This is a guest post by Mike Crimmins, the caffeinated blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee, the average joe’s guide to everything coffee.
There’s 4,236 reasons to blog. I have an urge to write that I just can’t control. It’s pretty cool to earn a few extra dollars here and there. But the best reason to run a review blog like Daily Shot Of Coffee is the vast amount of products that companies send me to review for free.
When I started the blog, I sarcastically told my friends that if I received just one bag of coffee for free, it would be all worth it. I received a whole lot more than that. In the past few months, the UPS man delivered to my door enough coffee to keep myself caffeinated for a whole year and still have some to share with my friends. Plus, companies are now sending me gift baskets, coffeemakers and more.
A few people have asked me about how to get free products to review, so here’s my method. I should warn you, it takes a lot more than just asking some company for something cool to review because they’re probably not going to send it to you. If tomorrow you ask Dell for a $1,000 laptop, they’re going to laugh in your face, unless you can prove that it might be worthwhile to them. If you can do that, you might start seeing more laptops show up at your door than you know what to do with.
Basic steps that you need to follow to fill up your house with things to review:
To start with, you’ll need a blog devoted to that niche. If you have a blog that’s about the Vancouver Canuks, vampire movies and Volkswagens, you’ll get a lot of weird looks from companies. Instead start a blog just about laptops and laptop accessories.
Setup a professional looking contact page on your website. Include information for perspective companies that might want to send you something.
Review everything that you can get your hands on. That means starting with your own laptop, reviewing all of your friends’ laptops and then find some more to write about.
Follow laptop manufactures on Twitter and Facebook. Get on their radar and let them know that you exist. That’s when companies started approaching me and offering me stuff to review without me even having to ask.
Start looking for companies whose products you want to review. Look for companies that are active in social media. It could mean that they understand the power of the internet and are willing to give a product to review to a blogger. Look for companies with lots of testimonials on their websites. Review blog posts are a lot like testimonials. Write all of these companies professional letters about why it would benefit them to send you that laptop to review.
Hopefully, you’ll start seeing the UPS man at your door everyday with new things to review. And of course, give them fair and honest reviews. Do it right and it won’t be long before you’ll be seeing even more products.
That should be enough get you started, but for more detailed information, check out this ebook, Ramped Reviews by a blogger named Robb Sutton. He’s an expert at getting review products. He’s received over $100,000 worth of mountain biking products to review. Ramped Reviews has become my guide to getting more free stuff to review.
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{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
You made some great tips Mike. I think a lot of people just expect things to be given to them but they forget to ask for it
IMHO I think the more creative and honest you are with your reviews the better products and following you will receive.
Mical Johnson@TampaSEO´s last blog ..Fortune 500 company or Online Scammer?
@Mical Johnson@TampaSEO, I really take the honest part serious. In the reviews that I do are both the good and the bad of the products and I think that stands out to the companies. I know it definitely stands out to the readers.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..Coffee Encrusted Steak Recipe
Good advice here. The only thing I have received for free is a book on social media that they wanted me to review. A lap top, mountain bike or a coffee maker would be a whole lot better. Maybe a should start a blog reviewing cars and see what happens
Tycoon Blogger@promote your blog´s last blog ..Do you need Izea to sell Sponsored Tweets?
@Tycoon Blogger@promote your blog, Thanks!
The thought of doing a car blog crossed my mind when I got my first bag of coffee to review. However, I reviewed like 30 of my own products, before I got the first review sample. That could get crazy with cars. Plus, I’ve seen the car review shows. They always have to give it back at the end and that’s no fun.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
Great tips on how to get free products to review. I just wonder with the new FTC guidelines about having to disclose being compensated for reviews (including receiving free products) if companies are going to be as willing to send out the free goods.
~ Kristi
Kikolani @ Blogging´s last blog ..Do the New FTC Guidelines Affect You?
@Kikolani @ Blogging, I’ve noticed that they’re always including guidelines that the reviews have to include where the product came from and why. I never saw that before the new FTC rules went into effect, but the amount of review samples seems to be about the same.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee, it’s nice to see that companies are still willing to play along even with a little extra effort. It benefits them big time in the long run, I have purchased numerous coffee products based on your reviews.
