How to Write an Affiliate Product Review That Sells

What you are about to read is a complete guide on how to write an affiliate product review that sells in masses, and it’s from someone who has made $800,000 and counting from it. 

If this is your first time visiting my site and you’d like some proof that what you are about to read works and that I am legit, you can:

1. See my affiliate income reports here. 90% of them are written up on blog posts and articles.
2. And my personal history with affiliate marketing here.
3. Also I wrote a detailed tutorial on blogging with affiliate marketing here. In that tutorial I do mention doing product reviews and the strategies I follow for that content I create is straight out of this post’s guidelines.

And if I have adequately proven myself, then let us move on and let me show you my strategy to creating affiliate product reviews that sell.

A summary of how I write successful affiliate product reviews:

1. I find one of the 3 golden groups to promote the product to. This is explained below.
2. I follow specific steps to review the product (give great quality info, share stories, pros and cons, ect…).
3. I link people throughout the review to the product.
4. I sometimes even offer bonuses if people buy them.

Note: See below for specific examples of my own reviews that I write up for reference.

A video of how I set up my affiliate product reviews:

Want to learn more about writing affiliate product reviews? No problem, let’s continue:

If you thought the video above gave you a lot of great tips on how to write affiliate product reviews, you are going to get far more out of the next section of it, which is this guide that will show you the following:

• How to increase your odds of affiliate sales by 50% without writing anything down!
• 10 important tips and ingredients you need to add to your product reviews to make them sell better.
• Specific examples and exactly what to write and add to your reviews to improve sales rates.
• And more…

After you’ve checked this all out, I promise you that you’re going to get results if you use these strategies. In fact:

Here are 12 major benefits you’re going to get out of reading this guide:

And trust me, these benefits all connect together:

1) It’s simple so it’s easy to take action with it.

You’re going to have a clear and simple blueprint that will help you writing your own successful affiliate product reviews.

2) It’ll help you improve existing reviews you have.

If you’re already in the midst of doing this and you aren’t seeing sales, you’ll be able to make quick corrections and see results.

3) Complete beginner? This guide is a great start!

Even if you’re a complete beginner and have never written a review in your life. you’re going to after reading this and you’ll be confident knowing you’re writing something that SELLS.

4) Time savings. 

This guide is going to save you A LOT of time because you will be able to use it to make people want to buy from your reviews.

5) My 15 years of experience becomes your knowledge in just a few minutes.

You’re basically getting the most evolved approach to writing affiliate product reviews that I personally use to make my sales.

There is still going to be a learning curve because you WILL need to practice this, but I’m helping you take a huge leep forward with this guide.

6) This strategy is ethical.

There’s many unethical ways to doing affiliate marketing, and this strategy/guide is NOT one of them. This guide keeps it ethical and shows you how to write product reviews to build a legitimate affiliate marketing business.

And I do suggest you keep it that way after you start using it, because it’s easy to get carried away and start promoting stuff that isn’t good for your customer (don’t do it!).

7) This strategy is flexible (you’ll be able to promote a plethora of products).

This strategy can be applied to just about any promotion. I’ve used it to sell digital and physical products as well as services across many different topics.

8) This also works just as well if you do YouTube reviews.

The beauty of this strategy is that it’s applicable beyond blogging and writing. I use the same approach to doing affiliate marketing on YouTube and I’ve been making sales with this too. 

9) This strategy works even if you don’t own the product you’re promoting.

While I will suggest you own the product you are looking to promote (here is how to promote products if you don’t own them), I have been and continue to promote certain things I do not own and I can tell you that there are ethical ways around this where you’ll still be able to make the sales despite not owning your promotion.

10) High level affiliates use this same approach to promoting products.

I’m fortunate to know more than a few very successful affiliate marketers and their approach to selling stuff is very similar to the way I do it.

There’s really a basic approach to selling things as an affiliate and we all use the same formula in one way or another, so what you’re getting here is what the top people in this business do when they promote stuff.

11) This isn’t just a short term benefit, you can turn this into a long term business.

