Today I am going to talk about a premium wordpress plugin, called WFReview.
Since most of my readers are also Wickedfire members, you probably know of WFReview already. Whether you already own WFReview or not, I suggest you read on. There are plenty of tips.
WFReview is rather simple, it enables you to import csv files into templated posts, and adds a rating feature. Yes, the five star thingie.
What is so great about this plugin, is that when used right, it can supercharge an otherwise crawling site. How? I will show you.
First of all, the import function works great. I have never had a problem even with huge csv files, and even when I did, it proved out to be my fault. The csv import can be automated, to keep a site such as a niche store up to date. WFReview can be set up via a cron job to fetch an updated csv file from FTP. That csv file could be an auto updated product export from Commission Junction for example (it can be found under Account-Services-Create product export in your CJ panel).
Most sites will have no need for that, but automation is always good to have.
WFReview can also be used as a massive site generator. With the right csv data, you can generate a blog thousands of pages long in no time. It will also look good if you dedicate enough time to it… The custom template for the posts is where you need to put most of your attention. Make a test csv file 2-3 rows high and test and re-test the template until you get it right. Don’t forget that this is plain html, which means you can add whatever you like, clickable product thumbnails, buttons, similar posts code etc. Just do it right, its the most important step.
Now, how do you get those csv’s?
There are plenty of options:
- Google them. You can search for filetypes you know.
- Generate them at google squared. Here is the square for “space shuttles” for example. The squares can be cleaned up manually, then exported as csv files. I suggest similar categories, e.g. horror movies, action movies, comedy movies.
- Get them at factual. It is still in beta, but there is a wealth of data in there.
Ok, then. Lets say you generated a couple of those massive post blogs. What now. How do you monetize them?
WFReview makes it easy. There is a keyword rewrite function, which lets you automatically rewrite any keyword to a link. It is under the “Affiliate links” tab. Yes, fill it up with your aff links. I told you it rocks. But don’t use it only like that. Use it to link to your moneysite’s posts, deeplinking with nice anchor text while keeping it clean.
Another cool feature of WFReview is the “Generate reviews” function. It basically creates fake reviews, randomly votes of stars in your posts. It is really good, but you need to keep a few things in mind:
- It doesn’t comment. Of course, a rating looks ok by itself.
- Put a small number of ratings, like 3-17. The problem is that the randomizer ends up averaging the ratings, and if you put too many, you end up with 2000 posts all with 2,5 rating. It doesn’t look natural, and it defeats its original purpose.
- Voter’s names are pulled from two files, one for male names and one for female. The files are plain text, firstname_female.txt and firstname_male.txt. The problem is that noone on the internet actually signs with their first name. Just check out WOW, for all those druuuids and Gand@lfs and Legolasses. Instead, I created a username list that I use, that I feel is more realistic. You can download it here.
- The autogenerated comments are great, but what is really great is that rating forces interactivity in your site. Make sure to put a “Recent comments” widget in your sidebar, and fine-tune the rating classes and the whole layout to provoke rating from the real visitors. Auto comments are fine, but their real purpose is to kick-start the site. Remember that.
To summarise, WFReview is an amazingly powerful tool. It enables you to make great affiliate sites. I strongly encourage you to buy it, but only if you are willing to take the time and utilize this powerhouse to its fullest.
Did I mention that all future updates are free?
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