| Getting your website reviewed is like getting a book reviewed by a wide audience. You will need to provide a copy to all your reviewers, every single word of your content ? as well as your code ? may be scrutinized to within an inch of its pixilated life, and not everyone will like what they see and read. Moreover, not all your reviewers will have the time to go through your site, nor will they have the time to even know that a site like yours exists and has to be reviewed.
A website review is actually important: if it gets good reviews, it can become more popular because its URL will be posted on an award-giving website?s page; and its credibility can increase because of the stamp of approval given by experts. If a website gets bad reviews, not all things come to an end: most reviewers will give constructive criticism and tips on how to improve the website. A review, therefore, is a chance not only to shine, but to make a website look and feel better.
Because getting website reviews can be difficult, some website developers, owners, and designers usually apply for paid reviews. Paid reviews are sometimes looked upon with disdain, and not only in the world of web design: if you pay someone to review your book, product, service, painting, or work of art, you appear as though you are asking someone to say something good about you, or that person will appear as though he or she has no gratitude. The truth is fairly simple in paid website reviews: getting a paid review may allow you to fall into the trap of reviewers singing your praises but not really meaning them, and simply because you filled their wallets.
One way you can curb this is to send notes to reviewers to be as honest as possible. The payment, you can tell them, is simply a way to get someone to take the time to look through your site and see the finest details, and make comments on the finest details. If your website reviewers appear compelled to give overly good reviews, ask them to limit their good reviews to a sober minimum, and to avoid making an overbearing review that might grate on your audience should you choose to post your website reviewer?s comments. Remember, even if your website achieves high scores in a review and gets good blurbs, it is ultimately up to your audience to judge whether or not these blurbs and scores have any merit.
Moreover, ask your website reviewers to give you their negative responses in private, say through a private conversation, or through confidential email. Some reviewers might find it difficult to say bad things about a website that they are being paid to review, so a private correspondence can be a good way to still get pointers on how your website should appear and feel.
There are many traps that you can fall into if you pay people to do a review. However, you can avoid these traps by remembering that you are not perfect, your website is not perfect, and you should not sit on your laurels and pretend that your work is complete. Instead, take the paid reviews as a chance to get people to notice you and do a review, and you might just get good tips on making your website better, along with praises about the things that you already have done.
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