WP Review Pro is a powerful and customizable review plugin for WordPress. It supports various review types and enables user ratings and reviews.
In this comprehensive tutorial, we’ll cover installing and configuring WP Review Pro to leverage its full functionality.
Why Reviews Are Critical for Websites
Before we dive into using WP Review Pro, let’s discuss why reviews and ratings are so important for modern websites:
- Increase Trust and Credibility – Reviews provide social proof and reinforce trust and credibility. Visitors can see real experiences from real users.
- Boost SEO – Reviews generate unique, keyword-rich content. Structured data markup enables rich snippet stars in SERPs.
- Drive Conversions – Peer recommendations can heavily influence buying decisions. Reviews reduce skepticism and reinforce decisions.
- Collect Feedback – User reviews give direct insights into customer needs, pains, objections, and suggestions.
- Improve User Experience – Feedback highlights areas for UX improvements and optimization.
- Promote Products/Services – Positive reviews are great social content to promote via email, social media, etc.
- Manage Reputation – Promptly responding to negative reviews can mitigate reputation damage.
WP Review Pro makes it easy to collect and display reviews for maximum impact.
Benefits of Using WP Review Pro
Some key benefits of the WP Review Pro plugin include:
- Supports different review types – stars, points, percentages, circles
- Fully customizable styling, colors, layouts
- User ratings and visitor reviews
- Review summaries with pros/cons, features, etc.
- Review archives and widgets to display reviews
- Review author attribution
- Google Rich Snippets integration
Reviews and ratings are crucial for building trust and social proof. WP Review Pro provides everything you need to add reviews to WordPress.
Installing WP Review Pro
To install WP Review Pro:
- Login to the MyThemeShop member area
- Under Active Premium Resources, expand WP Review Pro
- Click “Download” to get the plugin .zip file
- Go to Plugins » Add New in your WordPress dashboard
- Click “Upload Plugin” and choose the .zip file
- Click “Install Now”
- Finally, click “Activate Plugin”
This will install and activate WP Review Pro. You’ll now see it in your plugins list.
Configuring the Global Settings
Under Settings » WP Review Pro, you’ll find the global settings:
- Comment form – Replace or add fields
- Restrict ratings – Registered users only
- Comment feedback – Allow helpful/unhelpful
- Add rating to thumbnails – Show stars on posts
- Thumbnail size – Which image size to use
Set these to match your goals then click Save Changes.
Customizing the Styling
On the Styling tab, you can configure:
- Review box colors (background, text, border, etc)
- Font selections
- Review width – 100% recommended
- Other visual settings
Use the color picker to choose colors and preview changes before saving.
Setting Default Review Options
On the Defaults tab:
- Choose default location – above, below, or custom content placement
- Select review schema type
- Add default reviewed features like design, usability, value, etc.
- Set contextual example summary
- Optionally add default affiliate or info links
- Configure whether visitor and/or comment ratings are enabled
Creating Reviews in Posts and Pages
When editing a post or page, you’ll see the WP Review Pro meta box. To add a review:
- Select the review type – stars, points, percentage, circle
- Pick the review schema to match the content
- Add a review title and summary text
- Rate the various features you added
- The overall score will be calculated automatically
- Customize the review author, links, placement etc.
- Enable visitor and/or comment ratings if desired
The review will then display on the frontend! Continue adding reviews to all relevant content.
Enabling User Reviews
To activate user reviews:
- When configuring a review, enable visitor and/or comment ratings
- Visitors can rate posts without commenting using star ratings
- Commenters will see an expanded ratings form to add a review
- Admins can moderate and manage user reviews if needed
Allowing user reviews helps increase engagement.
Creating a Review Archive Page
To display an archive of reviews:
- Create a new page
- Get the ID of reviews you want to feature
- Add the [wp-review-listing id=”x,y,z”] shortcode with the IDs
- This will showcase the reviews on that page
You can also display reviews in sidebars and widgets using the WP Review Pro widget.
Leveraging WP Review Pro Features
Some additional ways to leverage WP Review Pro:
- The reviews will appear in Google search results as rich snippets
- Use the built-in review widgets in sidebars and footer areas
- Analyze reviews and feedback to keep improving your content
- Respond to negative reviews politely and professionally
- Promote positive reviews on social media to build trust
Implementing proactive review generation and management processes is key to success.
Optimizing Your Review Strategy
To get the most from your review system:
- Make it easy for visitors to leave reviews with clear CTAs
- Email customers asking for reviews post-purchase while fresh
- Keep comment reviews moderated to filter out spam
- Spotlight curated reviews visually throughout your content
- Reply publicly to negative reviews when constructive
- Share great reviews on social channels
- Track review volume and sentiment over time
- Turn feedback into product/service improvements
Following best practices for generating and showcasing reviews is crucial.
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Conclusion
WP Review Pro is a versatile review plugin that can help improve engagement and SEO. This guide has covered installing, configuring, and leveraging its extensive features.
With the proper setup, you can start collecting user generated ratings and reviews to boost conversions and demonstrate social proof.
Try utilizing the different review types and display methods to find an optimal solution for your WordPress site.