In Part One of our Google Search for Businesses series we talked about claiming and optimizing your listing, and the importance of accuracy and updates. For part two we’ll discuss how online reviews play a big part in a consumer’s path to purchase journey.
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There’s one piece of advice we always offer our small business clients — as a business owner, you should make it a priority to encourage customers to write you reviews.
In a sea of competitors, local search user reviews help customers find your business fast. Without the honest opinion of real life patrons and consumers, you’d be hard pressed to earn new business.
Here’s why local search reviews are so key for establishing a strong local search presence, and how you can go about gaining these crucial testimonials.
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Providing online ratings and reviews of your products and services can benefit everyone. For business owners they can enhance your credibility and even increase conversion rates. From a customer’s standpoint, ratings and reviews aren’t a sales pitch, they’re an honest opinion or experience.
Online Customer Reviews - The New Word of Mouth
Don’t we all wish we got all of our business from word of mouth? This is one of the most influential forms of marketing and the least expensive. So why not add this influence, with increased customer engagement, into your online presence? These days the internet allows conversations to spread quickly across a vast audience. With the added trust in another consumer’s review, this makes online ratings and reviews an extremely powerful factor in a consumer’s purchasing decision.
Benefits to Your Consumers
Ordinary consumers are given a voice through online review options. They are invited to share their experience, good or bad, with more than just friends and family. For someone looking to make a purchase, a good review can help solve an apprehension. A review can also build trust between business owners and consumers.
Benefits for E-Commerce
For a business, online ratings and reviews provide nearly unbeatable market research. With direct feedback from customers, merchants can better understand the opinions of their consumers about their products and services. A business owner can now monitor customer satisfaction and are given the chance to address any issues.
Honest and critical reviews can also help a business owner better understand the needs of their customers. It can also give them an opportunity to provide a personal touch to their online store.
Benefits to Your SEO
Ratings and reviews are also a piece of your optimization efforts. Not only do recent testimonials on your site provide fresh content, but reviews on third-party sites can drive traffic to your website. Reviews on these sites can also build rapport by making your business more relevant and visible on these types of search engines. Other benefits to your SEO include:
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Reviews tend to be keyword rich
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New and unique content about your business
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Improved rankings
With a rapid increase in internet use, word of mouth marketing has also evolved. Giving your customers a voice and empowering them with the ability to share their experiences benefits everyone involved.
Online reviews and social media provide a vast platform for feedback (both positive and negative) which will define a business brand.
A few months ago the Midwest was hit by a really bad hail storm, many people had severe hail damage. Before walking into a local business networking meeting I checked my Facebook to see if anything had happened since last time I checked (being honest that was most likely 5 min). One of my facebook friends that has moved to Florida updated that she needed a roofer to come look at their house her in Kansas City but she didn’t know anyone. I actually have a roofer in my meeting. So I shot her a message telling her I would have him call and slipped him a referral slip. It literally took place in 3 minutes time. This is just one example of how Facebook works for local business - I have hundreds!
We had this discussion yesterday about how Facebook is not a search engine, if I need a nail salon, a spray tan or a high heel fixed (yes I do fix my favorite pairs) I don’t look it up on Facebook I will Google it. (With that being said your business HAS to be in Google Places or you are missing out on a TON of business) But Facebook is great for your business because you can get recommendations on businesses but you also get the opinion of a friend or someone you know. Let me give another example.
If my girlfriend messages out I want to get pictures taken of my kids I can share 5 different pages of photographer friends that I know. Some I can tell if I was pleased or some I would recommend because I like their work. My friends are more likely to look at a personal recommendation over someone we don’t know.
So to all you local business owners who do not have a Facebook - you HAVE to have a business page for this to even work… Have a good day and send me your page requests so I can like your business. 😉
Negative online reviews are never pleasant. With the right response you can make them bearable and even positive.
Marketing to Gen Y takes a different approach.
Your social media efforts need attention in order to succeed.
Learn from the mistakes of Applebee’s and be smarter about negative comments.
