WordPress Review Plugin Reviews
Review sites are the bread and butter of internet marketing, from widgets to mansions, if you can find a niche to market to review sites can be an effective way to do it.
Whilst there are some themes out there that specifically cater for review sites such as InReview by Elegant Themes, sometimes you just want to be able to add the capability to an existing site, or a preferred theme that isn’t a review theme.
Here’s a selection of WordPress plugins that allow you to easily convert your site into a review theme.
WP Review Engine
This plugin combines a lot of different features that you would normally find in a Premium review site theme.
Whilst a lot of the features are fairly standard in this type of plugin, there’s a few that really stand out:
Comparison Table
These sort of tables are great for allowing users to quickly and easily scan the information and find a review they would like to read. Easy to set up too.
Google Maps Integration
If your site is focused on local reviews (dentists, golf courses, etc) then this addition is brilliant for the user, allowing them to easily see the business in relation to themselves
Zip Code Search
Continuing with the local theme, this allows users to find reviews based on a distance from their postcode, an awesome feature that brings your site from a standard review site to something a bit more interactive and useful.
There are plenty more features available in the plugin too:
Admin Rating System
Allows the post author to set the rating for the review
User Ratings
Allows users to rate the product within the comments
Cloak Affiliate Links
No need for an extra plugin to do this.
Custom Rating Fields
Allows you to set what the product is rated for i.e. picture quality and sound quality for HD tvs.
Various Images
13 stars, 23 button types and 6 comparison table looks are included so no need to design your own.
Auto Comment Generation
A little bit black hat but useful for a starting site, allows you to spin comments for your product reviews.
Top Rated Posts First
You can change your post order so that the highest rated review comes first.
Widgets
Top Rated Posts and Recent Reviews (comments)
WP Review Engine Website
WP Review Site
WP Review Site has all the usual features of a review site plugin, including the local aspect with Google maps integration.
The plugin seems solid and useable but nothing really screamed out that this was the best bang for your buck.
One other thing that bugged me on this was the fact that you have to pay extra to get the ability to add ratings as a post author, which seems really counter intuitive.
Some features of the plugin:
User Ratings
Allows you allow visitors to rate the product
Comparison Tables
Easy to add comparison tables
Sort posts by ratings/number of reviews
Google Maps Integration
Great for local listings and directories
Widgets
Top Rated and Recent Reviews
Microformats
Embedded schema – only in the supplied themes.
2 Themes
These are supplied with the plugin for easy integration.
WP Review Site Website
MyReviewPlugin
This plugin has to be my favourite Review Site Plugin that I have come across. It allows you to change every feature you can think of within the site related to the reviews, but importantly it does it on two levels, a simple mode for users that don’t need fine control of everything and then an advanced option to allow extremely fine control, and still without having to touch the code.
It also comes with all the features that you expect in a WordPress review site plugin, plus a few extra.
User Reviews
Standard user reviews via comments
Editors Reviews
Not Just Stars
Provides different options to review than just stars – letter grades, percentage, pass/fail options. And viewable in the dashboard which so many review plugins lack.
Post Order with Bayesian Weighting
A fancy way of saying it will sort reviews in rating order but reviews with just one user rating 5 out of 5 rating, will not skew the results.
Custom Comment Fields
Allow the users to rate the product on different categories
Custom Fields
Rate the product with different categories
Comparison Tables
One step ahead of the competition, MyReviewPlugin provides not just horizontal comparison tables, but vertical ones too.
Thumbshots.com
A free service that allows you to add screenshots of a website, should you not have a product image. Handy and built into the plugin
Google Maps Integration
Widgets
Top Rated and Recent Comments
Works with any theme – these guys have really worked to make this plugin compatible with any theme, and allow you to change whats shown, what it looks like and where, down to the pixel. Not just that, it has a drag and drop system in built. These combine to allow even non coders to control the look of the site exactly.
Bonuses
Yeah the plugin comes with bonuses! How awesome is that. Not only that but its not the usual “here have a free theme” type bonus, but actually useful ones.
Dr Link
Replaces every occurrence of a keyword with an affiliate link
Import Man
Allows you to add content to your site via a CSV file (spreadsheet) and even drip feed the data
Little Comment Man
Allows you to spin comments allowing you to go from zero comments to tens, hundreds, whatever you want, in a matter of minutes.
MyReviewPlugin Website
| MyReviewPlugin | WPReviewEngine | WP Review Site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation |
Easy to do
|
Easy to do
|
Easy to do
|
| Fits into any theme |  |
|
|
| Comparison Charts |
Horizontal and Vertical
|
Horizontal
|
Horizontal
|
| User reviews |
|
|
|
| CSV Import |
|
|
 |
| Google Maps |
|
|
|
| Rich Snippets |
|
|
|
| Post Sorting |
|
|
|
| Themes |
8
|
2+
|
2
|
| Cost |
1 Site: $90
Unlimited: $130
Developer: On Request
|
1 Site: $99.95
Unlimited: $169.95
Developer: n/a
|
1 Site: $97
Unlimited: $199.00
Developer: $299.99
|
| Buy It! |
|
|
|
12/09/2012 @ 12:29 am
MYREVIEWPLUGIN is nothing but a SCAM and so is the affiliate website promoting it: winkpress.com/review-site.
Anybody who thinks this plugin is easy to install and use will be in for a major disappointment. I am pretty familiar with wordpress and doing some minor php changes to functions and themes and after an entire day wasted I still could not get this plugin to even marginally work. It doesn’t even work with their “included” themes (which are crap, by the way!).
Since their “submit a support ticket” link only goes to an invalid server error, I sent a direct email to their support email address and got an automatic reply that a support ticket had been set up, with a link to….you guessed it, an invalid server error!
After another day of no response to my support request, I sent another email to support@myreviewplugin.com and requested a refund of my $130 (as per their instructions on the “money back guarantee” page). And what did I get in return? You guessed it, another automatic link to a support ticket with an invalid server error.
After waiting several days for a reply to either support or refund, I went back to the affiliate site winkpress.com/review-site that “sold” me their bill of goods to post a comment on their website. All comments are held for moderation and negative comments are not published!
Even though I was able to download the MYREVIEWPLUGIN plugins and themes, my definition for any company that can’t deliver what it advertises, sends you a bunch of crap code that doesn’t work, won’t respond to support requests and refuses to give you a refund that was advertised as “unconditional money back guarantee” is a SCAM!!!
SAVE YOUR MONEY!
01/06/2013 @ 8:29 pm
I’ve had a similar issue with WPReviewEngine. Paid for in full for unlimited license, thinking I’d use it over and over again on different sites. I’m familiar with WP and have tinkered on more than one occasion with plugins, but the darn thing just doesn’t work properly. Requested a refund the day after, and TWENTY days later, still no reply to my repeated emails and support tickets.
Don’t waste your money. Their return policy is a joke.
05/30/2013 @ 5:43 pm
I am in the same boat as you are:( The plugin is not working and the project is dead.
06/16/2013 @ 6:00 pm
I cant seem to find wpsitereview when you click on buy google cant find. I really like this type of review with customer fields with overall and comments maybe forced to register to review. if this designer is no longer available do you know of any others that may fit my criteria. or maybe some who designs then.
07/12/2013 @ 10:18 pm
There’s a ‘New Kid on the Blog’, i.e. a new rating plugin that you might be interested in: The Purple Heart Rating Plugin. It’s available as premium but also free plugin, see here http://wp-buddy.com/products/plugins/purple-heart-rating-wordpress-plugin/