A lot of product reviews are just plain crap.
If you've been looking through a lot of them, that might already be obvious to you. But have you ever asked yourself why?
It might help if you think about why websites write product reviews.
Bottom line is, it's almost always about marketing.
Understanding how a product is marketed helps you know what to keep in mind when looking at reviews of different products and brands.
Prostate supplements: Which is best for you...?
Click HERE to read more...
So, why do websites write reviews?
Quite simply, it's almost always because there is a marketing interest involved. Once in a while, you'll find someone who is passionate about something and they want to share their good news with you. But typically, the reality is they are trying to market you a product they think you might need or want.
Does it matter? Well, yeah. It does. And quite honestly,
Knowing how a brand is sold can help you understand how honest (or dishonest) the reviews for that product might be.
According to a website called AH Refs, there are 18 different ways marketing has been done or is done today.
Quite honesty, unless you're doing website stuff yourself, some of this stuff might not occur to you. But once you become aware of how people make money on the web, you'll be more aware of what to "look past" to get to what you really want to know.
Quite honestly, a lot of these sites tick me off.
For instance, if you look up "prostate supplement reviews," you'll likely end up on sites that "compare" different products and "suggest a winner." These are usually written by affiliate marketers who have product links on the products they review.
Now, look. I don't have a problem with good affiliate sites. This is actually an affiliate site. I just have problems with BAD affiliate sites: page after page of reviews that don't actually tell you anything useful.
So which health supplement reviews can you trust?
It's a fair question. I would love to tell you to trust me. But you don't know me from Roo or from Adam and you have no idea offhand whether you can trust anything I say, either.
Seriously, I will post a couple products at the bottom of the article that will be to my benefit if you decide to try these products.
But a few of the prostate products that I've seen advertised a lot on Facebook lately are Fluxactive, Alpha Xtra Boost, Vital Flow and Primal Flow. (Honesty here. If you click on those, they have my link. But for now, just take a look to see these products and keep them in mind as you read on.)
(Besides, as of 2022-10-10, I've since found a line that provides MUCH BETTER VALUE FOR THE DOLLAR. VigRX Prostate Support. More about that later.)
The fact is, I'm seeing ALL KINDS of sponsored ads on Facebook by ALL KINDS of different Facebook pages. I have to assume the same is happening with Pinterest, Twitter and the like.
I don't have an issue with people doing this to get you to consider these products. I only take issue with them when they have "reviews" that don't really tell you anything USEFUL.
I've done some "testing" of my own. And I don't promote anything I don't believe in.
I've tried a number of different brands from CVS off the shelf, and none of them did much for me. I'm now in the TESTING STAGE of my own use with others. I will keep you posted. But I'm going to (try to) be honest about my results. I don't wanna be a jerk.
Why the costs for various prostate supplements are different.
Plain fact: some of these products are A LOT more expensive than others. And truth be told, typically (but not always) the shelf items without advertising are going to be cheaper.
Ladies, please bear with me. Because I'm writing this article from personal experience. So I can speak better using examples from the male world because I've been there.
The products like the Fluxactive, Alpha Xtra Boost, Vital Flow and Primal Flow are going to cost you more. It's obvious why, if you think about it.
These products are sold by affiliate marketers. And as you can imagine, people who pay for the ads and write the website articles and write the "reviews" are doing it because they earn an income from doing so. So do I.
Is the extra cost justified? Well, I guess it depends on what works for you and what the alternatives are. But in my books, I always remember something a sales guy named Zig Ziglar said years ago....
Better to pay too much to get what you want than not enough to get what you need.
Just be aware that if you read reviews on sites or in sponsored links for products like the ones I've indicated that are sold by affiliate programs, you're probably not going to get anything negative comments or information on there about those products.
Where you MIGHT see negative writing about them is if they're being talked down about by someone selling products from a competing affiliate program.
So how do you know which reviews to trust? Some practical advice.
Look for comments from users. Especially, look for comments on places like Reddit where people give honest feedback about their results. Look in discussion groups on the various social media. CHECK the comments. Weigh it all. Take it under advisement. And you might want to give some a try (for a month or so at a time). What didn't work for others might work for you.
The ones sold through affiliate programs typically offer money-back guarantees. So do the ones you direct order from the manufactures. Never asked at CVS. I still have some sitting here.
And I'm currently reviewing some. I will keep y'all posted on that. I want to share a good thing with you when can find it.
If you want to read something that I wrote about regarding ingredients lists and the like for prostate supplements, check here.
So what do you look for in a supplement review?
There are some things that (to me) prove that you're dealing with a good review, written by a HUMAN. And there are some things that scream "Run, Forest! Run."
But let's stick to things you should see in a good review.
1) It feels like it was written by a HUMAN.
I'm expecting you'll see the difference after a while. There are some that look computer generated. They have the same canned routine "if you're reviewing [garbage recycling units] then you've come to the right place. We've reviewed hundreds of [garbage recycling units] so you don't have to waste your time...." blah, blah, blah.
And everything you read starts EXACTLY the same way. It's fluff. Sorry. It feels like they're creating verbage to rank in Google so you'll click on their stuff and buy it. Hopefully, if you click on a link on my site, it's because I've done a good job with an honest review that gives you confidence in buying the product.
2) Look to see if they have some methodology in coming to the conclusions about what they rate as "best" or "better than."
Some sites use rating systems based on points. Personally, I've developed a bit of a system for rating products, For instance, in most of my product reviews, you'll see where I've charted out product ingredients to see how they stack up against the competition.
You'll often see charts like this in my reviews. This is a general chart showing the database from which I work when I am looking at reviews.

