A word to the reviewers and review websites

Here are a few suggestions on how to improve your roundups:

• A comparison of all important factory specifications at the beginning of the review saves potential buyers the time to search for them. This is especially useful for specifications that are hidden or hard to obtain from the manufacturers homepages. A small explanation of each specification helps people separate the marketing speech from the information.

• Especially when presenting a lot of data, make sure your charts and tables are easy to read. Sub-groups of similar performers like in the thermal paste example can help to keep large amounts of data understandable. Splitting up the comparison into different aspects like in the 120mm fan example is another option to prevent confusion.

• If you plan to do a lot of reviews for the same class of products, start with a comparison database from day 1. This means you need to put more thought into the test methodology to have comparable test results and also need to invest time into creating the database. The reward can be that your website becomes the go-to site for people to compare products.

Final Words

The age of the roundup will help some companies and hurt others. While the preparation for this age is important for the future of a firm, benefits can be gained right now. For reviewers the consequences will be a potential for more page hits resulting in more revenue, but it comes at a price of more work and increased competition.