Welcome to DIY Doctor's blog

How can DIY Doctor be free?
This is a question we often get asked by users of our site. We make DIY Doctor a free website for our users by selling advertising space.

This is the same as most websites, but we always try to make sure that the products and services we list on our site are of interest to our users.

Video is the new black
London Fashion week is over, but we are all slaves to fashion in some way. The internet is no exception, with videos being the latest high-growth area of many websites.

Streaming sites have made it really simple to upload videos, and have become very popular places to learn new skills, and check out new products. DIY Doctor is no exception to this craze, and we love making videos to help users complete Home Improvement jobs and choose the correct tools for the job.

DIY Doctor has started using a new publishers revenue company, Coull Vidlinkr to help to increase our revenue by collecting sponsors for our YouTube videos, which review DIY products, or provide instruction guides on how to perform a particular home improvement task.

Making money from our videos this way means we can use the funds to make more videos, and so continue to increase our video library for our users.

An easy way to monitise videos
Once we installed Vidlinkr on the DIY Doctor website, it automatically picked up our YouTube videos and added a link to pre-approved tool suppliers pages. We are happy to recommend the links on the video, knowing that they are relevant to our users, and offer them good value for money.

This enables the viewer to purchase products recommended by us, and ones that are necessary to complete the DIY task, straight from the video.

“An easy and seamless experience. Integration of videos and products is a quick and very simple process that could be easily completed by someone with little or no previous experience.”- James Gardner, DIY Doctor

Early Results
These have been very encouraging for us and we can recommend the services offered by Coull Vidlinkr to anyone who needs to make money from their blog or website. Although we would be careful to stress that the content must be of use to your readers and users.

• Strong clickthrough rate: At 2.7%, DIY Doctor’s strong clickthrough rate shows how a relevant call to action within a video can engage viewers.
• Superb conversion rate: At 8.2%, their excellent conversion rate, from clickthrough to purchase, highlights the way viewers use video as a resource in their consumer journey. It drives demand for products.
• Average commission per transaction: The average commission earned by DIY Doctor per transaction was £1.89, reflecting the earning potential for bloggers using Coull Vidlinkr.

How it looks
This video link, below, shows that the users experience is subtle enough to be informing without being annoying.

Let us know what you think – click on the comments link at the top right of the page.

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How do you decide which tools to buy when you are embarking on a Home Improvement project?

DIY Doctor was set up thirteen years ago after founder Mike Edwards spotted a need for DIY and Home Improvement customers to be given professional advice on how to complete basic building projects at home. This included advice on what tools and equipment to purchase, depending on the jobs they are doing.

In 2000 the internet was a relatively new resource, but it has now become the way that most people find out about, well, anything really. The term ‘Google it’ has entered our everyday language and most people are now happy to make online purchases, rather than buy in a shop.

Let us know what you need to know from us, to help you with your purchase

Are you one of those ‘early adopters’ who buys the latest gadget and has a tool for every job you ever completed? If so do you actively look to see what is new on the market or do you react to seeing an advert, television show or magazine write up?

Do you search for tools after making a decision to do a job? In which case are you likely to rush out and buy the first thing you can get your hands on that will do the job? The danger with this type of buying is that you might buy something that is not the best solution for the work you are doing. Would you be prepared to wait a day or two to get the product that will make the job easier for you by being ideally suited to what you are doing.

Perhaps you like to kit yourself out for many eventualities and then choose what to buy? Do you have some tools that multi-task for you, tools that you have had for a long time, and you consider the market very carefully before investing in something new? If so what would you find to be the most useful type of advice when you need to add to your collection?

Most of us like to get a good deal don’t we?

There are several ways to decide which tool to buy: You can set yourself a budget and then find out what you can get for the money; you can decide what features you need and then look for the best deal; or you can have a wishlist of features and look around for the best mix of features and price you can find.

How important to you is the knowledge of sales staff, whether that is in person or online. Would you be satisfied with online information and third party reviews, or would you want to have the opportunity to talk to someone about your choices before you purchase.

Do you like to see video reviews of the products you want to buy and if so do you prefer them to concentrate on one tool or to compare two or more tools?