Sometimes I break ingredients into product families.
For instance, in the following graph, rearrange ingredients into categories.
Once I did that, you can see the two different approaches thse companies take to address a particular issue: in this case, plant sterols vs herbal ingredients to treat symptoms of an enlarged prostate.

3) Look to see if they have some objective standards for information sources. And consider the authority of their sources.
If you look into my methodology for reviews, I will do the following:
- I rank and compare lists of ingredients (trying to find the best value for the money, showing comparative lists of what and how much is in each product)
- I try to use INFORMED sources for ingredient effectiveness. I try to find sources that are neutral and unbiased. (That isn't always a guarantee, but it's a good starting point.)
- I constantly consult with professionals that I have available in my circle of influence. For instance, one of my product consultants is a certified nutritionist/trainer who has stellar results in helping people optimize their health. An opinion like his is imprortant.
- I try to use credentialed sources for the statements I make about formulas and ingredients. My go-to standards are things like Wikipedia, the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).
- I prefer to default to peer-reviewed articles and "randomized, controlled and/or double-blind studies." This is the best guarantee that the data isn't dependent on just one person's opinion or guesswork.
- Where I can, I scour all the chat traffic on the web to try to obtain what I believe are actual testimonials from people who don't have skin in the game as to whether you believe them or not. This includes chat rooms and discussion groups - Reddit, Facebook groups, Instagram chats and the like.
While these steps don't guarantee the most accurate results, they certainly make the odds fall in your favour.
Keep in mind, some products I review have affiliate links. If you decide to try them, it helps offset the costs of my websites and stuff. Much appreciated. And if you DO try them, I would love to get your honest feedback, good or bad.
Thanks.
PS: I REALLY want to hear from you. Have you tried them? Do they work for you?

Also, you might find that article interesting I was mentioning above. CHECK OUT THIS PAGE where I do a breakdown on some different supplements and what I found about marketing and the like. Interesting stuff. I also talk more about the formula that was the magic for me. It's called VigRX Prostate Support. It's like VitalFlow and PX7 Primal Flow, but a MUCH BETTER VALUE FOR THE MONEY.