Here at LocalPages.com we allow and encourage you to write reviews of the businesses and services you have tried. We want to provide our users with quantity and quality information to help them make the most informed decisions. Your reviews help our users decide on everything from where they will spend their night out and what restaurant to try, to important decisions like which doctor to visit and what hospital to book a surgery.

As a reviewer, you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Formal critics for organizations like the New York and Los Angeles Times, have credentials and educational backgrounds; whereas, you as the consumer do not. But you do have something valuable and that is experience. You have experienced the restaurant and eaten the food. You have the same general expectations as are users do and you can provide them with the details of your experience. If your needs were met and you were satisfied chances are so will our users.

With all of this responsibility it might be useful to learn a little bit about review writing. For example, it might be helpful to know what a good review entails. Here are some keys to writing a good review:

1) Ask yourself, “What would the reader want to know?”

If you are writing about a restaurant it would probably be important to include things like how the food tasted, the condition of the building, what the interior looked like, how good and fast the service was, what type of food they serve and your overall satisfaction with the experience.
If you are writing about a doctor visit include how the office was kept, how friendly and helpful the staff was, and how the doctor care was.
If you were trying out a plumbing service talk about how quickly and efficiently the job was done.

2) Decide what your overall opinion is

Before you sit down to type make sure you know what point you want to get across. It’s best not to go back and forth. You can include both the positive and negative points about an experience but don’t forget to make a final conclusion stating how you felt about it all together.

3) Write as if you are writing to a friend

Don’t try to use fancy vocabulary or come across as an expert critic. Write as if you are telling your friends or family about your experience. Our readers will appreciate what you have to say a lot more if they can understand and relate to it.

4) Compare to other similar experiences

When deciding whether you liked the business you visited or service you used, take the time to compare it to some of your other similar experiences. This will help you determine your overall opinion and give your review a balanced point of view.

5) Be specific

Details are important. When our readers are trying to make a decision no fact is unimportant. A detail that might seem insignificant to you might be the determining factor for someone else.

6) Don’t be afraid

Here at LocalPages.com we can ensure that you remain anonymous. Whether your review is good or bad, it’s your opinion to give and it can be a helpful one. As long as your review is legitimate, you have nothing to fear.