This strategy shows you how to make sales yes, but the process by which you will do it (and we’re about to get into the details very shortly) can be expanded upon, scaled and grown into a full time business.

This is literally how I’ve been able to continue doing affiliate marketing full time for nearly 15 years. 

So now that I have listed these 10 benefits, it’s time to actually show you the strategy.

12) This strategy involves using good copywriting as well.

I explain what copywriting is here, but basically this way of writing reviews is very convincing and it works. The skill you get from writing reviews will really help you be very successful in this business.

How writing successful affiliate product reviews starts:

Before you even choose what kind of review to write, make sure you do this:

Start with the 3 golden groups (It makes the sales process 50% more likely!).

When it comes to writing successful affiliate product reviews, I have found that in MOST cases, if you start with any or all of the 3 golden groups I’m about to show you, then you can pretty much consider 50% of the selling process already done.

And this is before you write a single word for your product review.

All you’re doing here is prep work before you the review is officially written up. And this prep work is going to make selling your promotion 50% EASIER if not more.

Yes that’s right, you are already setting yourself up for success if you target one or these 3 groups.

So what are they? Here is the quick look at each golden group:

• Group 1: Targeting niche audiences with major, widespread problems and offering your affiliate review/promotion as the solution.
• Group 2: Targeting a specific and popular product you are seeking to promote as an affiliate, and reviewing it positively. 
• Group 3: Targeting a specific and popular product you are NOT promoting, but using it to promote another affiliate offer that is better.

Targeting these groups has made me $100,000’s and here’s why it works:

There is a very important word that is common within ALL of these groups and that is the word SPECIFIC. 

The reason why these specific groups make the process of selling to them SO much easier is because they are SPECIFICALLY TARGETED and as an affiliate, one of the BEST places to be in when it comes to promoting products and services is to promote them to people who are already VERY OPEN to buying it and these 3 groups are perfect for this goal!

There is immense value in properly promoting to targeted visitors and the value of that traffic is metaphorically speaking, GOLDEN, hence why I call the following 3 groups, the golden groups.

The reason I’ve been able to succeed in the affiliate marketing world and make $100,000’s is because I have learned how to find targeted, specific traffic and advertise to this traffic properly, which I will all cover in this tutorial!

In fact, I want to tell you something another very important thing…

Here’s a bold promise:

I promise any beginner or struggling affiliate marketer out there that if you set up your online sales funnels with these groups as your starting point, you are going to be far more likely to succeed.

You are going to see sales, perhaps not in the 100% mark, but they will be there and from that point, it’s really just a matter of practice after that, which usually involves adding certain things to your review/s that I’ll be talking about to increase the sales.

Now I will be breaking down each golden group very shortly, giving you specific examples and showing you exactly how to write affiliate product reviews for each group.

You will then use these examples and sales structures I set up for you to create your own reviews for products you are promoting. You do NOT need to copy mine, just use the blueprint and practice it.

See it working and refine it to your own style and this is how you will master it.

Golden group 1: Promoting solutions to audiences with specific problems.

You will find that MOST traffic online and sales will come from people who have certain problems and don’t know about products that can solve them. 

So what these people do is go online and LOOK for them, with the INTENT to buy something to SOLVE IT and you are going to be that problem solver with your affiliate product review that makes it possible.

Think about all the people (including YOU) who type stuff into Google like:

• How to get rid of (insert the name of a problem).
• How to stop (insert the name of a problem).
• How to reduce (insert the name of a problem).
• How to get back (insert the name of a problem).

We’re talking about countless millions of people seeking solutions to countless problems that exist out there, whether it be health related or something like dating, wealth related stuff and you name it and targeting anyone of these audiences with a specific problem makes promoting them the solution as the affiliate quite simple.

In fact, here are some examples of the perfect audiences for group 1:

Now I just gave you 5 examples (all of these are profitable evergreen niches), but I want you to consider the URGENCY each group has.

Think about that guy or girl who wants their ex back.

Do you really think it would that hard to promote to them an eBook or program that taught them how to get their ex back?

I don’t think so and you can draw the same conclusions with the other topics.

