Discover How to Acquire Positive Online Reviews
Here are some strategies for increasing your business’s review count. Some are based on my own experiences as a review site “superuser,” while others are simply common sense. We welcome your feedback. Please, no one-star ratings!
Take part in the most reputable review sites.
Not all review websites are the same. Consider those that include tools for detecting phoney reviews and providing business owners with options for responding to them. Activate your company listing and optimise it (it’s free). By claiming your listing, you’ll be notified when new reviews are added and receive weekly traffic stats on how many users visited your company page.
Proactively do all of your reviews.
Appropriately acknowledge your reviewers’ input, whether favourable and negative. Yelp.com, the largest review site, enables business owners to respond to your recommendations publicly or privately. A personal comment is an excellent method to express gratitude to a reviewer and demonstrates that you, as the business owner, are paying attention. Caution: avoid becoming obnoxious or defensive in any manner. This has backfired spectacularly in my experience when a reviewer publicly posted the business owner’s harsh response alongside their revised (and even more bad) review! Make sure to check out my next piece on how to respond to unfavourable reviews successfully.
Profit from special deals on your listing page.
Certain review sites, such as Yelp, permit businesses to publish special offers on their listing page. Because these sites’ users are more likely to be active reviewers, you’re targeting the top online “influencers.”
On your website, include a link to review sites.
Include the site’s logo alongside your other social media links, along with the phrase “Follow us on…” Again, I would connect to only the most ethical internet review sites, such as Yelp.
Increase your visibility on review sites.
Include a link in your e-newsletter, advertising, and social media profiles. You may even blog about your reviews and include a link to the review page itself. Allowing a few bad posts to make you want to flee and hide is counterproductive. Your present customer base undoubtedly has a favourable opinion of you, otherwise, they would not do business with you, therefore preach it to your choir!
Signage at the point of sale.
Numerous review sites offer point-of-sale items, such as static clings and stickers, that businesses can use to promote their site on their door or cash register.
Maintain an active presence in the online community.
Consider becoming an active reviewer yourself. It’s an excellent approach to obtain a better grasp of the community and is also a lot of fun! Simply avoid reviewing your own business or that of your competitors. You’re almost certain to get caught, and the penalty isn’t worth the risk.
Finally, it is considered poor etiquette to request feedback directly from friends and customers. And, very simply, this strategy may be counterproductive. Certain review sites have created algorithms to eliminate reviews from one-time reviewers or those with incomplete profiles, as they are perceived to be less reliable or even fraudulent. Promoting your business’s visibility on specific review sites, on the other hand, is a solid technique that will automatically result in more and higher-quality reviews. Online reviews enhance not just the search engine optimization of your website, but also your word of mouth advertising!
