Product Testing
The authors on TrailTacoma.com only write about products they have tested. Each review, install, product overview, or company highlight is written by an enthusiast who owns, loves, and lives the overland or off-road lifestyle. Each review is centered around one person’s independent testing and personal experience and may not be the thoughts of our editors. Each post requires that the author has rigorously tested, used, abused, installed or witnessed the installation first-hand. We do not offer guest posts. We are not a guest blogging site. We do not allow promoted posts for products we do not test. We do not review products we do not test. You cannot pay for biased/promoted posts for your product/brand.
How We Make Money
TrailTacoma is a free service and is entirely supported by our users. We do not charge for memberships. We do not have hidden content. Our team makes money when you click affiliate links, and through those links, we get a kickback. At no cost to you, you’re helping to facilitate future product testing. This is also how we pay our authors. Our affiliate revenue goes right back into payments for our authors. Every author is paid for their review/install/overview. The generation of affiliate revenue is how we continue to pay writers who write non-biased, independently submitted product reviews.
How We Make Money
TrailTacoma is a free service and is entirely supported by our users. We do not charge for memberships. We do not have hidden content. Our team makes money when you click affiliate links, and through those links, we get a kickback. At no cost to you, you’re helping to facilitate future product testing. This is also how we pay our authors. Our affiliate revenue goes right back into payments for our authors. Every author is paid for their review/install/overview. The generation of affiliate revenue is how we continue to pay writers who write non-biased, independently submitted product reviews.
Experience
Experience goes a long ways in this industry. Our authors are vetted before they become consistent product testers. We do not allow anyone to write for the TrailCo brand if they have no experience. We have hundreds of new applications per year requesting to write reviews and before they get started, they’re required to write at least one non-biased review on a product of their choice to get started. If the submission is biased or seems “promoted” in any way, the article is rejected. If the submissions feels like it’s sponsored in any way in the voice of a brand, the article is rejected. We strive for owners with experience you can trust and that is our commitment to you! Real 4Runner owners with experience and knowledge you can trust.
Trail Rating
On each product review post you will find the Trail Rating below the first image. Our Trail Rating is a category specific review/rating system that we have developed – each unique with it’s own set of category rating parameters. For suspension, you might find a rating parameter for “ride quality” while the Rooftop rating parameters focus more on “Interior Space & Comfort” and “weight”. Ratings are provided by authors and then our team of editors compares that review data against similar customer experiences to ensure accuracy. Not any one company is 100% perfect. It’s our goal to be transparent with each parameter which is why we also have a tooltip note for each rating that explains why it has been rated as such.
Trail Rating
On each product review post you will find the Trail Rating below the first image. Our Trail Rating is a category specific review/rating system that we have developed – each unique with it’s own set of category rating parameters. For suspension, you might find a rating parameter for “ride quality” while the Rooftop rating parameters focus more on “Interior Space & Comfort” and “weight”. Ratings are provided by authors and then our team of editors compares that review data against similar customer experiences to ensure accuracy. Not any one company is 100% perfect. It’s our goal to be transparent with each parameter which is why we also have a tooltip note for each rating that explains why it has been rated as such.
Trail Tested
Trail Tested is a badge you will find on our buyer’s guides. This badge indicates that our team has tested this product and there is a verified review of the product/service on the website. We built the Trail Tested badge so that you can quickly see if this product has been reviewed on our site or not. If the product has not been reviewed, there is no badge next to it.
Award Badges
You can find the award badges throughout the site on product review pages in addition to buyers’ guides. The “Editors’ Choice” award goes to the product that our editorial team would choose. We believe this product to be the best in class. The “Top Pick” award goes to the product that has the best of both worlds; it’s affordable, high-quality, and has an industry-wide solid reputation. The “Top Pick” is an industry favorite and something you can’t go wrong with. The “Best Buy” award goes to the most affordable product while still offering a high level of build quality, customer service, and customer satisfaction.
Award Badges
You can find the award badges throughout the site on product review pages in addition to buyers’ guides. The “Editors’ Choice” award goes to the product that our editorial team would choose. We believe this product to be the best in class. The “Top Pick” award goes to the product that has the best of both worlds; it’s affordable, high-quality, and has an industry-wide solid reputation. The “Top Pick” is an industry favorite and something you can’t go wrong with. The “Best Buy” award goes to the most affordable product while still offering a high level of build quality, customer service, and customer satisfaction.