Whether you sell on the web or not, local reviews can boost your online visibility to your target market. Potential customers research, a lot, and they are going to look at previous buyers’ experiences with your company. Online reviews influence the decisions of over 90% of buyers! Whether you are selling a product online or offline, customers rely on the others’ experiences to help them make choices both big and small. So if you have a Mexican restaurant or an auto repair shop, sell tea biscuits or hold ceramics classes it is crucial that you encourage your customers to leave an online review.
Not only do your potential buyers leverage past customer reviews, but so do the search engines like Google and Bing. It turns out that the search engines factor in the number and average rating of online reviews when determining search results for companies. In other words, your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will improve if you have more review with a higher average rating than your competitors. The star rating system that Google uses will land your business at the top of the search if you have a 4+ star rating, while poor ratings will put you lower in the search results. Yelp, TripAdvisor, and other review sites also go into the mix in SEO and every star counts. Don’t let your business sink to the bottom with too few or poor reviews!
So when you are thinking about your business’ reviews and how to get your SEO in shape, it is a good idea to have a strategy. It’s not easy to develop a plan for your online marketing, but you can start by deciding how many reviews you need to increase your visibility. Then think about what content you want in the reviews. Finally, determine how will you encourage customers to leave a review.
Need a strategy or help managing your online review? Walker Stanley Communication is ready to assist you in any stage of your plan. Contact us, we can help!
See how your company compares! Get your FREE online review analysis.