Because their mindset is already set on buying the solution, again, that already makes selling them that solution 50% easier.

How to write an affiliate product review for golden group 1:

Now that we have already established why targeting a golden group WORKS and why it’s 50% easier to start with that (I hope I made that point clear by now!), it’s time to get to the actual writing up of the review and selling the affiliate promotion…

Here is how the product review should flow so it sells:

Now I am about to give you a sample structure to use that’s simple, but know that it can be modified in many ways and you’re welcome to ask me about any ideas you have on this below so I can examine if it will work. Anyway:

Step 1: Create an enticing title.

“Got so and so problem? Here is the solution.”

Step 2: Write 1-2 short paragraphs where you relate to the audience.

“Just got dumped by your ex? I’ve been there and let me share my story of how I got back together with them”.

Relating is HUGE. And it’s also a perfect time to also throw in your affiliate link (see this post on where to post affiliate links).

If you have the same problem you are helping the audience solve, you gain their TRUST and they know because you have been through this too and found the solution, they can count on your advice to help them solve that pain, and that problem.

What if you can’t relate? What do you do then?

There are 2 options around this you can take which are ethical:

Option 1: Talk about someone you know who HAS been through this problem and talk about how they solved it. For example, “I know so and so who used the strategy and got their ex back”.

Option 2: Use success stories of the product you are promoting as evidence so in this context of getting an ex back, talk about how what you are promoting has helped tons of people get their exes back.

Step 3: Carefully pitch the affiliate product that solves the problem.

When I say carefully, I don’t mean “Hey got a problem? Buy this (affiliate link)”. No, what I mean is, talk about how the product you are promoting works specifically to help people solve the problem they are having. For example:

“Here is how this guide on getting an ex back helped me do it. First I did this, then it told me to do that, and the rest is covered in the remainder of the book that I highly recommend if you are having this problem.”

What’s happening here is that you are indirectly pitching the product to the audience and giving them a SAMPLE of this working for you personally, but not giving away too much. But you are giving them enough evidence to know that they can take the plunge and buy it from your review at that point and get the rest of the details.

This framework for group 1 should be enough to get you started with writing a great review that sells an affiliate promotion to audiences with a problem. But I am going to include even more tips further below so you can add those ingredients in to the review to make it sell better.

Golden group 2: Writing an affiliate product review itself.

Most affiliates will likely fall into the golden group 2 category where you will be looking to promote specific products and are wondering how to best set up the sales page so make the sales happen.

While you will usually get larger audiences for group 1 (problems = larger audiences and fewer people already know about products), the trade off is that you will likely make more sales through groups 2 and 3.

In fact, MOST of the sales, especially the easy ones I have made in affiliate marketing are literally from group 2 (and 3 since they are similar). 

These tend to attract an even more targeted audience (which is GREAT) because these people already know about the product, and whether it is a little bit or a lot, most of the time, these people either want to know about the product they heard about, they may have read another review but weren’t convinced to get it, and in many cases, they are already on the fence about buying it, but just need that good review to give them the confidence to do it.

Let’s make sure your review is the one that makes this happen!

Step 1: Again, make that enticing title.

And the great news is that it’s fairly simple with group 2:

“Product name review, my personal experience from using it”.

“Does product name really work? This review uncovers what I found”.

Titles like these tend to get most of the clicks and views because people want to see what others who actually used it are saying.

Step 2: Again, write a short 1-2 paragraph intro.

But now since we’re reviewing a specific product from the get go, you want your first 1-2 paragraphs to give a preview of the product you’re reviewing:

“I tried product so and so, and let me tell you, I have some good things to say about it. This review will tell you everything you need to, the pros and cons, and will help you figure out if it’s for you”.

This type of example paragraph implies you own the product and again, this is ideally where you want to be if you ever review anything as an affiliate.

Personal experience is the best for writing affiliate product reviews. But once again, if you find yourself in a position where you do not own the product, there are once again ethical ways to still provide an honest review and make the sales…

Option 1: Mention you don’t own the product but know a lot about the topic. I often do this on my second site where I review products that I know are bad before I even buy them and I mention and give reasons as to why this is. This itself provides the proof that my review is good.

