Most of our clients know reviews are essential, but how do you collect favorable ones?

When a customer is using a search engine like google to look for their products or services, online reviews are one of the first things they look at. This perception of your brand is referred to as your online reputation. Data reveals reviews are a crucial factor in determining your local search rankings. Your online reputation is an ongoing task that requires proactive maintenance. While it can be overwhelming, here are a few tips to help you create a fantastic reputation!

• Getting Started
  

Cultivating an excellent online reputation may seem like a lot of work upfront but following a few of these simple techniques can help you get started! After you have sold a product or completed a service, you have less than one week to solicit feedback. There are multiple approaches to get someone to leave you some positive feedback. We can develop a customer feedback program that works along with gathering your customer's name, phone number, and email address.

• Where to Send Customers
  

So, you now know how to ask for reviews but how do you know where to send them to? Review sites have a major impact on customer decisions, so you want to send them where it will help your online reputation the most! The top major review platforms are Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp and YP (Yellow Pages). Online reviews are said to make up at least 10% of how Google and other search engines rank results, which makes Google My Business your number one place to send your customers to leave feedback! However, if your customers do not have a Gmail account it is recommended you send them to Facebook, Yelp! Or YP as backups. Customers will need to have accounts with the aforementioned platforms to leave reviews.

• Maintenance
  

You may be wondering, “Now that I’ve solicited and received reviews, is my work done yet?” Not yet! Your online reputation is an ongoing project that requires maintenance and consistent monitoring. You will need to continue to solicit new reviews so that your online reputation stays fresh and competitive. If you only have reviews that were posted 6 months to a year ago, they don’t hold as much credibility as a recent review. The goal of a steady stream of reviews is to display how great your products or services are continuous. You will also want to take a proactive approach to manage your online reputation as well. With the positive always comes to the negative reviews. Every once in a while, a negative review will surface, it happens. You don’t want to ignore it; you want to take control of the situation to manage what people are saying about you. Always be sure to respond within