Google Reviews Are King. The first point of contact that many customers will have with your business is on the front page of Google. On this page, they’ll be able to see pictures of your business, the category of products or services you offer, hours you’re open, contact information, and most importantly, your Google Reviews. All of this information is important to your local image. But Google reviews are the Gold that will help attract and convert many of these customers.
We’ve covered the importance of online reviews in another post. But today we want to focus entirely on Google reviews. Among many of the leading review sites, consumers still trust Google reviews heavily because they are quick and easy to access. If you haven’t given much thought to your Google reviews, here are a few ways they could help your small business.
Improve Your Local SEO
You may have spent time making sure your website is full of SEO-friendly keywords. But your reviews on Google will help give you the competitive edge you need to soar to the top search result! When people are looking for businesses in their town, chances are they Google “restaurants in X” first. If you have a collection of awesome reviews supporting your business, chances are you’ll pop up first!
Influence Customer Decisions
People place a lot of trust in online reviews. If you have a better rating than your competitors, you are most likely winning more business! When a customer sees two businesses offering the same product or services, the difference between a 4.0-star rating and a 5.0-star rating could be all it takes for them to choose. This happens dozens of times a day, which could mean dozens of more sales each day! Make sure you have the 5.0-star rating and snag those customers!
Getting Started With Google My Biz
First thing’s first, you need to claim your Google My Business location. You’ll need to verify your business with Google by telephone, email, by entering the verification code that Google will send to your physical address. If your business has multiple locations you will need to verify each one individually. It is important you send relevant business reviews to each of your physical locations.
Earning Reviews
So keep in mind, Google doesn’t filter or remove reviews. It is crucial that you have plenty of 5.0-star reviews. These balance out the few negatives reviews that will slip through the cracks. Encourage your loyal customers to leave reviews. Perhaps you can offer incentives like exclusive discounts to boost your ranking quickly.
After that, your long-term strategy should be to consistently improve your ranking so new visitors will know how great your business is by merely looking at your Google My Business card!
If you happen to come across negative reviews, it’s on you to respond graciously and potentially try to resolve the issue and flip their review into the positive! Even if you can’t resolve the problem, by taking the time to show you care about your customers’ experiences, your sales can actually grow since customers will see your business as a member of the community and not just a faceless corporation.
Reviews are the Gold that will help attract and convert many customers.
To learn how your business can start building a better reputation today.
Visit: GetReviewsUp.com
Reviews Up is the world’s easiest platform for sending invites to customers to leave a review on hundreds of review sites and social platforms. Engage customers, motivate employees and inspire confidence in your business!
Reviews Up is a division of ThingsUp, LLC. Please visit GetReviewsUp.com for further information.