Option 2: Again, use success stories. If a product you are reviewing has them, leverage that. 

Step 3: Include pros and cons.

Pros and cons are a great way to get the MAIN points of your promotion across while at the same time not coming off as being too biased or trying too hard to promote the product. It tells people a quick story about whether the product is worth buying by skimming through the main benefits and problems.

Obviously, if you are promoting a product, include as many pros as you can (I usually try to include up to 10 or even more) and in terms of cons, be honest about them, but include cons that aren’t that big of a deal. For example “takes time to see results” is a none con.

But obviously, still be honest, because honest reviews are felt by readers, believe me and they sell. 

Also include your pros and cons in BULLET POINTS. They are EASY to read. Something that is easy to read makes selling the product easier.

Step 4: Include stars, ratings or points to indicate a positive score.

Any one of these 3 icons or signs of a positive product make it easy for people to quickly see if it’s good. If your review indicates something is 5 stars, then clearly, it has to be good (but you’ve got to add that proof to make it so).

Golden group 3: Writing a product review, but selling another affiliate promotion.

There are going to be numerous situations you’ll encounter as an affiliate where there will be popular and big products on the market that can be promoted, but they are often going to be sub par, or suck so naturally, promoting those sucky products is not going to be a good thing.

BUT those bad products are often still getting search traffic and people interested in them, so what we CAN do is write reviews about the bad products, make FACTUAL points about why they are average/bad and instead pitch our affiliate promotion that is better in it’s stead.

In other words: Product A isn’t good, so we write a review on it, but pitch product B as the affiliate promotion. Make sense?

In fact, I made $300,000+ in affiliate commissions from literally targeting golden group 3 when I had a affiliate marketing promotions through Bing Ads. In short, I had a promotion called Wealthy Affiliate and I was reviewing programs in that sphere to promote it. So trust me, there’s money in this, a lot in fact.

Now this is where it’s easy to lose ethics:

You should NEVER lie about a product you are reviewing negatively. If you are, it can actually lead to the product company/owner suing you, so it’s in your best interest to be factual and honest.

For example, here are 3 negative reviews I’ve written on this site. But notice how careful I am about what I say (always give evidence):

• 3 Step Method.
• The Prosperity Warrior.
• OPM Wealth.

Step 1: An enticing keyword and title once again is ideal (plenty of options).

“Product name review. Why I recommend something better”

“Product name review. What I didn’t like about it”

Titles like these already create interest because the person seeing it is going to think “Well this implies it’s not that good, but I heard so much about it, what could possibly be better?” and this will cause them to click.

But of course, you NEED to honestly back up titles like these and not be a fake click bait person, otherwise, your audience will not trust you.

It’s also important to use the name of the product in the title because it will act as a keyword. If you’re doing blogging for instance, the name of the product and the word review ranks better on Google, so use it (See more details on using keywords for blogging).

Step 2: Once more, write 1-2 paragraphs as the intro.

Here however, because we aren’t doing a positive review, it has to change a bit, and there’s 3 circumstances you’ll likely find yourself in: 

The product you are reviewing but NOT promoting may either be good, average or bad.

If it’s good, you can say things like:

“Overall I like this product and it has many pros, but there’s an alternative to it, which has even more pros and costs less.”

If it’s average, you can say things like:

“This product in my opinion isn’t as good as I thought, but I have an alternative that is really levels above it.”

If it’s bad, you can say things like:

“This product was downright bad. I will show you proof and more importantly, a better option.”

If you’re going to go the bad route, back it up with facts in the review.

Sometimes I run into products I review that I call scams, but at that point, I’ve exhausted any other reason to think otherwise, so if this is where you’ll classify the product, make sure it really is bad or is a scam before you call it that.

Step 3: Again, list the pros and cons.

But now however, because you are promoting something else, you are likely to have more cons to list.

It’s easy to list few if any pros and plenty of cons if the product is bad, but if you find yourself in the good or average product rating, then be as honest as possible about the pros and cons. 

