Starting a Gear Review Website - C&C pls!

at least that template...

 

I presume the reviews page will be one of the choices at the top. I'm not a fan of center-justified unless in cases where it makes sense to do that. The introductory text block "reads small".

I dialed up KR's review page on the D750 just to have something to compare yours with. I like his better. Way better photographs, and the text is easier to read. I would like to have your explanation of how you think your layout is better. How is yours cleaner and better organized? If I can't see that yours is cleaner and better organized, then how would I be expected to perceive that, and then prefer your site to KR's?

KR posts his reviews in chronological order, and someone here mentioned alphabetical order, but frankly that would not help me, particularly if I didn't know the precise name of something. Logical groups is how I want to find stuff. It works quite well on other websites.

For everybody: Speaking of KR; why is everybody all negative on him? If people can't learn from a variety of sources, then their education will be thin, at best.

 

But, if you had a room full of monkeys randomly coding given an infinite length of time you'd eventually...



Just grow impatient and pay for a mobile-optimized template?

 

some of his reviews are hardly reviews. I get annoyed from his extensive copy and pasting. but it's typically a good source for info.


things like this get old:

"
Manual Focus

Manual focus is swell, just grab the ring at any time. "

 

I think it would depend on who hit the "submit" button?

 

I don't go there a lot, and haven't checked in at KR for maybe two or three years. However, I was able to glean some information when I first whet digital. Got what I needed and moved on.

 

OK...

Let me explain some things more clearly.

• ONLY the page I linked is my "review site." The rest of the site is my normal website and that's not what I was asking for feedback on. "REVIEWS" will be a part of the top menu, when it's public. Which it's not yet.
• In regards to the fox and deer image (which has nothing to do with my review page) did you even look at it? It literally says "Guest Post" and includes the photographer's name. And at the bottom of the article are all his social media links. The photos also have his watermark. So....
• Wix is a great host, and the best I've tried so far. I have no plans to move soon, and they are optimized very well for mobile. You have the option to edit layout for mobile separately from desktop. I simply haven't done that yet for the reviews pages. I will visit that soon.
• Again, I was asking for feedback on the layout and menus of the review pages. The feedback about alphabetical order, or drop down menus, is very helpful, and I will be sure to implement some of those ideas.
• As for reviewing gear that I own, I don't see anything wrong with that. Just because I own something doesn't mean I'll necessarily love it. I plan to rate the Nikkor 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 rather poorly, actually. Yes, it won't be completely unbiased, as I am not familiar enough with enough gear to have a more removed viewpoint. But again, I don't see anything wrong with that. But I would agree that to establish trust, I should distance my reviews and any sort of revenue streams.
• On that note, I don't really care about making money from this. I just thought that was a thing I should do. Everyone's aversion to that here has made it clear to me that it's something I should reconsider. I'll probably remove the affiliate links thing, and look at other options. As I said, this is something I mostly want to do for fun, and think it may help people who are considering the gear that I've reviewed. Just because I don't own the Canon, Sony, etc equivalent of every piece of gear that I have doesn't make my opinions and experience with my gear any less valid. Though, if given the opportunity, I would certainly like to review all the others as well.

I'm sorry if I did not explain these things clearly. I don't like being defensive, but it's frustrating when people are talking about things completely irrelevant to my post. That said, I take responsibility for not being more clear in my post.

Thank you all for your time and feedback.

 

I think what you’re actually doing is making recommendations rather than reviews. The word “review” is often used too loosely, and I think that’s the issue that happening here.

A reviewer will always purchase the latest and greatest gear as soon as it comes out. They will use all brands. They will test it in their own unique conditions and they’ll report statistics as well as experiences.

A recommendation is when you are reviewing gear that they personally own and use. You report on your experiences, not just short term but also in the long term. You’re able to show more real world photos from a larger variety of situations than the reviewers. And yes, it will largely be positive because it’s what you’ve chosen for yourself. Both reviews and recommendations are valuable, but in different ways.

Nothing wrong with having a “Recommended Gear” page. Labeling yourself as a reviewer just opens you up to far more criticism, as you’ve seen in this thread.