WP Review Site is the first ever WordPress review site plugin. It is made specifically to help you create user-generated review sites. But with an additional plugin, it can also allow you to supply your own editorial ratings. In this review, I delve deep into the various aspects, features, pros and cons of this plugin.
Ease of Use and Installation
Installation of WP Review Site is easy — just upload & activate. A step by step instructions are also provided on the documentation page, just in case.
The user-interface of this plugin is cleanly designed which makes it intuitive to use.
Support and Documentation
Dan Grossman, the author of WP Review Site is committed to providing life time free upgrades and support to his customers. As mentioned earlier, the user-interface is pretty straightforward, so in the documentation you won’t find instructions on performing the various tasks of the plugin. However, if you run into any trouble, you can use the support forum or email the author directly!
Generating Comparison Tables
WP Review Site is capable of automatically producing comparison tables. You can either put the comparison table on your homepage or on a category page. That would be useful if you have a single website reviewing various types of products. It pulls the information for the table from the categories you designated for product reviews. Here’s how the comparison table would look like:
Stylability and Compatibility with Other Themes
WP Review Site is fully stylable and compatible with other themes. The author has taken extra care to ensure a smooth integration process with other WordPress themes.
If you don’t want to touch any CSS or HTML, the plugin can automatically embed itself onto your existing WordPress theme. But if you like to customize the placements and style of the plugin, the author provides comprehensive documentation of the various template functions that you can use to do that.
Enable User-Generated Reviews and Ratings
In the very beginning, the initial focus of WP Review Site was to enable its users to create websites made mainly of user-generated reviews. So, yes, WP Review Site does allow your users to leave their own reviews and ratings on products and it takes those ratings into account when creating the final score.
Google Maps
WP Review Site is capable of embedding a Google map into your review. All you have to do is supply the address the address on the same screen where you write your review.
Review Microformat (hReview)
WP Review Site supports the hReview microformat in the bundled themes. If you use your own theme, you’ll have to make sure that it produces an hReview compatible markup.
Post Sorting Options
From the general settings page, you can specify how WP Review Site plugin is to sort your posts/reviews. You can override WordPress’s default chronological sorting and let the plugin sort posts by highest rated or most commented.
Bayesian Weighting
When sorting posts, this plugin applies an advanced Bayesian weighting formula. In the words of the plugin’s author
listings with just a few positive ratings won’t outrank those with many high ratings and a few negatives. A listing with 40 4-star ratings will outrank a listing with a single 5-star rating until the new listing picks up more reviews
Affiliate Link Management
WP Review Site comes with very basic affiliate link management capabilities. It realizes that every post/review you make will have its own affiliate link, so in the review writing page, it provides you with a box where you can insert that affiliate link, but it doesn’t do much beyond that, like cloak the affiliate link or track the clicks.
Included Themes
WP Review Site comes with a default theme and an extra bonus theme.
Default Theme
WP Review Site Default Theme
Free Bonus Theme
WP Review Site Bonus Theme
Additional Themes
And for an additional $29, you can buy a theme pack of 5 themes that were specifically designed to work with WP Review Site plugin.
Pricing and Licensing
WP Review Site 3.0: Single Site License ($97)
This license allows you to install the plugin on a single website that you own. No more.
WP Review Site 3.0: Multi Site License ($199)
With this license, you can install on any number of websites that you own.
WP Review Site 3.0: Developer License ($299)
This license gives you complete freedom. You can install on as many websites you own as well as on your clients websites.
Add-ons
My Ratings Add-On ($24)
As mentioned earlier, WP Review Site was made to allow you create user-generated review sites, but with this plugin, you can also supply your own ratings as an editor
Premium Theme Pack ($29)
This add-on includes 5 additional themes that were specifically designed for WP Review Site.
Refund Policy
Unfortunately, WP Review Site doesn’t have an explicit refund policy. So, be extra cautious before you purchase this software. Make sure that it is everything you need.
Missing Features:
- Importing reviews from external sources using CSV
- Ability to generate dummy/fake comments