Step 4: Introduce the alternative (your affiliate promotion).

At this stage of the review you’re writing, it’s time to get into the details of the product you are promoting instead and getting into details on WHY it’s better.

Here are the types of headings (titles in the articles I write) that I often use:

“Here are 5 reasons why this product (your promotion) is better than the other one”.

And I will go on to write short bullet points about the benefits. For example:

• Product B is cheaper than Product A.
• Product B has more success stories than Product A.
• Product B has been around longer than Product A.
• Product B has LESS cons than Product A.
• I’ve tried both Products A and B and B has given me better results.

Note: Of course ALL of these comparisons have to be honest.

Step 5: Don’t forget about the points, stars and ratings.

The product you are reviewing but not promoting deserves a grade too, so give it, but right underneath that grade, include a point about how your other alternative has a higher score/more points.

Step 6: Consider comparison tables. They work.

If you know how to make comparison tables, and can write short bullet points that compare both products, and rate your promotion more favorably, I’d do it. If you can’t, stick to step 4 and doing written comparisons like I showed you an example of.

Step 7: Summarize the main points again.

The main points being why your product promotion is better than the other.

11 important tips to use in your affiliate product reviews:

These details and tips apply to all 3 groups:

1) Relevant images help A LOT.

So in this case, adding an image or two of an upset guy or girl because they got dumped helps the reader connect quickly. If you are the success story of the solution, use your image, and trust me, this helps because it enhances that trust.

2) Bold letters and large letters also help.

Notice how in this particular article I use a lot of big letters for important points. This keeps people attention on my content.

3) Constant uses of the word pain, solution, and answer help.

These words continuously tell the reader that your review offers them the solution to their problem.

4) Absolutely use call to action words and insert your affiliate links there.

Here are examples:

• Get this solution here.
• Click here to get this awesome product.
• See more success stories about product so and so here.
• Join program here and get my bonuses.

Call to action phrases like this basically “command” people to go and get the product and they should ONLY be used after you mention the product you are promoting. They will then be more open to clicking those links you include.

I wrote an article on 10 ways to increase your affiliate sales and call to action phrases are a must on that list and in general.

5) Make your product review over 1,000 words if possible.

Doing this will result in the likelihood of higher rankings on search engines so you get more traffic (in this case more of the audience with the specific problem, which is what you want, because that will mean more sales too).

6) Use success stories especially if there is more than one.

Trust me, success stories sell themselves. I often use screenshots of mass success stories for the products I am promoting because it helps get a lot of positive points across with a simple image.

As for other details, I included many of them in the video above on this subject but again, you need to practice this strategy and you will see a pretty positive reaction from your readers if you follow this format. 

7) Q & A’s (Questions and answers) are massive!

People who read product reviews generally have questions and these are how they are usually set up:

• How does so and so product work?
• Does the product work?
• Is there proof this works?
• Explaining step-by-step how it works.
• And ask people to leave their questions if you haven’t addressed them all.

Addressing these questions WITHIN your actual affiliate review is going to make buying the product a much easier decision for your customer since you’ll be preemptively answering these questions for them. Put them in your reviews and your sales will increase.

Want an example? Well let’s take my HelpingHandAffiliate.com website.

I have a post where I address the most common questions and answers about affiliate marketing and not only do I cover the most common ones I run across, but I also tell people to leave their questions too. This approach to tackling common questions and making feel comfortable leaving theirs makes it easier to sell me stuff.

Now in terms of this stuff, I’m talking about golden group 1, which is people interested in the topic of affiliate marketing, but if I were to do a product review, I’d still address the most common questions and give the answers to it within the post I write up. 

8) Labeling your reviews with numbers such as “5 reasons you need this” helps too.

Very often in the product reviews I set up, I will often explain why or why the product is good. It very often helps if I add a number and use it in the following types of contexts:

• 5 reasons this product sucks.
• 5 reasons why so and so is awesome.
• 10 commonly asked questions and answers about so and so product/topic.
• 7 reasons this product is going to work for you.

