Millions of people pursue their dreams, hobbies, and desires for financial independence through the creation, cultivation, and maintenance of blogs. This age-old internet content format is popular for a variety of reasons, but content creators in particular love it due to its simplicity and appeal to audiences.
There are many different ways that bloggers can use their platforms to generate revenue. Many utilize various ad-based programs to generate an income passively, while others earn an income through affiliate links to a variety of products and services. Ultimately, any blog with traffic can quickly begin generating income when handled properly. Product review websites are one of the best platforms on which you can actually go ahead and create a number of tutorials, articles, and listicles that can work in your product with a review based story.
Offering product reviews is one common tactic for providing audiences with content and generating income, but how can you find free things to review? Continue reading to find out how many bloggers are scoring free gear for the purposes of blog reviews.
Sift Through Sample Offerings
While some of the bigger names in blogger reviews simply open their inboxes to find a plethora of product pitches and offerings, most will have to work a bit harder. However, finding basic items to review is as simple as looking for freely offered samples.
If you're just getting started in the world of blog reviewing and want to find basic products to assess, there is plenty of free stuff to write about that you can easily obtain. A variety of websites work with manufacturers and retailers to supply completely free products, while many have already been reviewed by others; doing your research can often yield some golden opportunities for reaching specific audiences.
Proactively Pitch Yourself
You can't reasonably expect every potentially interested brand and business to find your blog. Most bigger brands and businesses have departments that handle requests for product reviews – why not proactively reach out to these companies with a pitch and some basic information?
While it's true that most companies will not send out free samples to just anybody, having an established blog with prior reviews can go a long way toward securing free items to review. Especially helpful is being able to tell these entities metrics about your traffic, subscriber base, and overall reach.
Some forms of “cold-calling” simply do not work but requesting free products and services for the purposes of reviewing often get a warm response.
Spread The Word On Your Blog
A simple strategy, to be sure, but letting audiences know that you are open to product reviews can land you more opportunities than you might think, particularly for bloggers who review within specific niches. Manufacturers and other industry leaders may very well stumble across your content more often than you realize. By including a pitch at the end of each product review and even creating a stand-alone page on the website with information for brands, you can generate a variety of leads that might not otherwise ever occur.
Increase Your Clout
Simply put: the bigger your blog review presence becomes, the more traffic (and leads for free products to review) you'll generate. Many of the biggest names in product reviews – whether they operate independent blogs or serve audiences on YouTube – get approached by brands who know those bloggers' value.
As you continue to increase the reach and size of your review blog, you can naturally begin attracting individuals due to the clout of your name and services. This method, however, is usually only viable once you've built a formidable presence within your niche(s).
From finding basic yet free product samples to pitching your requests directly to manufacturers, there are several ways in which you can secure free items for review. While some of these efforts require persistence and dedication, any blogger who is interested in hands-on reviewing can eventually obtain virtually any product for review without paying a dime.
