (by mentioning the product name, etc.)

Will spreading the word through friends and relatives via social media help?

Elle7

gino_76ph wrote: »

Yes. That is true.

How can i persuade hardware and software manufacturers to send their items for me to review?

Since i'm a blog virgin can i ask...will i be making money by:
1. Someone visiting/browsing through my blog?
2. Doing reviews? (by mentioning the product name, etc.)

Will spreading the word through friends and relatives via social media help?

You'll have to review things that you've bought until your blog has a big readership. When you can guarantee xx,xxx views, contact PR companies and they may be interested in sending one or two things for you to review. They don't usually pay you, but you will get compare items if enough people read about/buy what you reviewed.

As for how you will make money, it depends how you monetize it. Getting paid through views is the most common, but it takes a long time to build up to a substantial income, and every 1000 views or so pays very little.

You'll need some determination because this is likely to cost you at the beginning, especially as you'll need regular times to review, but I'd you have persistence, dedication and ability, you should see the reward eventually.

heretolearn_2

"contact PR companies and they may be interested in sending one or two things for you to review. They don't usually pay you,"

They never pay you. And usually if it's an item worth more than a few quid you have to return it after the review as well, so don't think it's a good way to get loads of freebie stuff.

Elle7

heretolearn wrote: »

"contact PR companies and they may be interested in sending one or two things for you to review. They don't usually pay you,"

They never pay you. And usually if it's an item worth more than a few quid you have to return it after the review as well, so don't think it's a good way to get loads of freebie stuff.

I've been paid for reviews before. The difference probably being that I was writing for a national, rather than an online blog.

Good point to mention that items need to be returned. Before you agree to take things on, make sure you know how much they are worth and who pays for return postage. It can be costly to courier and insure various items on a regular basis.

cainkapow

Can't say i know alot on how to get started doing that, but one way which will require effort, hard work, dedication and advertising is to create a website/blog.

An idea would be to get a domain name and some space, i suggest one.com as they charge 9 quid for the first year, get Wordpress on there and maybe some forums.

Also, if your into gadgets etc, a good idea would be to know how to fix them and troubleshoot problems with them, a good addition to the forums maybe. Update the blog daily or every other day, get a twitter account, a facebook page and grab some followers.

Dont be scared to spam, keep everything up to date and unique, dont do what everyone else does, like ps3 vs xbox or Iphone vs Android.

Get some ideas, do some posts and tweets, get a fan base, and the best advice i can give is to KEEP IT UP TO DATE. Regular posts and make the use out of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Dont pay for SEO, especially because Wordpress has numerous apps and add ons that do it for you.

Also on one.com, when you sign up you get 50 quid worth of google ad sense which is a brilliant tool.

An added bit of advice if you decide to do this download a program called Filezilla, its a FTP Client that allows you to transfer files from computer to web space with uncanny ease.

Hope this helps.

cainkapow

In addition to my previous post, a good way to make money from a blog/website, especially wordpress is to add Ad space apps, these reserve some of the page to place ads which you can then sell once you have so many visitors per day or per week.

quatrofromageo

gino_76ph wrote: »

Louisesfreedom mentioned about making/starting my own blog. aside from the free website he mentioned is there anything else? and what shall i include in that blog?will everyone be able to se it? can i advertise my stuff there?

If you want to get paid in freebies, I can't recommend starting your own blog enough. :beer:

I started a hobby blog a couple of years back and it started getting 3,000 international visits per day! So if you've got good stuff to read that no one else has, you can do quite well. But I wouldn't quite your day job for it.

http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.co.uk/
Yeah, it's really really geeky, but it was making me £200 a month at its peak before I sold it to a crazy American :rotfl:

I used to get offered loads of freebies from companies wanting me to review and pimp their new products.

Only do a blog if you're doing it for love. As soon as the affiliate scheme that made most of my money dried up, those 3,000 visitors a day became pretty worthless.