Money, money, money!!! (Writing a Good dooyoo Review)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	Writing a Good dooyoo Review
Date:	04/02/01 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can make money, make friends, and have lots of fun!

Disadvantages: Getting obsessed with the money side of things is a bad idea.

Pssst, want to make some? Want to make mucho mullah from Dooyoo? Then read on…

OK, I think I’m safe now.

What I was trying to demonstrate there is that your title and your first few lines are what seems to really attract people to read your opinions.

It was probably what made you read this opinion and maybe skip some of the others.

I’ve not been a member of Dooyoo for long, only for 16 days now, but I think that I’ve figured out a few things that can really help you to get read, even if you have been here a lot longer than me.

I don’t think I’m doing that bad, I’ve been read 155 times in the short time that I’ve been here, and been crowned once so far. I don’t think that’s such bad going.

Now, the first thing that I’m going to say is that you should not view Dooyoo purely as a money-making scheme… if you do that, chances are you won’t enjoy yourself and get the most out of it, and as a result, you won’t actually end up making very much money at all.

The first things that I am going to talk about will relate directly to how I think one goes about writing a good opinion, and then I will talk a bit more about how I think you can maximise your readership of that opinion.

HOW TO WRITE A GOOD OPINION
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I’ve already talked about the title and the first few words. The first few words of your opinion are REALLY important, because when your opinion takes pride of place on the front page (briefly), and appears under “What’s New” within it’s section, the first few words show up with the title, and so this is just as much of a hook to attract potential readers with as the title is.

I think that a good title, and good few opening words can attract a reader to give you a look even if they weren’t actually looking for what you wrote about. <
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Why do I think this? Mainly because it’s how I am attracted to other people’s opinions. I am a reader as well as a writer….

Which leads me nicely onto my next point…

In order to write well, I believe that one must also read often. It really does help just to look at the way other people write, and to try and understand what marks out the “Very Useful” from the simply “Useful”.

I am not suggesting that you go and copy other people’s writing styles – it is very important to develop your own style of writing – as much for your own benefit as for that of your readers. I am also definitely not suggesting that you plagiarise other people’s work. I’m just saying take a look, and try to learn from what other people have to say.

I have a lot more to say about reading, but I will come back to that later, as that will come under “How to maximise readership”.

Now, on to your opinion itself.

Think about what you’re going to write. Sometimes you can just dive in there and start typing, but I find it helps to have a brief idea of what you’re going to talk about. I have a brief outline sitting in front of me as I write this opinion, setting out the major points that I want to make, and roughly what order I am going to put them in.

I do find this helps. Even if you just scribble down a few rough notes, it will save you losing your way and perhaps getting a case of writers block halfway through writing your opinion.

Try to make your opinion long, but avoid waffling too much. I find myself guilty of that sometimes. Try to include as much relevant information as you can. If you are writing about a product or service, try to give as clear an indication of your experiences as possible.

If you are writing an opinion in something like Speakers Corner, try to see both sides of the argument, even if you
do feel strongly for one side of it. At least present both sides, and then explain why you favour one side of the argument over the other. Try to remain reasoned and logical.

Above all, try to make your opinion as useful as possible, as the more useful it is, the higher your ratings will climb, and the more you will get read. I’ll talk about this a little more later, but let’s just say for now that one “Very Useful” opinion is probably worth more to you than ten “Useful” opinions.

The next thing to think about is your SPAG – that’s your Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar. I’m not going to turn into your High School English teacher here, but it is important to practice good English.

If I see one lump of text, no paragraphing, no-line breaks, all in one case, and with not the merest hint of a full stop, I won’t bother to read it. I will just hit “Not Useful” and move on.

I realise that not everyone has a PhD in English – I certainly don’t, and that’s why I write my opinions in Word and then run the SPAG checker over it. I then cut ‘n’ paste my opinion into Dooyoo.

