Research proves that, when deciding about a purchase, consumers pay great attention to information available on review websites. This is why we decided to devote this article to the importance of reviews and the essentials of how to build reviews about a company.
Obviously, the top priority is to convince your users to write a review about service quality. However, if you are a new name on the market, and you have too few clients to get real profit from their feedback, you must deal with this task by yourself. Your marketing program should include a point about promoting your business with reviews. It is rather complicated and requires many resources and attention. However, nothing is impossible, so use our advice as your handbook when working on your reputation management.
Finding a Website for Company Reviews: Where to Focus Your Attention
The first question that comes to mind when you start your improvement program is where to find the proper websites. There are hundreds of websites where people can create reviews about a company on the web. You should pay attention to the following factors when deciding which one is the most suitable for your business.
- The audience
Some websites are visited by thousands of people daily. To reach the widest audience, you should pick websites with the greatest number of visitors.
- Your region
Tripadvisor works for cafes and restaurants worldwide. However, it might be more efficient to post reviews on websites that are popular in your region. Conduct research and find the resources that will work for you.
- Business specifics
The websites for company reviews by customers may either collect information about a wide range of various companies or be devoted to specific kinds of businesses. The general websites have greater traffic, but specific ones get visitors who are interested in just the sort of thing you offer.
4 Key Websites to Create Company Reviews
Attracting new customers becomes easier when you choose the right solutions. Our list of the most popular sites for reviews could come in useful. You have undoubtedly heard about them, and maybe even left your own reviews, but now it is time to consider those services to be tools for your business promotion.
Google My Business
You have the opportunity to read some of the reviews for a company when you look it up on Google. Besides that, even clicking on a certain location on Google Maps will let you see reviews. Google’s algorithms are aimed at constant improvement of local search results, so feedback left by local customers is extremely important.
The users can share their photos of the specific location and rank it, as well as share their thoughts and highlight its advantages and disadvantages. Google Maps is available on both web and mobile devices, so the number of visitors it reaches is sky-high. Posting your company’s reviews here would open a new page in your business development.
Yahoo! Local Listings
The rating system of Yahoo! is one of the most popular in the world. It features possibilities similar to those of Google Business. At the same time, it may be targeted to different regions. For example, it is popular in the US, while Google is used all over the world.
Yelp
Besides the tools bound tightly to search engines, there is a web channel that was originally created for reviews only. The Yelp tool is a free website for rating companies and agencies. Here, entrepreneurs create their companies’ profiles and wait patiently for users to start evaluating their quality.
Some people believe that Yelp’s policies are not as transparent as they should be. Their paid opportunities include deleting negative feedback, which pushes away some users. Fortunately, it still provides a great chance to share positive information about your business, so you should definitely consider it to be a profitable option.
Your Business Website
A “testimonials” page on your own website is a great opportunity to promote your business. Each of your visitors has a defined aim when they visit your website. No matter what services you provide, customers want to know whether your company successfully met your former customers’ needs. The most important reason to post your reviews on this page is the fact that no one limits your possibilities here. You can post as many positive reviews as you possible to convince potential customers.
Creating a Review About a Service: Tips and Tricks
At first sight, Google search reputation management seems like a piece of cake. We have met many business owners who sincerely believed that there are no specific rules or requirements for writing feedback. The truth is, it’s much harder than it seems to be.
The point is not simply to post a review but to also make it look attractive and trustworthy. It is crucial to make your review look natural. Any suspicious activity and postings will lose your customers’ trust.
- Write a story
People love a good story. They are fond of emotional tales with happy endings. Do not miss a chance to use this for your business! Describe how your products solved a certain problem, and make the content relatable for readers. Apply your storytelling skills or hire a creative writer to get this task done, and enjoy the results.
- Personalize your text
Your story may lose its consistency if you do not use real people’s names. The text will be better perceived if you use words like “my husband”, “our cat”, “my best friend”, etc. Try to avoid stories about hypothetical non-existing people. Instead, describe the experiences of real people with common problems and common needs.
- Be unique, not annoying
Writing the I’M-CRAZY-ABOUT-THESE-SERVICES kind of a review will not work for you. Readers do not like words in uppercase and 10 exclamation points per sentence. It is quite annoying and does not present your business as a trustworthy one. Emphasize your unique advantages and highlight how great your business is in its narrow field or in a specific situation. Base your story on a unique situation with unique people, not pointless praise.
- Keep it short
If you are writing a review of your favorite book, it can be quite informative and long. However, if you have a goal to draw potential customers’ attention to your business, your stories need to be short. Take care of people’s time and rid your text of unnecessary details. Write only about the things that matter and stick to the small or medium size reviews.
- Start a conversation
Finishing the review with a question addressed to the company or other consumers may lead to a conversation. By involving other users in the dialogue, you get the opportunity to spread information about your business and make the review look natural. A conversation can increase people’s trust and create a basis for future cooperation.
Finish Creating Your Review by Cleaning the Footprints
Footprints are something that could reveal your activity. Therefore, you should clean them thoroughly to avoid unpleasant situations.
- Use VPN tools
The software market offers many suitable products to hide footprints. VPN tools are one of them. Downloading a browser extension to hide the information about the location from which you write the reviews is the first step in cleaning the footprints.
- Work under unique credentials
Each review must be written from a different account, using a unique name, login, and password. Unauthorized users cannot leave feedback on some of the most popular resources. Additionally, a review written by an unauthorized user does not attract as much attention as you need.
- Implement the SMM approach
This step would be extra useful. First, social media authorization would save your customers time and authorize them to leave a review on your website in one click. Moreover, you have an opportunity to create a whole network of accounts for posting positive reviews. This is a bit time-consuming, but worth implementing.
Monitoring Your Company Reviews
It is impossible to achieve a good result without managing the processes properly. Because you will have to work with several channels to build a fruitful review marketing strategy, you will need software assistance to manage them all. Here are the top 3 convenient websites you may find helpful.
- Google Alerts
This Google product is responsible for searching relevant information about the query. It will help you find the information people share about your company and will send you an email every time your company is mentioned somewhere on the web.
- Mention
This is another great tool for reputation management in the Google search. Mention allows you to monitor information about your company posted anywhere online. It will help you listen to your customers and keep an eye on your own reviews.
- Hootsuite
Use this tool to measure social engagement. It will help you track reviews on social media channels.
How to Build Reviews and Reputation on the Internet
Every single positive review is your chance to increase your profit and beat the competitors.
Every moment you devote to research on this topic or to your review marketing campaign will bring you great benefits in the future. Although the process is not simple and requires some time, tomorrow you will appreciate having started today.
Get rid of your doubts and start working on your reputation on the Internet! However, never forget about the quality of your product. This is your priority.