Expert Insights FAQs

For Readers

Who Are Expert Insights?

Expert Insights is a business to business (B2B) technology research and review website that is trusted by over 80,000 monthly readers. Our number one goal is to help organizations around the world make an informed, well-researched decision when selecting B2B tech services and solutions. 

To achieve that goal, our independent editorial and technical team publishes objective, meticulously researched content. This includes long-form product reviews, Top 10 Buyers’ Guides covering the best solutions across different product categories, interviews with industry experts, whitepapers, and general advice and best practices.

In 2003, our CEO, Craig MacAlpine, founded EPA Cloud, an email security company that was acquired by Ziff Davies (formerly J2Gobal) in 2013. He started Expert Insights because he saw first-hand the challenges organizations faced when looking for high-performing IT security solutions. 

Our editorial team – based across the US and UK – consists of IT security professionals, information security engineers, and journalists specializing in IT security trends and services. 

What is the Expert Insights Editor’s Score And How Do You Test Products?

Expert Insights conducts long form reviews of technical solutions across different software categories. The review process includes:

• Product demonstration given by the vendor
• Independent technical testing and analysis
• Review of technical capability in relation to other products on the market
• Thorough accuracy review and scoring
• Final review and publish

When we have finalized a review, we award a score on a scale of one to five, which is deemed our “Editor’s Score.” This score is decided based on the technical tester’s experience with the product and explained throughout the final published review. 

How Does Expert Insights Generate Income?

Expert Insights is supported by advertising campaigns with our vendor partners. We allow relevant and trusted providers to sponsor listings pages, Top 10 Buyers’ Guides and editorial content. You can learn more about our partners in our Advertiser Disclosure.

Our Buyers’ Guides and review pages list the top software vendors – not just those that pay us – but the ranking and ordering of these products may sometimes reflect vendors from which we receive compensation. However, review content, scores, and our editorial content (aside from designated sponsored articles, which are always clearly marked as being sponsored) is completely and fully independent from software vendors. 

We understand how important it is that our articles are accurate and helpful. For this reason, we have a strict review process for any potential clients to make sure their products are technically strong, fit for purpose, and relevant to our audience. We can, and often do, turn away clients with solutions that we do not recommend to our users. 

How Do Expert Insights Decide Which Products To Include In Top 10 Buyers’ Guides?

Our Top 10 lists are designed to provide a general overview of market leading providers in a particular B2B product space. Vendors included in these articles are chosen by our independent editorial team, according to our internal inclusion guidelines. These criteria include: 

• Features
  • Vendors must have a comprehensive feature set that meets the criteria set by a software category’s sub-editor
  • Features must be regularly updated, and perform well in independent tests
• Market Perception 
  • Vendors must be credible, and recognized in the wider market
  • Customers should be favorable towards the solution in objective reviews
• Customer Usage 
  • Established vendors should have a high customer usage, reflected in market share
  • Niche and challenger vendors should have credible case studies to reflect quality
• Product Heritage 
  • Market leaders should be long established with a clear product history and impact on the market
  • New and challenger brands should meet a clear need in the market with a strong business case 

Vendors who meet our criteria can also sponsor positions on these articles as part of lead generation campaigns. To learn more about our advertising partners, visit our Advertiser Disclosure.

What Are “Top Products” And How Are These Decided?

Expert Insights may highlight some solutions as “Top Products”, both in our Top 10 Buyers’ Guides and in our general blog articles. The designation “Top Products” means the entities in this section have compensated Expert Insights for placement.

This compensation affects where and how these products appear on the site and often involves the inclusion of “call-to-action” (CTA) buttons, for which Expert Insights may receive a fee when clicked on. Please view our advertising policy page for more information.

Are Expert Insights Interviews Paid?

No, Expert Insights does not publish sponsored or paid for interview articles. Expert Insights interviews are designed to help bring expert opinions and analyses directly to our readers. For this reason, we do not gate interview content, and we do not allow this content to be sponsored. 

What Are Expert Insights Awards?