I have received a couple of invitations for dates from my blog. Does that count as products?
rose casanova´s last blog ..Bye Brownie
@rose casanova, I never get any girls asking me out through my blog, I’m definitely doing something wrong.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
Haha. I don’t think that you’re doing something wrong. Its more of the fact that you’re a guy. Women don’t just up and say “Hey, I like your blog. So um.. wanna do it?” Who does that sound more like? More like a male. Being that she is a female, she is more likely to get a following of male readers. Whether or not they’re there for her blog, thats a different story.
@rose casanova, Depends on how much you charge… sorry I couldn’t resist, I’ll go away now. :-)
dwippy@dofollow blog list´s last blog ..Blog Comments
@rose casanova, doesn’t sound like a bad problem to have.
That’s it, I’m starting a blog about high end luxury cars!
Aaron´s last blog ..The Biggest Loser Season 8 Finale: Just as I Predicted.
@Aaron, LOL, if it works and you need help, you know where to find me.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
Mike, this was a very informative post.
A number of years ago I owned an mail-order educational company targeted at homeschoolers. We produced a little catalog and even had a web page (in 1994!). Once I got things really going, I could not believe all the free books, games, kits, etc., I got. It was like Christmas every week for my kids. Seriously the stuff just poured in. And if I saw something interesting that I didn’t have, all I had to do was ask and it was mine.
Like you said, be honest, review thoroughly. Once you get a reputation, you’ll have more stuff than you know what to do with.
Think someone will send me a roof or windows this week?
Alison Moore Smith@Mortgage-Free Home´s last blog ..Christmas: A Perfect Time to Barbecue
@Alison Moore Smith@Mortgage-Free Home, I’ve seriously received more coffee than I could ever drink…and I drink a lot of coffee.
I think the honesty and reputation are really key when it comes to getting stuff.
1994? I’m impressed. I didn’t make my first site until 2001 and I thought I was old school.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee, one of the main reasons I don’t purchase products reviewed on blogs is because of the lack of “real”.
Real reviews always rule.
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee, Well, Mike, there’s “old school” and then there’s just really old!
Alison Moore Smith@Blog in 1 Week´s last blog ..6 Steps to Startup with WordPress: The Guide for the Wannabe Blogger
Awesome tips and excellent guest post. When you received product to review do you get to keep them or are you required to send them back. Is there a cost to you for inbound shipping?
Ms. Freeman@Baby Steps of an Internet Entreprenuer´s last blog ..Unemployment Can Be the Entrepreneurial Spark Needed
@Ms. Freeman@Baby Steps of an Internet Entreprenuer, so far everything that I’ve received, I’ve gotten to keep. They do send it for free, but there have been a couple of times where I’ve approaches places and they said if you buy one bag, we’ll thrown in a bunch more for review purposes. With some of the big ticket items, I’ve heard that the companies will want it returned after the review process is over.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
Awesome! I’ll have to check out that book.
I have received a few small items [yogurt, album download, organic food stuff] and sometimes I receive things that are not to be blogged about because they are test samples. Oh, no, I’m a human guinea pig!
And, Mike, you forgot the best part – sometimes you get products to review and then share with your readers [like your current giveaway]. 
Anne´s last blog ..Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow ~ Please
@Anne, that is true. I’ve had lots of great companies that like to share. In fact three companies approached me this week about providing me samples to review and each one also wanted to hold giveaways too. I think 2010 is going to be a very exciting year over at Daily Shot Of Coffee.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee, I hope so. Means I can retire and you’ll hire me, already loving the sound of it.
@Extreme John, Yeah whenever you get a chance, shoot me over a resume! LOL
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..Poll: Are you drinking any special coffee this holiday season?
I’ll start a blog reviewing heart and blood-pressure meds and maybe we could JV! ;) .
Seriously though, these are some excellent tips, maybe you can give me a couple more…
I REALLY DO want to start a movie/tv review blog, but niche it down to particular genres, and quite possibly particular time periods also; not just another “everything movie” review blog.
I’ve actually been really thinking about this for some time now and have lots of thoughts.
