Using articles to link back to your site can be tremendously beneficial.
Product Reviews are even better, because you look like an "authority".
But what's a good format to use?

Now You Can Write
High-Quality Product Reviews
that SCREAM with Authority
Quickly and Easily with
Turbo Review Writer

Our step-by-step fill-in-the-blanks process
makes writing product reviews a piece of cake.

Turbo Review Writer helps you
focus and organize your thoughts with each step.

You have complete control over the content
and resulting output.

Dear Fellow Marketer:
Have you ever played a game of strategy, like Risk or chess? If so, then you know that the winner is often the one who plans a few steps ahead and is able to improve their results by preparing for where they'll be before they get there.   Internet marketing is similar to that.  It's said that to make a lot of money on the internet, you need a lot of traffic, no matter what you're selling or promoting.  It's a numbers game. To get traffic, you need to either pay for it (advertising, PPC, etc.), which can get expensive really fast.  Or you can get it organically, which means letting people find you through the search engines.  Organic traffic is free, as in no cost, but it takes strategic thinking.  

Now, if you want to get lots of organic traffic, you need to rank well in the search engines.  To rank well, the search engines need to think your site is worth sending traffic to. The best way to accomplish that is if you look like an authority.  You look like an authority when lots of other sites have your material on them that's related subject matter, as well as links back to your site.  And that can be accomplished by writing lots of articles and getting them posted in lots of places.  But it's best if they're not all copies of the same article.

Which means ... organic traffic might not cost you much money, but it will cost you time.

From: David Schwartz
Date:

Dear Fellow Marketer:

I've been a professional software developer for 30 years, and I've recently gotten into the internet marketing arena.  I enjoy writing little software tools, and my latest creation came about somewhat accidentally.  Here's the story:

I was talking with a friend recently and he's a writer.  He was asked to write some book reviews, which is something he just hasn't done very often.  He wasn't sure what the best format for a book review would be and started looking around for software to help him out.  He didn't find much and called me thinking I might know of something.  (Hey, I write software.  That doesn't mean I know everything about the gazillion programs that exist in the world today. He must think of me as some kind of expert.)   So I did the same thing you'd do: I got on Google and Yahoo! and did some searching.  

Some interesting articles on writing reviews turned up, but no software.  

I asked my friend, "What's wrong with your word processor?"  He hemmed and hawed and finally admitted:

I have difficulty writing on a blank page!

Sheesh.  A profesional writer.  Ok.....  So I asked, "What about an outline?" He said:

Where can I find a good outline for a book review?

I said (somewhat sarcastically), "What do you want?  Something that takes you by the hand and steps you through every single part of the review?"

To which he replied (somewhat sheepishly), "Well, yeah, that would be great!
Uh ...  do you know of something?"

And that is how I began to design a Review Writer tool.  I discussed this with my friend and here were the goals we identified:

GOALS for the Review Writer Simple and easy to use Step-by-step outline approach Fill-in-the-blanks wherever possible Can save work and resume it later Able to handle different types of products Do some basic formatting Doesn't have to "do it all", but get me most of the way there and let me finish it in my word processor But ...  it does enough that I can paste the results directly into my blog.

Then I dug into my bag of programming goodies and asked, "What if it could let you specify synonyms and alternate phrases that can be chosen randomly to 'spin' different versions of the material?"

And, "Would it be nice to have a database of sentence stems attached to each field to save you from typing the same common stuff over and over?"

Of course, my friend said, "Wow! That would be great, too!  Can you DO that?"

These new features make this no ordinary review writer.   Now it's the ...

Turbo Review Writer lets you
write any kind of review

These types of reviews are currently supported: Books / eBooks Software programs Web Sites General Product reviews

Each type of review typically has 8 to 10 sections in it.
The sections in the GENERAL PRODUCT REVIEW include:

Sections in General Product Review: Product Info Summary Product Details Objectives Features + Benefits Likes Dislikes Does it Deliver? My Recommendation Final Comments

The very first section is different for each type of product.  We'll be adding support for other types of product reviews over time, and mostly it's the first section that will change.

Screenshots of Turbo Review Writer
(Click on link at left to view thumbnail to the right.)
(Clicking on an image opens a full-size image in another window.)

Turbo Review Writer Opening Page Product Info Page Product Summary Page Details Page Objectives Page Features+Benefits Page Product Likes Page Product Dislikes Page Does It Deliver Page My Recommendation Page Final Comments Page Author Bio Page Document Structure Page (Book Review example) Final Result Page (Book Review example) Turbo Review Writer Opening Page Product Info Page Product Summary Page Details Page Objectives Page Features+Benefits Page Product Likes Page Product Dislikes Page Does It Deliver Page My Recommendation Page Final Comments Page Author Bio Page Document Structure Page (Book Review example) Final Result Page (Book Review example)

This is the unaltered output of a short
(338 word) book review

1.  Book Info 1.1.  TITLE Authenticity -- What Consumers Really Want 1.2.  AUTHOR James H.  Gilmore and B.  Joseph Pine II 1.3.  PUB DATE 9/2007 1.4.  PUBLISHER Harvard Business School Press 1.5.  PRICE 26.95 1.6.  CURRENCY USD 1.7.  TYPE OF BOOK Marketing 1.8.  AVAILABLE MEDIA * Hardcover --------------------------------------------- 2.  Summary 2.1.  INTRODUCTION This is a business book that follows from an earlier book by the same authors entitled "The Experience Economy".   It picks up where their previous book left off.   It inquires into some fundamental shifts going on in the world of business and marketing that will be shaping our lives for the next couple of decades. It's a bit academic, but highly insightful. 2.2.  PROBLEM ADDRESSED How to turn your customers into raving fans. 2.3.  SOLUTION OFFERED Make your business and products appear more "authentic" and "real" to consumers. 2.4.  FIRST SUMMARY I think the general thesis of this book is dead-on and represents the future of business in America. 3.  Target Audience 3.1.  TARGET AUDIENCE This book should be read by every entrepreneur, CEO, and marketer in the world.   But I hope they won't because they'll miss the boat! 4.  Likes 4.1.  LIKES 1 SUMMARY You don't need to have read their prior book to understand this one. 4.2.  LIKES 1 DETAILS The prior material really forms a foundation for this newer material.   But the authors do an excellent job of reviewing the necessary background as needed. 5.  When Finished 5.1.  WHEN FINISHED OPTIONS * Go back and highlight all the important stuff I found * Tell a friend or two about it * Tell the whole world about it 6.  Feelings 6.1.  FEELINGS OPTIONS * Excited * Inspired 6.2.  FEELINGS OTHER 1 Full of new ideas 7.  My Recommendation 7.1.  RECOMMENDATION * Absolutely! Run out and get a copy now! 7.2.  BECAUSE This is the future of marketing! I believe the ideas in this book will be evident in the marketplace for the next 10-20 years. 8.  Author Info 8.1.  AUTHOR INFO David Schwartz http://www.turboreviewwriter.com