Comments on: The Secret of Product Blogs That Sell

By: Leith

Leith — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:14:32 +0000

I’ve been searching all over the place to find out how the guys generate the product reviews for their catablogs!! These are obviously created using some aort of automation technique…

Do these reviews come from RSS feeds, and where do you subscribe?

How did Darren build his “Camera Phone Review” blog?

Maybe I’m being stupid but I can;t find much on the subject – also it seems the spam blogs and these catablogs are very similar since neither have original content, what distinguishes the two?

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 23:38:07 +0000

I didn’t know catablogging was “one of the most effective ways to make money with a blog.” I figured no one would want to read a product blog. But then again, I can see how consumers will search for product reviews and what not.

Thanks…

By: Link Karma 2: Link Harder | Copyblogger

Link Karma 2: Link Harder | Copyblogger — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:48:26 +0000

[...] The Secret of Product Blogs That Sell [...]

By: DomainGuy

DomainGuy — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 20:03:47 +0000

I seriously doubt that you can create a product blog from scratch. Visitor fidelity will be very low, as will click through rates and sales. It makes more sense to build a neiche community and feed products to it. There was a thread about this here:

http://www.domainsocial.com/showthread.php?t=148

It is very interesting, there is input from a big product blogger there too. But no matter what they say, I say that community is the key, and then you can do what you want with it.

By: You Don’t Need a Product of Your Own to Have a Successful Product Blog

You Don’t Need a Product of Your Own to Have a Successful Product Blog — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 18:50:18 +0000

[...] As we wrap up this short series of posts on product blogging, let’s take a look at a strategy for those who may not have a product of their own to sell. We’ve looked at selling information and niche e-commerce, and you can obviously use those strategies with products that you sell on behalf of others. [...]

By: Why This Blog Sells Tons of Ebooks (And How It Can Sell Even More)

Why This Blog Sells Tons of Ebooks (And How It Can Sell Even More) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 16:50:06 +0000

[...] For our first product blog review, let’s take a look at SEO Book, a blog by SEO expert Aaron Wall that ultimately revolves around the sale of a continually-updated book on search engine optimization techniques that bring more traffic to websites. [...]

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:53:07 +0000

Blackbeard,

Your argument was very eloquently stated. I tend to agree with you on most points, however I think even though both types of blog have the same objective, a product blog “can” be made more valuble to the product user, by providing real world examples of use, feedback etc.

Nevertheless you make a pretty damm convincing argument.

Regards

Ray

By: D. Campbell

D. Campbell — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:25:56 +0000

Interesting viewpoint Blackbeard. I personally think it ultimately boils down to the visitors “perspective” as to what’s considered “spam”.

By: Blackbeard

Blackbeard — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 15:59:23 +0000

I’d say that if the purpose of the blog is to sell a product or service then yes it could be considered a “spam blog”. However, to be clear I don’t see this as a bad thing. Most bloggers look down on spam blogs because they generate way more content and probably bring in a lot more money than the average “product blog” as described above. Spam blogs tend to be more highly specialized than a traditional blow and their biggest downfall is that the content isn’t “unique” enough and not “human” enough.

However, my point in all of this is that by calling computer-generated blogs of this nature “spam blogs” and human-generated blogs of this nature “product blogs” is silly. Both are the same type of blog and the only difference is what is generating the content.

As a side note, for those of you who say that spam blogs by default have bad content and that’s why they are so spammy, remember this: Humans can make crappy content just as easily as machines can. While spam blogs might not be terribly sophisticated now, eventually they will become every bit as sophisticated as human-generated blogs and at some point people won’t be able to tell the difference.

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:10:59 +0000

Interesting perspective, Blackbeard.

Is Aaron Wall’s SEO Book a spam blog?

How about Engadget? Take away the ads and add in affiliate links, do Engadget and Gizmodo become spam blogs?

By: Blackbeard

Blackbeard — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 05:21:34 +0000

So, basically a product blog is like a less-efficient version of a spam blog? I mean, instead of normal blog stuff you have content and such that is focused on advertising and selling a specific product. The goal of a product blog is to sell a product as effectively as possible. Spam blogs do the same thing, but they are maybe a bit unreasonably “optimal”. Too much content too quickly perhaps and the content itself is less human generated and real-sounding, but the basic principles are there. The reasoning behind both categories of blog are the exact same. Spam blogs are usually just a lot more aggressive than so called “product blogs”.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 01:17:42 +0000

I have been doing some research on this very topic. I’m looking forward your upcoming post.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:35:15 +0000

Great post..I’ll have to bookmark this one :)