Any ideas on free stuff? Seems like a toughie to me, so any thoughts would be appreciated…
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Pick My New Domain Names With A chance To Win $10!
@Dennis Edell, I think the JV on heart and high blood pressure meds sounds great! LOL
I think you’re going in the right direction, really pick a niche that you like, then hopefully you have some things that you can review at home to get it started.
I think you could probably end up getting free videos/tv shows to review once you build up a reputation, and probably a lot of cool related schwag.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee,
Schwag! I didn’t even think of that. lol
Absolutely, the first couple hundred posts (or more) may be from my own video library.
I don’t even know from who or where I might get free stuff in this area. I don’t really see myself calling Paramount for an early edition of their latest (assuming I do “new”) LOL.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Pick My New Domain Names With A chance To Win $10!
@Dennis Edell, Paramount might be tough, but they do have marketing departments that might be into social media.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..Poll: Are you drinking any special coffee this holiday season?
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee,
Seriously? I was kidding. lol
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED – Pick My New Domain Names With A chance To Win $10!
Thanks for this info, I know a few bloggers who review many products and I wondered how they did that.
I will do my best to follow your points and see what happens. I think my current blog is not suitable for reviews so I might have to start another blog.
George Serradinho´s last blog ..Tips For Creating First Post With Wordpress Thesis Theme
@George Serradinho, There’s probably some products that you can review via your current blog, but if you wanted to do reviews of something non-blogging related, you’d probably have to start a new one for best results.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee, very true. All though I have had some success in regards to products received (prior to FTC stuff), all though I still think Panasonic and Samsung owe me some major love for the 20+ TV’s in my house.
I will review
Great first guest post! I’ve always thought of starting a niche blog to do reviews or affiliate marketing. Just don’t have the time currently.
@Matt@Canton GA Foreclosures, I definitely understand the lack of time, I need to clone myself.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..2009 Holiday Guide Wrap Up
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee, please clone me while your at it. Twice if possible, thanks.
sounds great .. i love when you say that we have 4236 reasons to blog.. i only new few reason to keep in my mind that i love blogging.. actually i read this post before on john chow blog before . but this post remind me to how powerful blogging is
EarningStep´s last blog ..The hidden secret of SEO you need to know – Basic SEO tips
Good stuff Mike, as a fervent coffee drinker myself I could save a bunch of money if I was to get free coffee. Unfortunately I dont think my taste buds would allow it as I never met a cup of coffee I didn’t like, oh there were some bad ones in Vietnam where hot triumphed over taste, and maybe one or two lousy ones I had in the waiting room of a hospital but nothing would have tasted good then. Brings to mind a new post idea: where were you when you had the greatest cup of coffee you ever had and under what circumstances. And the worst cup…
@Dick, I used to be the same way. But I’ll admit that I’ve become spoiled. I used to be able to drink just about any coffee, and I still can I just notice that I’m drinking bad coffee.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..Poll: Are you drinking any special coffee this holiday season?
You think this thing will work outside of US?
ZXT´s last blog ..7 ways to attract comments in your blog
@ZXT, I know it’s worked for John Chow and he’s in Canada. A while back he did a garage sale with all of the stuff he’s been sent for review purposes. I’ve also come across some great review blogs all over the world.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..Poll: Are you drinking any special coffee this holiday season?
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee,
Well that’s still North America. I’m in the Philippines so it might be tougher.
ZXT´s last blog ..Sunday’s Babe of the Week
@ZXT, I’m in Israel and most companies won’t bother sending anything overseas to be reviewed. What I do is I have a team of writers/helpers in the US. I let them get the products and do the reviews and for them it’s a great perk.
Anne @ b6s.net´s last blog ..Managing the Content on Multiple Blogs
Great advice. I have been trying to figure out how some of the bloggers do this. I have seen several bloggers that do not have the traffic or popularity as this site, but they still get some reviews. I think once my sites starts getting more traffic, it will be time implement these tips. Thanks for the post.
eleement321´s last blog ..Daily Delicious Posts Dec 17th 2009
freeloaders
Interesting stuff Mike & and certainly food ( or drink) for thought.
