View Full Version : New Tool Review Site
I am thinking of putting up another site for tool reviews. I was looking around the other day for a good tool review site and the only thing I could find were carbon copies of what Amazon has already. It went right down to the same reviews too as Amazon also - I guess they use the api script Amazon has available.
I want to create a true tool review site where, if it works out, I can get the tool manufacturers to send me tools to review for them. I'll start out with my own tools to get started and get some traffic then contact manufacturers. I want to get rid of the hype of trying to sell the tool and get right down to how the darn thing operates. Some of the sites I saw all the tools were rated the best of the best.. and how convenient they provide a link to purchase the tool right away. haha.
Anyway - are there any suggestions anyone can offer on what type of format they would like, or suggestions of presentation strategies? I have some ideas but would like to put to some others first.
Thanks...
Just registered the domain - www.protoolreview.com
Nothing is active yet but soon it will have a placeholder anyway.
ndemge
02-11-2004, 09:19 AM
Good idea!
I used to be an Admin for Warfactory.net we would have people review new games that came out, we would get games before they were released sometimes. The more activity your site has, the more your going to get.
Get the name out!
I stumbled across this site a few days ago, and I'm checking back daily now... I can see this forum has quite a potential.
I'm also on vannin.com , iboats, rv.net all very active forums
Right on. I'm working on an associate to donate tools to me to review and also some manufacturers for sponsorships. I have a page up right now with a suggestion of what the final design will look like.
Personally I think it's coming together nicely.
With the 2 sites I think the traffic will increase quite a bit.. at least I'm hoping so. Going to have to start writing more woodworking articles too.
grumpydasmurf
02-12-2004, 08:10 PM
I'm actually looking forward to the site being up and running. I saw a real nice Ryobi table saw with attached foldable stand that has a built in wheel. It looks sweet. I don't know what I'd use it for but I want it anyways.
That's my biggest problem.. I could go into debt easily for all the tools I want.
Well I've got quite a lot of the back end coded. I can now add categories and tools. On the tool portion it allows for image uploads and resizes them also. I'm moving onto adding manufacturer editing and then the reviews. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be able to have some reviews done and showing on the index page.
grumpydasmurf
02-15-2004, 08:31 AM
LOL ask manufacturers to give you the tools for your site. Or rent the tools instead of buying them.
haha.. don't worry. I won't be buying all the tools for the site. I was just meaning that I usually want to buy too many tools.. site aside. I'll start with reviews on the tools I own already which are pretty diverse. From Jet to Shop Fox to Milwaukee. Hopefully once some manufacturers see the quality of reviews they will be more apt to provide some.
grumpydasmurf
02-15-2004, 07:39 PM
You can always buy tools on sale then sale em on ebay. Or get your boss to pay for em :) He's got billions.
haha.. now that's an idea. I'm not sure if he would go for paying for any "extracurricular" activities when I'm building his house.
grumpydasmurf
02-16-2004, 04:42 PM
HMmm "Sir I need this new laser level for the job over on green St." He will then respond... "Do we even have a job on green St?"
hahahah.. I'll see what I can do.
I got the category list to auto update now on the left side of the home page and the viewcat page to show the current tools up for review as well as auto updating each page with meta tags. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have the actual review portion done so I can get this thing rolling.
I just checked this morning and I'm bouncing around #3-#5 for "power tool reviews" search on google (out of 3.3million hits) - so that's good.
Well as Google does it dropped me out of the search results for the time being during it's update.
The backend system is coming along nicely. I've now added the rating sytem and in the process of adding the comments. I also need to get an idea for the pagination of the review pages which may take a little time. I expect the reviews to span several pages as I get into them - so to keep the pages to a readable length the review will need to be split into several pages. I'll see what I come up with.
I am in contact with several interested manufacturers for tool loans for reviews - just awaiting some responses.
Site coding is about complete... except for some little features I want to add later. Still waiting for Google to update their search results so very little traffic as of yet (13 avg unique visitors / day).
On the new site I'm thinking about having some type of tool giveaway (that is if the tool manufacturers also support it). Essentially I would take a picture of some old tool and zoom in on a small portion of it - then will have users submit what they think it is. The winner would win, for instance, a 14v cordless drill or something like that.
This would probably be a bi-monthly contest or something like that. Do yall think that would be a good idea?
roger g
03-15-2004, 06:39 AM
There is a magazine out that has that sort of thing where they show a picture of something and you have to figure out what it is. I believe back in the 60's Popular Mechanics used to have the same thing. New sites have to try different things until they become a self perpetuating entity. It takes time and enginuity. I have found over the years that when the weather gets good people tend to leave their computers and enjoy the weather.
After saying all that...........................try it. Try lots of different things.
Roger
It's looking like the new site starts off with Google PageRank of 5 - so not too bad. Now I need to start a linking campaign to get some non-search engine traffic.
grumpydasmurf
03-18-2004, 01:43 PM
I've been oblivious recently. Is the site public and functional already?
grumpydasmurf
03-18-2004, 01:45 PM
I didn't see a search function. Now-a-days most sites have a search function. Infact I am even going to add one to my site before it goes public.
Any chance of having a suggest a tool function? I was upset to not see Makita compund miter saw. I have recently bought one... plus if you get enough requests you can call the manufacturer and say "we have 100 people asking us to review your tool. Can you donate one?"
I'm suprised construction resource wasnt in the partner links :) though I did see the "forum" link.
The site is public and functional.. well almost completely functional. I've kind of did some ad hoc stuff just to get some of the features in there. Like the news include where Milwaukee shows up on the index page. I'll go back and flush that out later.
I thought about a search function - but right now it seems like overkill for the amount of reviews up. Eventually I will add one.
Good idea on the suggest a tool thing. I could do it it like the feedback system.. where the first suggestion shows as a request and then people can add in underneath it.
Look in the footer for Construction Resource and 2 of Nate's sites.
Thinking about it - I might just use a seperate contact form for tool requests. Then create an html page to hold them. hmm.. we'll see. It would be nice not to have to manage it at all and let a script do it.
And as far as the Makita miter saw - I've only added some of the tools that I have in my possession right now. I've still got a bunch to add like some chisels, sander, grinder, clamps, layout tools, router table, mortise machine, circular saw, etc..etc.
For all you "TOOL NUTS"...try researching estate auctions.....sometimes it's Heaven........
nick62
07-12-2004, 08:45 AM
Rich I think that a tool review column, that is a true review, and not an advertisment, will be of great help to many of the readers. Finding real information on things today is not easy.
Thanks for your efforts Rich.
Ray
I need to find more time to actually do a thorough review on the tools I own.. and hopefully it will "inspire" tool manufacturers to help me out. Like I said.. I just need to find the time... I have so many little side projects going that I haven't spent as much time as I need to on www.protoolreview.com
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