Here are a few recommendations for encouraging more reviews of one’s business. Some originate from my very own experiences as an evaluation site “super user” and some are only good old-fashioned common sense. Your comments are welcome. Just no 1-star ratings please!
Be involved in the best review sites.
Not absolutely all review sites are made equal. Search for those who have features to cut back fake reviews and give business owners tools for answering reviews buy google reviews. Activate your organization account and optimize your organization listing (it’s free). By claiming your listing you will receive notices when new reviews are posted and traffic reports how many users viewed your organization page each week.
Be proactive with all of your reviews.
Thank your reviewers for their feedback, both positive and negative, in a regular manner. Yelp.com, the greatest review site, allows business owners to respond publicly or privately to your reviews. A personal message is a superb method to acknowledge a writer and it shows you’re paying attention as the business owner. Caution: don’t be rude or defensive in virtually any way. I’ve seen this backfire big style each time a reviewer publicly posted the business owner’s rude response making use of their updated (and even more negative) review! Be sure to see my upcoming post on how best to respond effectively to negative reviews.
Make the most of offers on your own listing page.
Some review sites such as for example Yelp allows businesses to post offers on their listing page. Since users of the sites are far more probably be active reviewers themselves, you are directing your offer to the most effective online “influencers” ;.
Link to examine sites on your own website.
Include the site logo with your other social media links, “Follow us on…” Again, I would only url to probably the most responsible online review sites like Yelp.
Promote your presence on review sites.
Add a link in your e-newsletter, include it in your advertising and social media pages. You may even blog about your reviews and link back to the particular review page. Don’t let a couple of negative posts make you intend 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 with their door or cash register to advertise their site.
Be active in the Online Community.
Be an energetic reviewer yourself. It’s a great way to achieve understanding of the community and fun to accomplish! Just don’t review your own personal business or your competitors. You’ll likely get caught at it and the penalty isn’t with the risk.
Lastly, it is considered bad etiquette to directly solicit friends and customers for reviews. And truth be told, this tactic may not do any good. Some review sites allow us algorithms to filter out reviews from one-time reviewers or people that have incomplete profiles since they are generally 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 higher quality reviews. Online reviews not only benefit your website’s se optimization, however your recommendations advertising!