Expert Insights Awards recognize the world’s best B2B technology solutions. Awards are based on research from Expert Insights’ independent technical analysts and editorial team, customer feedback, and industry recognition.

Does Expert Insights Accept Guest Blog Posts?

We only accept guest posts from genuine industry experts who have relevant stories to tell. We do not accept guest posts from vendors, PR companies or SEO specialists. To pitch a story to Expert Insights, please contact our team. 

For Vendors

What Does Expert Insights Do?

Expert Insights is a business to business (B2B) technology research and review website. We’re different from other review websites because we have our own team of independent B2B tech experts, and we publish our own reviews of solutions and services. We reach over 80,000 readers each month who use our content to review our solutions. 

We want to connect B2B tech buyers with high-performing products that will meet their needs. We work with select B2B tech vendors on lead generation and brand awareness campaigns, which connect our readers with best-in-class B2B tech solutions. Our vendor partners see a strong return on investment as our users are directly engaged and ready to make a purchasing decision. 

We understand how important it is that our articles are accurate and helpful. For this reason, we have a strict review process for any potential clients to make sure their products are technically strong, fit for purpose, and relevant to our audience. We can, and often do, turn away clients with solutions that we do not recommend to our users. 

Who Uses Expert Insights?

At the time of writing, Expert Insights reaches over 80,000 unique users every month. Our audience includes CEOs, IT managers, CISOs, security professionals, small business owners, compliance teams, fraud operations teams, office managers, and more. 

Our audience is predominately United States based, and our content is read by organizations from one-person teams, up to multi-billion-dollar enterprises and government agencies. We ensure our content is relevant and helpful for organizations of all sizes and readers with different levels of technical knowledge. 

What Do Expert Insights Vendor Solutions Include?

Our vendor solutions are designed to help you to reach your customers while they are researching and comparing solutions. We offer two solutions: lead generation and brand awareness campaigns. 

Lead Generation: 

Sponsor a position on a Top 10 Buyers’ Guide to add CTA buttons and start driving real traffic through to your landing pages for lead generation, with actionable leads, clear attribution, and a strong return on investment. Sponsored products will also be featured as one of our “Top Products” in a panel on the relevant page.

Brand Awareness: 

Sponsor an independent technical review, editorial content with CTAs, or a Top 10 Buyers’ Guide to improve brand awareness and highlight your product to users when they are researching and comparing solutions on the market. 

You can find out more about our campaigns here. 

Why Hasn’t My Product Been Included In A Top 10 Article?

The non-sponsored vendors included in a Top 10 list are chosen solely by our independent editorial and technical team according to our inclusion guidelines. These articles are reviewed every quarter and you will regularly see included vendors rotate according to market changes.

When selecting vendors to include, we consider the following attributes:

• Features
  • Vendors must have a comprehensive feature set that meets the criteria set by a software category’s sub-editor and consultation with experts.
  • Features must be regularly updated, and perform well in independent tests.
• Market Perception 
  • Vendors must be credible, and recognized in the wider market.
  • Customers should be favourable towards the solution in objective reviews.
• Customer Usage 
  • Established vendors should have a high customer usage, reflected in market share.
  • Niche and challenger vendors should have credible case studies to reflect quality.
• Product Heritage 
  • Market leaders should be long-established with a clear product history and impact on the market.
  • New and challenger brands should meet a clear need in the market with a strong business case.

Software categories are often highly competitive, and we aim to present a broad range of services to our users. This means in some cases, while there may be many market leading solutions that meet the above criteria, we may include more niche solutions that cater to specific use-cases.

Please note: We do not accept submissions from vendors to test their product for suitability on Top 10 articles. All products listed are chosen by our independent team, and due to the volume of submissions we receive, we only test products after they are shortlisted by our internal researchers.

Can I Set Up An Interview With Expert Insights?

We welcome interview requests from, or on behalf of, industry experts with a story to tell and helpful insights and advice for our readers. We consider interview requests on a case-by-case basis. To request an interview, please contact our team.