Editorial Policy | The Nerdy Noob
1. Impartiality
I always follow a strict honesty policy when reviewing products.
I know that review sites can often present products in a positive light in order to gain affiliate commissions.
I believe that this is not in the user’s interest, or ours — increasingly Google (which sites like ours rely on for traffic) is penalizing websites publishing biased content.
2. Accuracy
I always fact-check our content thoroughly, and update it regularly.
I strive at all times for 100% accuracy in all my reviews, comparisons and how-to guides, and fact-check any claim I make.
Additionally, all my content is reviewed regularly (typically on a monthly or quarterly basis) to ensure that what I’ve published remains accurate and up to date.
If you have any concerns regarding the accuracy of a piece, or wish to highlight any factual errors, feel free to contact me.
3. Transparency
I always let users know when an article contains affiliate links.
Like many similar websites,my work is funded in part by affiliate commissions. This means that when you click on a link to a product contained in a review or comparison, and then go onto buy it, I may receive a commission.
Any piece of content on The Nerdy Noob website containing affiliate links will always have a notice indicating that they are being used, and as discussed above, I do not let affiliate commission rates influence my editorial policy.
4. Methodology
I apply a fair and defined process when reviewing products.
I have standard operating procedures (SOPs) that I follow when creating product reviews. Typically, our review process involves the following steps:
- market analysis (to gain a full understanding of the context in which a product is being used)
- data collection (where I gather key information about the product being reviewed —userbase size, revenue, founding date, history etc.)
- defining review criteria (to ensure that our reviews and comparisons are covering the key aspects of a product that users need to be aware of)
- testing (this involves testing product features extensively against our defined criteria, and appraising them accordingly)
- content creation (I produce content based on the data gathered and the testing done)
- editing (articles produced by our writers and researchers will be subjected to a rigorous editing and fact-checking process before being published).
During all stages of this process, the emphasis is always on impartiality and adhering to high ethical standards.
You can read more about my review methodology here.
5. Reader and user feedback
I aim to publish and respond to all reader feedback.
In all our reviews and comparisons I invite readers to comment on our content and add their own perspective. I moderate all these comments, but in most cases try to publish them (even when readers have something negative to say about either our reviews or the products being discussed in them).
There are occasions where I do refrain from publishing user generated content (usually where there might be a negative legal consequence if I do so), but most comments do get published — I believe that reader contributions are really helpful to us in terms of improving our content, and are also valuable to other site visitors too.
Increasingly, I are also including user feedback in our reviews — the aim being to ensure that the real-life experience of product users is being reflected in our content.
6. A jargon-free approach
I aim to create content that is easy to understand and jargon-free.
I understand that topics like web design, ecommerce and email marketing can be confusing for some — especially readers who are new to these areas.
Accordingly, I try to write all our reviews in simple, everyday English and in a way that is easy for a non-technical audience to understand.
7. GDPR and data protection
I respect user privacy, and aim to adhere to GDPR and data protection rules at all times.
I respect our users’ privacy and aim to adhere to all relevant GDPR and data protection rules.
Please read our website terms of use page, and privacy notice for more information on how I do this.
8. Accessibility
I produce content in a way that is accessible to visually impaired and disabled users.
i aim to ensure that visually impaired users and those using screen readers are able to use our site without difficulty.
Our developers have designed the site in a way that ensures accessibility, and I regularly test our site using industry-standard accessibility tools.