Local Business Marketing – Get Reviews to Boost Your Local Business
Google Plus Local (Google My Business Page) is the most important place you want to get reviews. If you do any local search for local business you will see these listings at the top of Google local search. Usually the more reviews you have on Google the higher your rankings.
You need to have a Google account to place a Google review. You might send an email to all your past customers that have gmail accounts asking them for a review.
However, the more reviews you have on other top review sites the higher your Google My Business Page will rank as well. Here is an article on how to claim your Google My Business Page.
Here are some tips on getting more reviews:
First of all keep your customers happy! This may seem obvious but with all these review sites everything is out in the open. You need to especially pay attention to negative reviews. Always respond to them online in a positive way. Never by defensive. How you respond to a negative review may be more important than a positive review.
People are smart. They know most businesses will get some negative reviews. I remember going to a Bed and Breakfast in Key West where the service was beyond outstanding. They are rated the Best Bed and Breakfast in the whole country. Somebody wrote a bad review because it rained! The owners of the B and B responded in a very positive way to the disgruntled customer.
Often you can turn around an unhappy customer with attention. Call them up personally and listen. Never be defensive. Remember, the customer is always right.
Ask you current customer’s for reviews. Check with the terms of service of each directory some directories like Yelp discourage asking for reviews while others like Google encourage the practice.
Find review sites specific to your industry. Google your keywords. For example if you are a chiropractor in Dallas Google “Dallas Chiropractor.” Check out which review sites are reviewing chiropractors. Make a list of these sites.
Create a webpage on your website with links to the top review sites for your industry. Include instructions for each site on how to place reviews.
Place links to review sites in your emails and on all your other webpages. You can put something on the side of your webpage saying “check out our reviews here.”
Create business cards with review site information on them.
Hand out flyers to your customers with all the review site info and instructions.
Ask your customers by phone or email to review your site. This is one reason it is vital to create an email newsletter for your business. You will need an autoresponder system. Imagine having a list of 10,000 people interested in your business and sending them an email to your webpage explaining how to give you reviews. This is quite a powerful strategy.
Ask all your followers on Facebook, Twitter and especially Google+ to review your site.
It is best to get reviews over time not all at once. It looks more natural. You cannot fool Google just implement consistent good strategies and over time you will do very well.
You may get some negative reviews. Here are more tips on handling negative reviews.
Let’s take a look at one local directory Yelp. Yelp does not allow you to entice your customers to post reviews. They basically say just offer great service. Of course, this is always the best advice. However, here are some ideas on getting more Yelp reviews.
- First Find and claim your Yelp business page
- Put a Yelp badge on your site; this is automatically updated when customers leave a new review
- Put a “Find us on Yelp” sign in your brick and mortar establishment
- Print and display positive Yelp reviews in your store or office
- Add a Yelp link in your email signature, contact forms and/or newsletter
Here is a great article on getting more Yelp reviews without violating their terms of service.
Now let’s take a look at Angie’s List. Angie’s List is a review site for services such as plumbers, painters, realtors, mechanics and health care professionals. It is free for businesses but people actually pay to see the reviews. $40. per year.
As soon as somebody reviews your business on Angie’s List it creates a page for your business. If your business get at least and A or B rating you can then offer discounts to Angie’s List users. Angie’s List encourages you get solicit reviews from your customers. They even have a Fetch program. You basically submit your list and Angie’s List phone’s your customers to get feedback about your business.
I hope this article gives you some good ideas on getting more reviews for your local business. Please like and share if you found helpful.
