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04-19-2014, 10:10 PM #1WHT Addict
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How could a review site gain your trust
Hello WHT'ers, without divulging too much(in a non-advertising forum) about my company, I'd like to know how a hosting review site could gain your trust? I ask because search engines are awash with 'Top 10 List' and fake review sites - both of which are manipulating consumers to squeeze affiliate commission from them. I want to avoid this association like the plague, do you have any advice?
Last edited by HA Jack; 04-19-2014 at 10:15 PM.
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04-19-2014, 10:14 PM #2Web Hosting Master
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don't use friggin affiliate links. simple. Which in itself defeats the whole purpose of launching such a website so please, DON'T LAUNCH ONE.
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04-19-2014, 10:24 PM #3Web Hosting Master
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I would trust a review site , if it has true and honest reviews about the providers and by offering the possibility for customers to post their reviews.
Also there will be an affiliate links, they should be in a separated as sponsored links, not by placing them as the top links on all categories over and over again as most review (affiliate) sites do.
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04-19-2014, 10:26 PM #4Web Hosting Evangelist
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Dont use TOP ten hosting list and affiliate links. A geniune trust seal should not be sold without doing a review.
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04-19-2014, 10:30 PM #5Web Hosting Master
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Personally, their nothing but a scam.. when I first started in the industry it's what I relied my opinion on.. and oh boy did I soon regret it. Look on WHT, 99% of the time all reviews on here are legit.
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04-19-2014, 10:30 PM #6WHT Addict
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I agree many of these sites over-use their affiliate links, but having sponsored links will defeat the purpose of a user review orientated website. This model is vulnerable to sponsoring the web host with the most lucrative affiliate program.
I'm not sure you've read this thread, I own a web hosting review site...
While I affirm that the majority of review sites are misleading and untrustworthy, It's unfair to the genuine review sites to make such generalizations.Last edited by HA Jack; 04-19-2014 at 10:39 PM.
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04-19-2014, 10:38 PM #7Web Hosting Master
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Mark them as affiliate links (clearly). You're not making the site to not turn a profit. Users know that. They just don't want to feel deceived. Tag them based on user rating.
Do not rank based on the same old, "top ten." Don't even have a numbered rank. There is no clear top ten anyway. Just have your review and leave it at that. Let the users do their rating and reviews.
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04-19-2014, 10:43 PM #8WHT Addict
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Thanks, that's good advice. I was considering having a site-wide notice, which would stick to the footer - like an FTC disclaimer? Or did you have something else in-mind?
You're right there isn't any absolute top 10 - it's too subjective - similar to asking what's the best color?...
On a side note: have you noticed most of the top 10 sites features mainly EIG hosts? I'd imagine it's because of their strong affiliate programs and brand recognition.Last edited by HA Jack; 04-19-2014 at 10:51 PM.
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04-19-2014, 10:46 PM #9Web Hosting Master
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Understandable, but it's going to be a hard road to re-build... people have had bad experiences with these review sites before.. as most of the time there is money involved under the table somehow.
It's just like the "unlimited" hosts... once the client finds out he is being short cut.. his experience for all "unlimited" sites are the same..
Another example take a girl who has her heart broken by a "jerk".. the shields go up.. and it makes it harder to trust the "new guy". So, what I'm saying is people have had bad experiences.. so it's going to be really hard to build trust in a different company.
Nonetheless, I have taken a look at your signature site.. and if that is your review site then the EIG thing already makes you seem a little bit trusted.
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04-19-2014, 10:47 PM #10Web Hosting Master
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People don't like this setup:
Insert Linked Text Here*
Don't believe the text. We covered our ass with this clear disclaimer in the footer with tiny wording. Like prescription pills ads
Just mark it as an ad.
(Ad Link) StablePages
Website owner review here......
Website owner review here continued......
Website owner final rating......
Guest submission reviews/rating.....
Guest submission reviews/rating.....
Guest submission reviews/rating.....
Final guest rating totalled here.....Last edited by Merged; 04-19-2014 at 10:56 PM.
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04-19-2014, 10:48 PM #11
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04-19-2014, 11:42 PM #12Retired Moderator
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04-20-2014, 01:48 AM #13Retired Moderator
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Lots of useful things were said in this thread.
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04-22-2014, 07:52 AM #14Newbie
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Even the slightest possibility of a paid review masked as a legitimate top 10 comparison is enough to turn me off, so I don't trust them as a general rule, and I doubt that something can make me start trusting those sites. This is why I look for reviews in forums (like WHT), where real users give real opinions, even though they can be bias.
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04-22-2014, 09:27 AM #15Disabled
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Review sites like FindMyHost. You fill in an application and they randomly sign up to your service and try you out like a normal customer, you don't know if they are reviewing you..
Then they post your review on their website. They look at all aspects. That's who I'd personally respect and trust.
If the review site is customer reviews (Where they just post one) I trust ones who use Social networking so you know it's a real person, bit like GetKudos.me.Last edited by Atlanical-Mike; 04-22-2014 at 09:31 AM.
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04-22-2014, 09:49 AM #16Retired Moderator
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Or, they invite you to fill in an application to have your site reviewed, and to set up a test account for them. They say that they guarantee to have tested everything thoroughly (as you say) within a month - it usually takes between 1 and 3 weeks. 9 months later, your application is still sat in "pending" state, and the test account has not been touched. You're left wondering how any other hosts did get tested, but strongly suspect they've made promises to more people than they can fulfil them for, and therefore start to doubt whether their review site can be trusted either.
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04-22-2014, 10:02 AM #17Junior Guru
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If I recall with findmyhost the initial 'review' is somewhat genuine but then the "awards" you receive are essentially purchased.
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04-22-2014, 12:48 PM #18WHT Addict
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04-22-2014, 03:07 PM #19Retired Moderator
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04-22-2014, 04:48 PM #20WHT Addict
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04-22-2014, 05:32 PM #21Retired Moderator
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Different goals and motivations would be one theory. They also do ban a fair number of accounts.
edit: Another issue is timing. At least when I am looking at data it doesn't have to be real-time. I get the advantage of waiting and looking for patterns. Twitter treats everything real-time, so it's harder to detect the first or even first few spam messages.Last edited by kohashi; 04-22-2014 at 05:34 PM. Reason: added more detail
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04-23-2014, 03:00 PM #22How Can I Help You Today?
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Reviews meaning you have experienced their services. Like a gadget review, you post a youtube video once you purchased the gadget and tell the public how you would rate your purchase.
If you could purchase and keep an ACTIVE web hosting accounts/servers with all the web host you review, that would be fresh.
This means you keep monitoring uptime and load averages of all reviewed web hosts servers and post it for public consumption.
This would include providing a third party monitoring such as pingdom stats to all hosted website. Provide a test file for people to try download speeds, etc for every reviewed web hosts.
Then provide a complete guided video tour of the entire workings of the web host, their inside control panels, the perks you got, etc.
That would be kinda fresh....
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