Sometimes the best deal can mean spending more on a really good, professional grade tool, that will last for years rather than buying the cheapest tool, which may not last very long. Would you be more likely to buy a better grade of tool if you could see it ‘in the flesh’ or if it was recommended to you by someone you trust? Do you shop around in DIY stores but ultimately buy online after shopping around on price?

If you have a big job or project, are you more likely to hire a power tool or buy one? Would you consider buying reconditioned or secondhand tools?

DIY Doctor video reviews are available on our You Tube channel.

Help us make DIY Doctor better for you

If you would like to get involved with our fact-finding mission then please leave a comment on this post (click on the link at the top of this page), or you can contact us via social media.

On Twitter @diydoctor or Facebook at facebook.com/diydoctor

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‘How to’ and ‘Review’ videos are becoming a really popular part of what we do

The DIY Doctor channel on You Tube is packed full of useful tool reviews, so if you are thinking of replacing your cordless drill or investing in a wet and dry vacuum, why not check out what we have to say?

They are completely independent reviews of tools and products that any DIY or home improvement enthusiast might want to buy. Our boss Mike Edwards tests most of the tools (unless they are gardening tools – he is not a hypocrite!) and his style is blunt and honest.

Video Tool Review section

We also have a video tool review section on DIY Doctor, this gives you a written round up as well as the featured video. The beauty of video tool reviews is that you can actually see the tools in action on screen before you buy.

In the video tool review section we give an impartial review of the product, point out the pros and cons, tell you whether we like it, and why, and give it a star rating so you can easily compare similar products. Then we then leave it up to you to decide.

‘How To’ videos make learning new DIY tasks easier

The other brilliant use for You Tube is the ‘How To’ videos we produce. Videos are often the easiest ways to learn new home improvement tasks, and we always welcome your suggestions. So if you can’t find the video you want to see just let us know – leave a comment here on the blog or use the ‘contact us’ button on the main website.

DIY Doctor is invited to give talks at trade shows where we give advice on home improvement jobs like plastering, plumbing and tiling. We video the talks so you don’t have to miss them even if you can’t make it to the exhibition centres.

A bit of fun with DIY

In addition to the serious ‘how to’ and tool review videos we also add in some that are just a bit of fun, like this beautiful DIY Christmas tree that CEO Mike Edwards designed and built in our film studio to show you what magical things can be made out of basic building materials.

We were delighted with the response to this fun video (over 600,000 views so far!) and we are asking him to plan his next seasonal video. We will upload it to You Tube as soon as inspiration strikes – so why not follow the DIY Doctor You Tube channel and you will be the first to know about his latest brilliant project.

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There is a lot of buzz around self  sufficiency and renewable heat sources, so if you have gone in for the log burner or wood fueled boiler, you will need to get some logs in.

Of course you will have done this already – it has been very chilly in the evenings in many places for the last month or so, but you need to cut logs now ready for next year. Well seasoned logs are much more efficient at burning. Even if you don’t have an area that is covered, if you stack them in a sheltered spot (under the lea of a garage or shed for instance) they will benefit from being cut and seasoned before use next year.

If you are planning your own logging expedition you need to consider what tools you will need. We have been reviewing tools all summer, in our studios and out on site, and we are happy to share our knowledge with you.

We have tried to make our reviews as easy to follow as possible with a written round-up, a star-rating system and a video demonstration, but do leave comments on the page if you have any suggestions for how we could improve them.

CHAINSAWS

Titan Electric Chainsaw review – click picture to see page

Mountfield MC3616 Chainsaw review – click picture to see page

Don’t forget if you have a chainsaw you need to oil it

Chain Oil for Chainsaws review – click picture to see page

If you have any products that you would like us to review please leave your comments here (click on the comments link on the top right-hand side of the page)

If you have a product that you would like us to review please contact us – but be warned, we will be honest!

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As you know we are often asked to review tools and we love this bit of the job, this way we get to play with new toys and we can share our findings with you so that you can make the best decisions when you want to buy a new product.

Included in the review is a video which shows the tool working and explains the pros and cons, an explanation of the product, specifications, whats included in the purchase, a written summery and star rating, a link to buy if you want to plus a link to other reviews.

Click to view the full review of the Wera Kompact Screw Driver or click on this picture below for the full product review page.

Wera Tools Compact Screwdriver Review

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