How to get a better review

I have been reading through reviews again and the same site will ding high scores on one site and low scores on another.

One site will rate the image/video quality amateur while the other will call it some of the highest quality around. (quality not only meaning compression/size/clarity but also notes on style, lighting and so on)

Design is another part of the score that has me a little confused. About as much as some of the CS award winners but back to the point.

What are some tips you guys can offer people building sites?

What are some of the factors used to scale quality?

Does a reality tour design on a reality site have a different set of criteria it must follow. Different from the criteria of a free site, a solo site and so on?

What tips can someone new, and old, have on hand when thinking out a new site? What would help their reviews? What would help their site?

As I opened the topic, no two sites review the same and no one tip is the overall answer but for those who run a legitimate review, unbiased of how well you know the site owner... What could you offer that will help people not only have a better review but also, a better site?

Exclusive content, high quality videos, high quality pics and a regular update schedule that is consitent with the type of content that you are going after.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by abostonboy

Exclusive content, high quality videos, high quality pics and a regular update schedule that is consitent with the type of content that you are going after.

---

Lloyd,

Non of those matter.

I have seen some review sites give cookie cutter sites with old content from ounique higher scores than sites full of 100% exclusive stuff that is highly niche specific, i guess the review owner must have liked me :)

Regards,

Lee

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lee

Lloyd,

Non of those matter.

I have seen some review sites give cookie cutter sites with old content from ounique higher scores than sites full of 100% exclusive stuff that is highly niche specific, i guess the review owner must have liked me :)

Regards,

Lee

---

Well.

They matter to some. But I have seen some total crap sites get good reviews. And I have seen some awesome sites get crap reviews. There is no real criteria I guess.

About the only review site that I really trust is gaydemon's. So I guess I went by that criteria.

but per some reviews on gaydemon - you don't need Exclusive to get a good review. Not to come off rude but your reply is more of an affiliate wish list for a new program and less of a review site criteria list.

My List, or call it a wish list...

What the tour says is what is inside...

Notice of updates.. each one dated inside

easy navigation to pics, vidoes.

bios of stars or at least something to make it less impersonal

videos with options of viewers, viewing speeds... clearly identified

pics easy to find, easy to view in range of sizes sm-med-lge slideshow option nice but not must

able to download zip file of pics

no drm

no intrusive ads in members area

clear instructions as to everything, but some offer bonus material that actually costs...

no check boxes to other sites trials when signing up

easy link to support

:thumbsup:

gaydemon review criteria
http://www.gaydemon.com/reviews/scorecard.html

and no, you don't need exclusive to get a good review on gaydemon. an honest site that has good quality gets a good score, an honest site with great quality and lots of content gets a great score.

btw, scoring is not arbitrary on any review site i've ever written for - and i've written for a number of them. only on 2 sites were tour design figured into the score unless the tour is littered with ads or is misleading or really really hard to figure out.

what most review site owners like:

good quality videos and that means the vids will not lose much quality going full screen

vids that aren't small (nothing under 480x360)

multiple video sizes/formats are a plus, but not a high-score must if your primary videos are a very accessible format

no huge watermarks that cover the action or distract from watching the videos

easy to find support link

links to players

no DRM

easy to use navigation on all the pages. well organized pages are a plus, especially for review sites that score navigation. if your pages look nice and are easy to navigate, you're on a roll. if links have cutesy or hard to read names so people can't figure out what links to what, that's a point off for navigation.

no misleading links that seem like content but are really ads

dated regular updates - a big plus!

thumb previews for videos, large good quality thumbs for pic sets - and enough thumbs on the pic galleries so the page looks full. less than 20 only works if you are using really big thumbs

i do prefer model profiles, but a good site can get along without.

if a site is supposed to be an amateur site with amateur photographers/video guys, i might be a little nicer about quality when it comes to things like video score. after all, if the tour is honest about the quality, and it's not actually bad, i prefer to see something more real.

and a word about reality sites - reality sites always look nice on the outside, with clear pics and great descriptions, yet many have a single small blurry thumb and no description for each episode in the member area. that's not going to make members or reviewers feel great when they log in.

Sorry.

You don't need exclusive to get a good review on gay demon. But the pic and video quality is an important element from looking at the sites that get a good review.


And sites that have an update schedule tend to get that mentioned and I am sure it goes into the reviewers decision. I could be wrong.

it really depends on whose reviewing you...I have had some of our sites reviewed by people who normally review str8 sites and they gave us a poor review, even though we offered high quality content, a huge library of vids/photos, a good selection of plugins, etc, etc....but I guess they just did not like watching two guys fuck. This is a problem with so many reviewers, they write what they feel about a site (if they personally like it) and not so much about if the site would please someone looking for that niche content.

I don't understand reviews either. Sometimes we score very high and sometimes very low. We are regularly referred to as an amatuer site, which I have a hard time with. In the end , it doesn't really matter. Review sites do not convert well for us. One muscle bloggers is worth 10 review sites far as a solo muscle site goes. We don't really seek reviews any longer because while I like what we do very much "Needs more work" isn't going to entice someone to even take a tour much less join. One big review site in particular has insisted on keeping their access when they have not updated their review since we started back in feb-06. Finding what works for a particular niche is really important. It is not the same across the board.