Nice site idea by the way.
Best wishes
Will
Will´s last blog ..Brianwave – The Alexa Ranking Contest
@Will, Thanks Will.
Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..Poll: Are you drinking any special coffee this holiday season?
Wise words indeed, I have had some freebies in the past via FuelMyBlog the best one been a pair of Skechers Shape Ups just to do a review of them
Karen @ BlazingMinds´s last blog ..Weekly Round Up – Wordpress, Interviews, Skechers
Hello Mike , well explained using an example of a laptop
I personally had once visited a software company to ask for the review
then they had told me that your blog readers will not help us promoting
or buying our products , so better develop a nice readership for your blogs
This made me to start off my own blogging experience through my blog ;)
So what i learned from this is , ask your blogger friends before going to any company and try to know whether your blog is good for that review
Sunil Jain@gupshup´s last blog ..5 Things to know before creating a blog
Hey, thanks! Appreciated the info and enjoyed the upbeat writing style. Perhaps I too should caffeinate.
I bet you have enough free coffee (to review) to drown the whole neighborhood by now.
scheng1´s last blog ..Something’s down there by Mickey Spillane
Thanks for writing such a killer guest post Mike, it kicked off guest posting here on Extreme John the way I want it to be… All Quality. Thank you.
Extreme John @Blogging CEO´s last blog ..UFC 108 Predictions
Anytime!
Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee´s last blog ..Fresh Brews: Stabbed Man Orders Coffee And Retro Coffee Ads
Wow! $100,000 of mountain biking products? I’m saving like hell because mountain biking is so expensive and I want, no, NEED a Specialized Stumpy FSR.
I’m not sure my blogs at a stage to start accepting rrview products quite yet, but hopefully will be as I get it going a little.
Dave@Bike Routes´s last blog ..Helvellyn (Sticks Pass and Grisedale Route)
really good ways to get chance to review products. few days back i received an e-mail from one of the sms company from India asking me to review their product but i didnt reply them as i was not having much idea about that company.
Next time nothing will go away from my side like this time.
Thanks for the great post.
Kevin @Free Vector Graphics´s last blog ..Visiting Card Wordpress Theme
Hey! That’s a fantastic and encouraging post. I have a few blogs, but after writing so many articles on them, I found that people were just not visiting them.
There are many reasons to blog and the main one is that you reach out the world… However, if there are no readers, what can you do… But you’ve given some great tips and I’ll go back to posting some more stuff on my blogs!
Tricia @ TV Ceiling Mount´s last blog ..Plasma Ceiling Mount
it iznt old school it is old skool enit
Great post. I especially found it useful where you talked about how to get free products to review. I could use some free coffee.
Roger Bovee´s last blog ..Free Targeted Web Site Traffic updated Sat Feb 27 2010 6:08 pm CST
Wow – it really sounds cool to get gadgets for free to review – definitely a big perk. I was reading a gadget blog the other day and this guy got given the latest TomTom gps to review – amazing…
Affiliate Gameplan´s last blog ..About Me
Now, here is what happened: I may only have reviewed one thing I had on hand, then asked several companies about reviewing items. The stuff started raining into here like mad, because I send a ton of emails. I hardley KNOW WHAT I did right to get accepted into the game so abruptly.
I am just kicking myself back into gear and going to start fresh for spring. I took a hiatus, but I do think it is VERY high time that I “re-activate”. So, back to fun-work now.
J Mintuck´s last blog ..Book Review: Tips From The Old Housewives ,Compiled by Elizabeth Drury
D$$n. I have only started out laaate last year, soon before Cheristmas. So, I DID get several free things, so far. Games and such cool stuff. Christmas ornies. You got coffee? Hmm. Maybe, I should try that out. Full-version bags of coffee and coffee pots and so on. Seems sweeter now. It just increasingly gets sweeter as time goes on, really. Also, I got several books , and am promised more.
I don’t quite recall [i]how[/i] I got into reviewing, but when I started, I didn’t think I would get this far. OYE!
Jermaine´s last blog ..Revolve New testament for teens
Hey Thanks, very appreciated especially when you talked about how to get free products to review? i will also use some….
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