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It would be great to be certain that we are doing the right thing when we commit
our time or money. That helps explain the increasing visibility of review sites
on the Internet. It's too bad that some of these sites are simply tricky
arrangements to make money from the recommended items.
Of course, often
site webmasters offer their websites up for no cost, and the only real reward,
in addition to their own satisfaction, is the ad sales they can provide. And
that is OK. The ever increasing popularity of television is because of this
advertising supported model. The primary thing about a review site is whether or
not the reviews are real, and therefore significant in our
decision-making.
Pages that give only "Editorial" reviews may be OK, but
only offer a very limited view. Readers must evaluate the reviewers on their own
merits. It's also worth looking at if the reviewers are involved with the
advocacy of the reviewed items, and if their operation earns money from
promoting those items. User reviews are more dificult to find. User review
websites are much more tricky to create. and demand more supervision and work.
They must allow for users who can struggle with the technilogical aspects and be
able to work with spam. But there are a few sites to be found.
For yogis,
there a handful websites around that present product reviews, but it is unsusual
to discover reviews of yoga studios, retreats, workshops and yoga teacher
training programs. Even more rare are user reviews on these subjects. That's the
reason for this listing of the sites I've found in my searches.
YogiReviews.com for the Best Yoga Reviews
A relatively new site, this
looks like the most inclusive and has user reviews of yoga classes, studios,
workshops, teacher certifications, yoga retreats, mats, clothing, yoga supplies
& accessories, videos, CDs, online courses and well, just about everything
related to yoga. It has star-type ratings of the various aspects for each
listing category. Advanced searches are possible and everything is arranged not
only by basic categories, but by yoga styles and location (where appropriate).
Visitors can also click on a list of the top reviewed classes &
products.
Users are free to create their own reviews (and can even create
new listings if if they know of someplace that isn't already there). You can
also make a comment on an existing review, and may even start a discussion.
Reviews can be made without an account , but if you do open an account, you can
then see all your reviews, listings, and favorite listings.
The whole
system is built on an extensive free yoga directory including all the categories
discussed. A free account is needed to create a new listing. The writer can edit
their listings. New listings and reviews must be approved by the site
editor.
www.YogaJournal.com
Yoga Journal is of course leads the pack
in the national yoga magazine arena. Their associated website also gets lots of
traffic. They offer some editorial product reviews, even though these are almost
hidden in their Lifestyle section. There is no easy method to search the
reviews, but you can find links to the more recent and popular reviews. User
comments are permitted.
www.expotv.com
You can have your own TV
performance on this site. The site accepts video reviews from yogis which are
apparently genuine. They are certainly entertaining to watch, but it takes a lot
more time to watch a video instead of scanning through written comments. They've
got a star rating capability which indicates a simple summary, but it doesn't
give you how many viewers voted to produce the indicated rating.
In
addition there are only 39 video reviews in the yoga category, and there's no
sorting or categories, so users have to scroll through a number of pages to see
what they
have.
www.geocities.com/yogasimple/yoga_video_reviews.html
Thiis
website shows up in the first few listings in a search for yoga reviews, but is
consists of just very short editorial remarks on around a dozen videos. But the
video selections are really nice - the videos reviewed there are some of my
favorites.
www.RateYoga.com
This is a very nice website with an
welcoming design and very good review layout with a rating system and ability to
leave comment. Its main constraint is its focus specifically on things about
Ashtanga Yoga. There aren't yet too many resouces listed. But it is a nice
resource with lots of potential.
yoga.about.com
About.com is a very
large, busy destination with info on many types of materials. The yoga section
does have a few reviews of books and videos, although they are a little
difficult to dig up. The site has links to some arbitrary reviews on the primary
yoga page, and some books and video listings have links to reviews underneath
them. It is possible to add vistor reivews too.
Shopping.com, Amazon,
PriceGrabber
These, of course, are some of the huge retailers that present
price comparisons and/or user reviews. Amazon is probably the most helpful of
these for yoga practitioners, as far as yoga products & books. Amazon
visitors are quite helpful about giving their opinions. The limitations are that
they just have products sold through Amazon, which omits numerous nice, smaller
focused yoga companies. Also, as you may have guessed, you won't see information
about studios, retreats, etc.
Other Ideas
For retreats, you might have
luck looking for the specific business on the web - you may come across a review
or two on a travel site. In addtion, the some studio sites may show a handful of
reviews of their own operation.
Over time, a few of these websites will
expand, and new ones show up. The usefulness of the really good review sites
develops from the contributions of its visitors. Be sure to visit some of these
websites and add your reviews - the practitioners who come behind you will be
glad for your work and thoughtfulness.
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Check out the Web's
best bunch of yoga supplies reviews. Go here to see more about yoga supplies
reviews.
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