Fake Reviews – and why you will NEVER find one here

Fake reviews have hit the news again this week, with a BBC Five Live reporter going underover to reveal that he was able to buy false five star recommendations on one of the world’s leading review sites Trustpilot. The research also uncovered online forums where Amazon shoppers were offered a full refund in return for a five star review.

This along with Fake Britain published earlier in the year (talking about the rise of celebrity and influencer endorsements on social media), have revealed that there has been an increase in the amount of brands ‘faking’ such relationships, and implying that a celebrity has been endorsing their products, when in fact, the reality is that the celebrity has nothing to do with the product what so ever.

So how can you trust online reviews? Can you trust bloggers? Can you trust me?

This is something I feel quite passionately about, but to put one thing straight – you will never EVER find a fake review on this site.
There can be a lot of confusion over bloggers as influencers and how they work with brands, so to be transparent, here’s how it works on Real Mum Reviews.

I set up the blog back in 2013 when I was on maternity leave with Erin, my first child. I created the blog partly because I am a bit of a geek and love the technology side, but also because I knew that I was likely to get a little bit bored at home every day. I have always worked in technical environments, and therefore not being on a computer every day feels a little strange. I created the blog to keep my brain active and give me something to focus on as well as being a Mum whilst I was on maternity leave.

At the time of creating, I wanted to use the blog as a way of sharing my experiences as a Mum. With the name Real Mum Reviews – my aim was to share my own experience of products and services I used as a Mum with Erin, and I started my sharing reviews of products I already owned, and products I have used previously.

As time has evolved, the blog has become an all-encompassing parenting and lifestyle blog. I share my own rambling thoughts, largely about current affairs, employment issues (my day job) and the trials and tribulations of being a parent. The over arching majority of my posts are written without compensation, purely because I enjoy writing, I find it cathartic, and I enjoy the interaction and engagement with other parents on social media. I also enjoy tracking the lives of my children, and know that in years to come I will love looking back at the photographs and experiences we have had together.

The review side of my site has obviously continued and I do now work with brands and pr agencies fairly regularly as part of my blog. It has become a business, a part time income for my family and far more than just a hobby, but my ethics have not changed. My reasons for blogging are still the same as they always were.

I have a reasonable social media following now, and as a result, I do get approached by brands to review their products or services on my blog. In return for my honest review, I receive a sample product, which I test out with my children at home.

Here is where it gets complicated. There is a bit of a tendency for non-bloggers to assume that I have simply ‘been given something for free’. Firstly, I should point out that bloggers absolutely hate it when people say that. The amount of work that goes on behind the scenes running a blog is absolutely huge. Set up your own, and you will soon see that it’s not quite as simple as it may appear!!!

I spend a significant amount of time (more than I’d probably like to admit) when my children are in bed writing, researching, drafting, photographing, scheduling and planning my posts. In terms of hourly rate, trust me, the value of the product rarely covers the time involved.

If I have received the product free of charge you will always see a disclosure on the post outlining that this is the case. This is to be transparent that I did not purchase the item myself, but it does not affect the content in anyway. Sometimes if the item is low value, I will receive an additional fee from the brand for my time. This will also be disclosed in full as a sponsored review.

In both cases, whether I receive a sample, a fee or both, my reviews are ALWAYS honest. Again I think there is a tendency for people to think that because I have been given something without charge, that I am bound (or even obliged) to say it is wonderful. That is not the case.

Then how come there are no negative reviews?

You will notice that I always include pros and cons in my reviews. I do this because I want readers to have the full picture. Just because something works for me, doesn’t mean it’s right for everybody. I very rarely totally slate a product, because in the same way, just because I may not totally buy into something, I am also able to appreciate why others may like it. Just as everyone parents differently, everyone will have their own opinions on things like value for money, and so I always try and play devil’s advocate, sharing ‘in use’ photographs so that you can see how the product is actually used by my children, and not just stock images that can be grabbed from google. I like to give people my insights in a way that enables them to make their own decision and decide from my experience whether or not something might work for them.

In my 5 years of blogging, I have only ever refused to publish a review once, and that was because I thought the product was so unbelievably bad, that I wanted no links or affiliations with it what so ever, even those that may come from a negative review. The product would have still been on my website, with a link to their site, and I wasn’t willing for that to happen. A situation like that is very rare, and 9 times out of 10, the review will be published even if it is not what I would deem to be a positive experience.

I would never agree to a publish a positive review in return for payment or product unless I actually agreed with what I was writing.

Whist unfortunately there are clearly people who will write fake reviews online, I hope this reassures my readers that I am not one of them.