When you’ve finished writing, give your opinion a good re-read before you send it off into the darkest depths of Dooyoo. The SPAG check will not pick up on sentences that make no sense, so it’s a good idea to read over what you have just written.

Don’t be afraid to come back and change your opinion if you realise at a later date that something is seriously wrong with it. You should always try and look to improve old opinions as well as writing new ones.

The final thing that I want to say for this section is this – Only write about things you feel passionately about – and most definitely do not, I repeat DO NOT write about goods and services you have no experience of, because the readers will see it a mile off.
<
br>At the very least you should have demo-ed a product before you write an opinion about it.

HOW TO GET YOUR OPINION READ
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So, now you’ve written a good opinion, how are you going to get people to read it?

Well, Dooyoo offers you several forms of publicity to help you along.

The first of these is the Front Page. This is the place where you get the most exposure… people logging into Dooyoo will see the opinion on the front page before they see anything else.

If your hook was good, the chances are that you will get read.

The thing is though; you don’t stay on the front page for long… there are that many opinions written. As a rule though, I try never to remove myself from the Front Page. I always wait for someone else to take it before submitting a new opinion. I want to try and keep myself on the Front Page for as long as I possibly can, as this is THE best place on the whole site for someone to see my opinion.

It’s worth thinking about I think….

The level down from this is the “What’s new” within the top-level category. Again, this is an excellent place to get seen, as people browsing through the categories will see your (hopefully) eye-catching hook, and you will probably get your opinion read.

Again, I try never to remove myself from the “What’s new” slots…

A level down from this is “What’s new” in each sub-category and individual product heading. Same thing applies again, try not to remove yourself from these excellent publicity slots, because if you don’t get enough hits before losing the slot, chances are that what might have been a very good opinion that you just wrote will get lost behind all those that have been there for a while already, and received some good ratings. You want to stay away from the bottom of the pile, because othe
rwise people may never get around to reading what you have to say.

So those are the short-term ways to gain publicity… what about the long term?

Well, if you’ve written a really good opinion, you may get one of the “Highlight” slots. These are good to try and aim for and hold on to, as people will see your hook for a long, long time to come if your opinion is considered to be a highlight. The longer you can stay in this box, the more hits you will get and the more chance you have of staying there… and of course the longer you stay there, the more hits you will get, you see?

The best way to get a readership though has to be to go out and read and rate other peoples opinions. Leave comments, get to know people. Chances are if you read their opinions, they will read yours…

Above all though, remember that no one wants to read a bad opinion, and that bad opinions sink to the bottom of the pile, never to be seen again, and the chances of them being digged out and read by someone are negligible.

Write as many opinions as you can, but remember – quality over quantity. If you churn out loads and loads of bad opinions, then you’ll still get 100 miles for each one, but a good opinion can earn you so much more. It’ll earn you more miles because it will get read more – remember two reads equals one whole opinion, and more than that, it will earn you a good reputation. If you get a reputation as someone who churns out 30 odd pieces of rubbish each day, then chances are that no one will be interested in what you have to say, and in the long run, you will work much harder to make any miles.

Remember also that a Crown equals 10 whole opinions in terms of miles…. Think about it…

I can’t have covered everything here, and you may be thinking “Ah, what does he know, he’s only been here 16 days”. If you want to think that, then tha
t’s OK, I don’t mind, but I think that you might find you get somewhere, and get more out of Dooyoo if you at least consider some of the things that I’ve said here.

I hope that at least some of you will have found it useful though.

Above all though, when you write your opinions, remember that Dooyoo is not about making money, it’s about having fun, sharing ideas, helping other people and having them help you.

It’s a community – not just a way to make a quick buck, and I am sure most of us would still be dooyooing even if there was no money in it.

The money is a nice incentive though, and I think you’ll find you might make a bit more of it if you consider some of the things that I have said above.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and get writing!

I hope to read YOUR Very Useful opinion very soon…

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