And these kinds of examples make people WANT to read why your claim is the case, so whatever number and point you wish to make, back it up.

9) Offer bonuses if possible.

Bonuses add additional value to the product review you’re doing and if people know they get that extra value out of buying something, it suddenly makes that buying decision easier for them. This is especially helpful if you’re promoting high ticket items.

Now making bonuses isn’t really difficult and you don’t have to complicate this process. I’ll give you an example…

If you check my out my affiliate coaching page here, you’ll see I offer people bonuses if they sign up to my product offer.

Now bonuses are optional, but trust me, they do help affiliate sales rise.

You can offer a variety of different bonuses for whatever you’re promoting ranging from eBooks, to personal consultations and a host of other things. Ask me about this below if you’re stuck on what to offer as a bonus and I’ll help you come up with one (or more).

10) Become accustomed to practicing this.

As much as this article is designed to help you write profitable product reviews, without practice and becoming comfortable with using this strategy, you’re not going to get anywhere.

If you’re brand new, just write your first product review if you’re new, and put it out there no matter how uncertain or worried you are about it. 

And if you’re not new, apply these tips to an existing one you have so at the very least you feel what it’s like to take that action.

This practice is how you will improve your confidence at creating affiliate product reviews, the quality of those reviews and after that, the sales you make.

11) Keep your reviews honest, for everyone’s sake.

It’s very easy to get carried away and start selling anything that pays you huge affiliate commissions, especially when you are targeting audiences already ready to buy, but I urge you to NOT fall for this temptation. 

If you’re going to be a successful affiliate in the long run, you really have to put the audience with the problem first and solving their problem is what will create future trust in you.

I have seen too many fake, and unethical affiliates fall to the mistake of promoting anything they can to make a buck. Don’t be that person.

I’ve made my own mistakes with this and it was only when I started following these ethical principals that my sales rose.

Literally be the person who SOLVES the problem of the audience for the best price for them. Think of them first and the sales will follow.

I also like to give as much credibility to the product I am reviewing but not promoting especially if it deserves the praise. I’ll even link to products I’m not promoting to give them credit and if I can promote them too, I’ll do it.

How to write affiliate product reviews that sell (blueprint and template):

Here is an example of how you can take ANY of the 3 golden groups above, add in one or more of the 10 tips I just gave you and structure your review so it sells well.

First thing’s first, select one of the 3 groups above. Then, follow this blueprint:

Update: Just recently I’ve written a separate article on how to do high ticket affiliate marketing which basically explains the process of selling high ticket items in a very similar step by step fashion as this guide did, but if you are intending to promote high ticket items as an affiliate, I’d recommend reading that article first, then this one to get a better understanding of this.

One more update: Here is another version of the product review template I use. It’s basically the same as this one, but just another variation to use if you want to mix things up with your affiliate product reviews.

Getting more benefits out of this guide to writing affiliate product reviews:

At this point, I’ve pretty much summarized the main structure and tips I personally use in my affiliate product reviews that I write and I kid you not when I say these very same steps I gave you, made me over $800,000 in sales.

I absolutely know this guide will help you and I encourage you to read/watch the video in this article more than once.

I also encourage you to ask me questions about your personal affiliate promotions if you don’t mind sharing them and need help with how to go about selling them. 

If there are also other personal ideas you’ve seen work for your product reviews that you also don’t mind sharing, please do below, and thank you for reading!

Examples of how I write my affiliate product reviews (for your reference):

1) Here is a review of Wealthy Affiliate, a program I promote.

2) Here is a review SamCart which is a recent program review I did.

3) And here is another review of Savage Affiliates, another program I covered.

4) Here is a list of reviews I’ve done on my site so you can see more examples.

Update: Video product reviews and how to make them

Being able to create written product reviews is great, but I do recommend you expand into the video content creation world sooner or later and start making the same kinds of reviews on places like YouTube.

Luckily the format for making successful video product reviews on YouTube is straight forward, like with blogs and you can find more info in that link I placed that’ll take you to a tutorial on it.