Brian Smith over at the Comparison Engines blog wrote a compelling piece about blogging and shopping sites. I tend to agree. I think the main reason why comparison sites don't do this is that they have no real editorial experience and are afraid to use their own voice when writing about products. Comparison sites are supposed to be agnostic to preference. Their job is to let you find what you want and get you out the door, not help you discover things. Comparison sites use data to merchandise. Popularity, keywords, etc. They tend to shy away from actually saying "this product is cool." It might piss off other merchants or manufacturers. That's the last thing they want to do.
But it's time to change that mentality. As Brian points out it can be lucrative and will provide a tremendous new channel for acquisition and retention. We need to let our freak flag fly and start blogging. If anything it's a super easy way to get some information out there...
Here are some of the best shopping blogs out there:
- Mighty Goods - Queen of all product blogs
- Uncrate
- Outblush
- Mad Professor
- The Impulsive Buy
- Popgadget
- Cool Mom Picks
- Woot
- Slave To Target
- FreshArrival
