WP Review Pro Plugin Setup Tutorial and Walkthrough

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.

Table of Contents

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.

Related:

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.