Cheryl Anderson
Reviews people leave your business, your products, or your organization impact your company's bottom line. It can affect your ranking and impact whether or not someone chooses to do business with you. That is why preserving and improving your online reputation should be an essential element of your SEO strategy.
Any business can get a negative review, which can have an unfavorable impact on the company. One or two bad reviews may not impact your business negatively if you have other positive testimonies, and there are things you can do to deal with these less-than-favorable reviews.
Where Do Reviews Come From?
- Review Sites - [TripAdvisor, Yelp, Angieslist, & industry-specific directories]
- Social Media Pages - [Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram].
- Map Listings - [Google My Business, Bing Places, and Apple Maps].
If you have not done so already, you should claim your profile on these listing sites as a tool to help others find your business and to leverage it as a marketing channel. Keeping an eye on your reputation so you can react promptly to an unfavorable post can minimize the adverse effects.
Claiming your business accounts on these channels can bring you several advantages.
- You will be alerted when a new review is posted.
- You can express your gratitude to the sender when you get a favorable response.
- Mention your company's name, another product or service you offer, or a promotional offer on these channels; it will go a long way to promoting your brand.
Getting The Most From Your Reviews
- Use
The EZ Review Leader to capture negative reviews, & direct them to the business owner, and push positive thoughts out to the public on social media sites, reviews sites, and social media listings. This tool will allow the owner to correct the product or service and a second opportunity for a positive review and a happy customer.
- Make sure it is one of YOUR customers. I have seen several reviews that were for the wrong business entirely. Once, it was for a brother's similar business in a different state, another was traced to a competition trying to discredit a new company in town, and the third time it was just the wrong business altogether. If the review is fake or fraudulent, you may have the option to report it and remove it.
- If you do get a negative review, respond promptly and positively. Reacting calmly to a bad review can bring you credibility and trust. Remember to be courteous and positive and look for a way to resolve the problem and make it suitable for the customer.
- Work on building positive reviews.
The EZ Review Leader
will help you in doing this. After completing each job, I suggest texting each customer a link to your EZ Review Leader. To increase your positive reviews, remind them they can post on more than one site.
- Brand Loyalty Through Incentives Bringing your customer back for repeat business is always good. Remember, you are asking for a review, not to dictate the kind of review you will get. Once they write their review, you can put them in a giveaway, give a gift card, or give a discount on future purchases or services.
Finally
You can not remove negative reviews just because you do not like them, but if the posts are deliberately to damage your reputation, there are actions you may take to get them removed from the internet. Claiming your listing will make it easier to report and delete any fake review. It will also help customer to find the right business to review. The EZ Review Leader will make it effortless for customers to get to the site they want to review on and the correct business.
If you would like help with SEO and Reviews give us a call at 330-651-7131 or email at info@theezwebsolutions.com
