Thursday, February 09, 2006

Amazon + Reviewers + Links

I was over at Amazon the other day buying something when I noticed my item had been reviewed by a Top 500 Reviewer named Tom. Seems he belongs to an elite group of people who have been picked by Amazon to provide reviews of their products. Here’s what Amazon says about them:

"Let's hear it for our Top Reviewers--selected by Amazon.com customers like you. These clear-minded critics voiced their opinions about Amazon.com items. In turn, they supplied their fellow shoppers with helpful, honest, tell-it-like-it-is product information. Please join us as we salute this topnotch group of review writers."
I scrolled through the list of reviewer bio’s and noticed a large number had blogs/websites directly related to the expertise they were reviewing - or as a result of their Amazon status. Most made mention of other related editorial activities and invited further contact.

What a gold mine of authority figures! It would be worth a look to see if there is a Top 500 Reviewer in your niche and contact them “off” Amazon for:

A product review you can use on your site. Once you have it, issue an...

Announcement to the media you’ve gotten a product endorsement from a noted Amazon authority figure. In the announcement include an action call to other reviewers to contact you and provide product reviews. More reviews……..repeat the process.

At the very least ask to buy ad space on their blog/website/newsletter if they have one. This tactic is obviously less viral than the one above but no less effective link wise.

Win-win here for all involved, that’s the best kind of linking!

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