Hey there,

I am planning to start zervix.com a hardware/software/etc.. review website.
Maybe some of you saw it in the website review forum.

Now You all know that there will be no reviews without the hardware/software, so I was thinking on contacting the companies, Apple, microsoft, samsung, canon, adobe, ... to ask them for some kind of partnership?!
They send us stuff we can test and after the test sending it back.. or something like that.
Now I know that companies like those would be intrested because there are sites like cnet.com who already have big audience and an established site.
How do you think could I contact them? Is it in anyway possible to 'partner' up with them, how? Or should I buy all my review material on my own? Wich I'm sure the most of you will suggest, but then I need to find some kind of investor. Also here I want some informations. How much? Where to find?

If some people could help me with this, would be great.
Tom

You really have to build a strong readership before large companies start mailing you products to review and test. You also have to provide thorough, in-depth, informative reviews to make them want you to review their product.

Also, if you're not locked into that domain name already, I'd recommend changing it. If you called me up to start a partnership and mentioned that name, I'd probably think you said "cervix".

Okay, I think about the name.

Would you recommend to search for an investor?

I think you'd have a hard time finding an investor for an idea. You have to build something first, and even then it's not really a reinventing the wheel idea (which doesn't mean it's not a good one). If it were me, I might make the site about reviewing lesser-known brands that could be an inexpensive alternative to larger "name brands", especially since those companies would be more inclined to send you product samples.

Originally Posted by Tom Huveners

Hey there,

I am planning to start zervix.com a hardware/software/etc.. review website.
Maybe some of you saw it in the website review forum.

Now You all know that there will be no reviews without the hardware/software, so I was thinking on contacting the companies, Apple, microsoft, samsung, canon, adobe, ... to ask them for some kind of partnership?!
They send us stuff we can test and after the test sending it back.. or something like that.
Now I know that companies like those would be intrested because there are sites like cnet.com who already have big audience and an established site.
How do you think could I contact them? Is it in anyway possible to 'partner' up with them, how? Or should I buy all my review material on my own? Wich I'm sure the most of you will suggest, but then I need to find some kind of investor. Also here I want some informations. How much? Where to find?

If some people could help me with this, would be great.
Tom

That's pretty much what we're doing with PocketSynch.

I knew going into this that I would need to build great content and a solid readership. You can't build a solid readership without good content, especially on a new site, that's why I have been building content first. I didn't want to write just 1 or 2 good articles then start advertising. Then I would be spending all those ad dollars and investing all that time just so people would come, see it's a new site and leave.

Have you considered buying the items yourself then selling them on eBay? A lot of cool new tech gadgets are hitting the market at affordable prices. For example, you can go out and buy an mp3 player for less than $100, review it, then sell it.

Also software is easy because a lot of great software companies offer full working demos. Use the demos, take the screenshots, review it, and post it.

Once you get solid reviews under your belt using that method you can approach companies. Eventually they'll start coming to you.

thanks for the advice!!
big help!

more infos and tips?

To be honest with you, I dont think the name matters at all...If you want any help with advertising and getting hits i would love to help a fellow website builder with anything you need. I agree with some of the things said above in that you might want to start out with smaller companies and build up because unless you are getting 100,000k hits or more...i doubt they are going to waste time with you. I would start out with a smaller company...maybe do a couple of reviews for free or cheap...start getting hits and see where it takes you.