There are two kinds of people in the world of the internet – people who blog, and people who read blogs.
I belong in both categories, and through blogging have been able to share my experiences of life, products, and the world with the people who love to read them.
Looking back through my blog recently, I’ve come to realize that I typically post anything and everything that’s positive about what I’ve experienced, whether it be a service, product, place, person, etc.
It’s natural that in the current climate of ‘HASHTAGpositivevibesonly‘ to think that my audience only wants to hear good things.
However, this isn’t true at all.
There’s massive search traffic around people looking for bad reviews about companies and services they are interested in.
So, why would I post something negative? You’d think it would turn people away – there’s enough bad stuff out there in the world without me adding to it with my occasional negativity. In saying this, I think there’s something to be said for being truthful about bad experiences you have with products or companies.
So why is this?
Firstly, I believe it makes people trust you more
If I’m just writing about all the great things that have happened to me, people are going to start thinking that I’m either being outright paid to say what I’m writing, or I’m being disingenuous.
If I can open up to the people who read my blog and let them in on a bad experience I’ve had, they’ll start to feel that I’m more trustworthy. This is important when you’re relating to people through a blog, especially if it’s your brand. You want your readers and clients to trust you implicitly, so being vulnerable with them and sharing the bad stuff as well as the good can really make a difference in this area.
Secondly, people tend to look for both negative and positive reviews of a product
I’ve noticed that when I look at a product or service, I look in the reviews section for opinions on either side of the coin. When I’m buying something, I want to know what people have thought of it previously – good or bad.
There are always pros and cons to anything you buy, so only having positive reviews of a product is unrealistic and only sets you up for disappointment if you experience something negative about it. When I review a product or service on my blog in the future I try to be transparent about everything it has to offer, whether it’s good, bad or a bit of both.
This helps provide more insight into the product and help my readers make an informed decision before they choose it over other options.
Thirdly, I’m going to apply my mantra to this topic
There’s a balance to everything in life, just like there are pros and cons too.
One thing I’ve tried to remember when reading about products is that there’s usually more than meets the eye. A lot of companies will pay a public relations team to find endorsements for their products and accumulate as many positive reviews about it as they can. This inevitably leads to more people buying the product, but it’s not necessarily truthful.
I recently wrote a pretty damning review of Instazood, which is a popular Instagram bot. Instazood literally gave zero fucks when I told them I was extremely unhappy at the time – and I could barely get a response from them. They are so unprofessional that they even took my affiliate commissions away. But when my review hit the 1st place on Google SERPs, they jumped all over it and wouldn’t stop emailing me trying to make me happy.
This is reactive and poor service.
Needless to say, I won’t be bribed and my review of Instazood is staying as it is.
A good company would be proactive and treat all their customers with respect whether they have an influence on the industry or not.
Balance the bias out
When you have negative reviews on your blog as well as positive ones, you create more of a balance and avoid bias (to a certain degree).
There are all kinds of tips and tricks I could share with you about blogging and creating a fun, safe platform to share with your audience. However, this one ranks particularly high on the priority list.
The internet is full of fake news and false endorsements that can cloud your perception when deciding on what products to buy.
I’ll keep posting positive reviews and endorsements, but I’ll make an effort to post negative experiences too.
My next blog post is going to be an extremely bad experience I have had with Apple support here in South East Asia. I’ve put that blog post off for a long time because it’s so negative – but if you just sit around brooding and don’t report these things, how can you expect them to change?
Reviews & blogging
When it comes to blogging, I believe that it is my responsibility to give my readers a fair shot at knowing everything they should before they buy – especially online. Being vulnerable with my followers and letting them in on a few truths every now and then doesn’t hurt at all.
If you’re the former kind of person who blogs, make sure to balance those positive experiences out with negatives.
Your readers will thank you for it in the long run.
