By Here are a few suggestions for encouraging more reviews of your business. Some come from my own experiences as a review site “super user” and some are only good old-fashioned common sense. Your comments are welcome. Just no 1-star ratings please!
Participate in the best review sites.
Not all review sites are produced equal. Search for those that have features to reduce fake reviews and give business owners tools for giving an answer to reviews buy google reviews. Activate your company account and optimize your company listing (it’s free). By claiming your listing you’ll receive notices when new reviews are posted and traffic reports on how many users viewed your company page each week.
Be proactive with all your reviews.
Thank your reviewers for his or her feedback, both positive and negative, in a timely manner. Yelp.com, the biggest review site, allows business owners to respond publicly or privately to your reviews. Your own message is a good solution to acknowledge a reviewer and it shows you’re paying attention as the business owner. Caution: don’t be rude or defensive in just about any way. I’ve seen this backfire big style when a reviewer publicly posted the business owner’s rude response with their updated (and even more negative) review! Be sure to see my upcoming post on the best way to respond effectively to negative reviews.
Take advantage of offers on your own listing page.
Some review sites such as for example Yelp allows businesses to post offers on the listing page. Since users of the sites are more probably be active reviewers themselves, you’re directing your offer to the utmost effective online “influencers” ;.
Link to review sites on your own website.
Include the website logo together with your other social media marketing links, “Follow us on…” Again, I’d only link to probably the most responsible online review sites like Yelp.
Promote your presence on review sites.
Put in a link in your e-newsletter, include it in your advertising and social media marketing pages. You can even blog about your reviews and link back to the particular review page. Don’t let a couple of negative posts make you want to run and hide. Your existing customer base obviously thinks well of you or they wouldn’t be doing business with you, so preach it to your choir!
Point-of-Sale signage.
Many review sites offer point of sale materials, such as for example static clings and stickers that retailers can attach for their door or check out to market their site.
Be active in the Online Community.
Be an energetic reviewer yourself. It’s a great way to achieve understanding of the city and fun to accomplish! Just don’t review your own business or your competitors. You’ll likely get caught at it and the penalty isn’t with the risk.
Lastly, it is known as bad etiquette to directly solicit friends and customers for reviews. And truth be told, this tactic may not do any good. Some review sites are suffering from algorithms to filter reviews from one-time reviewers or those with incomplete profiles simply because they tend to be less credible or even fake. However, promoting your business’s presence on a particular review sites is an excellent practice and will naturally lead to more and better quality reviews. Online reviews not merely benefit your website’s internet search engine optimization, however your word of mouth advertising!