By: Dennis Paul | May 4, 2016

Why Business Reviews matter for reputation repair?

Why Business Reviews matter for reputation repair

The world where consumers buy products and services has greatly changed over the years. In the past, most consumers relied on their favorite businesses to supply them with the things they needed for everyday life. However, these days, products and services are easily available online which makes competition between companies extremely tight. In a world where advertisements used to be the driving force in online sales, we explore why Business Reviews matter for reputation repair and how review sites are becoming more and more critical to the success of any company! One important way that consumers decide which product or service that they are going to purchase is by reading reviews online. For this reason, online reviews for small businesses are critical to the success of any company. According to Search Engine Land

88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

Many consumers no longer choose companies that do not have a popular online presence, and one of the best ways to have an online presence is by having current customers review products and services.  The article examines why business reviews matter for reputation repair?

Research is Important:

Customers now do quite a bit of research before they make a purchase. They now rely more on what their friends are saying about products rather than what advertisements are telling them. It is easier to put their trust in someone who has used the product rather than the company who has created it.

• 68% of consumers trust opinions posted online.
• 72% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust businesses more.

So, when you are looking to have a positive impact to your online status, what are the things that you need to do? For starters, you need to develop your online presence so that your customers can easily post reviews about products and services that you provide. You also need to discover a way to encourage your customers to post positive reviews online. It is clear why business reviews matter for reputation repair now how do you create an effective reputation management plan.

Establish yourself:

Before you do anything else, you need to make sure that you are listed where your customers can find you. You should take some time to build your website and your social media sites as well as become familiar with other popular search engine directories, such as Yellow Pages.

At the very minimum, you need to set up your company website as well as your Facebook page and offer as much information to your consumers as possible on these two sites. These are to be the two main places that potential buyers visit in order to find more about you, your services, and your products.

Promote Reviews

Next, you will want to encourage your current customers to post reviews about your company on your website or social media pages. Why Business Reviews So Important to reputation repair?  One thing to keep in mind is that the more positive reviews that you have online the less important a negative one will be. However, the opposite is also true and if you find you are receiving negative reviews you may need to reevaluate some things you’re doing with your business.

Look at our review sites:

Yelp

Facebook

Chamber of commerce

City Search 

Google plus

and many more – there are over 11 review sites.

These reviews will help potential customers realize what you provide and how much others are enjoying your services and products. You should avoid posting reviews of your own because this act can damage your reputation if you are ever discovered to have done this. One of the most important things to remember when dealing with online reviews, is that you need to provide services and products that would elicit positive reviews to be posted from your customers.  Why business Reviews matter for reputation repair?

How to encourage your Customers to help with reviews:

Sometimes it is difficult to maintain customers who will actively review your products and services. Although they probably read reviews before choosing you, they are more likely to post a bad review than a positive. However, there are some very simple things that you can do to help encourage your customers to post reviews for you when they have a positive experience.

For example, you should always have multiple ways for your customers to post reviews. Not everyone will be a member of the same sites so you should actively maintain a presence on popular review sites, such as Yelp, Angie’s list, Google and Yahoo local, and many others. You can also look into review sites that are specifically geared towards your industry.

Sometimes it may help simply to ask your customers to offer feedback. Some companies preferred ask customers upfront for review, others ask at the time of the transaction, and even others call the customer a day or so later. It is best to contact them sooner rather than later. Always remember you can turn a negative review into a positive review.

Finally, you should always make it simple for your customers leave reviews. You can always put direct links on your website and sites like Yelp even provide banners that you can put on your website or print for flyers that you display in your store.

Conclusion

It is clear why business reviews matter for reputation repair and hopefully you have found ways to improve your online presence and manage your reviews online.  If you are a small business owner and are looking for ways to improve your online presence and to increase your sales, customer reviews are one of the best ways in which to do so. It is important that you maintain a positive online reputation and make it easy for your customers the positive reviews for you in the places where potential customers will be able to review them with ease.