Whether you like it or not, your customers are likely screening you online. And, the reviews they find online are what often shape their impression about your business. According to BrightLocal’s recent consumer survey report:

  • 85% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation when it comes to choosing a business
  • Consumers read an average of 7 reviews before forming an opinion about a business
  • 73% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more

That’s right — those words floating on the internet can elevate your business's online reputation and encourage more customers to line up at your door. Or, they can drag down your reputation, causing potential customers to choose your competitors. Not to mention, negative reviews are a blemish on the face of your business that may take weeks or even months to get rid of, if it ever goes away at all.

The question is, how do you manage your online reputation? Here are some helpful tips.

Shoot for the stars

Today, it’s incredibly easy to share anything, including your opinion, online. This has given consumers more power and access to the information necessary to make a better purchasing decision. Research shows most people are more likely to write reviews when their interaction with a brand or business has been really good or really bad.  

So, what you should be aiming for is a five-star rating. Poor ratings can—and do—dissuade customers from doing business with you. But what’s even worse is not having any ratings or reviews. Negative reviews or ratings are bad, but a few of words of criticism among all those glorious testimonials can make your business seem genuine and trustworthy. After all, nothing but great reviews could be too good to be true. Plus, negative reviews give you opportunities to turn situations around and even boost sales.

Engaging with the dissatisfied customers in a positive way and resolving whatever issues they had proactively makes great business sense, especially when you consider how their reviews can influence your business in the long run.

Be prompt

No one likes to hear anything bad about their business, but at the same time, it’s virtually impossible for a business to avoid any negative review altogether. No matter how well you run your business, there will always be some room for improvement and someone will point that out. What do you do when that happens? Our instinct is to hide what’s bad — a negative comment, a criticism, or a one-star rating. When it comes to online reviews, the exact opposite is what you should do.  

Act quickly while responding to a negative review left for your business. This shows that you care about your customers and take their experiences seriously. Remember, only a few customers may write reviews, but there are hundreds of them are scrolling through those reviews on a daily basis.

Therefore, make sure to continuously monitor the review sites and your social media pages and respond to reviews as they come in. Respond with a genuine concern and resist the urge to save time by giving out the same standard responses to every reviewer—it indicates you don’t actually care.

Know where your name appears online

Paying attention to where your business info is listed on the web is often the first—and the most critical step—of successfully managing your online reputation. Updating or creating your online business listings is a time-consuming affair, which is why half of small business owners never update their online listings. This not only hurts your online visibility and search rankings but also confuses customers and prospects.

For these reasons, you need to maintain your correct phone number, address, and business hours across your website, Google and Bing Places, local directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages, listings, social media pages and practically anywhere your business is mentioned.

Have a plan

Online review management is an ongoing task and should be treated as a part of your daily marketing routine—as this Forbes article suggests—in order to establish a positive reputation for your business.

But all of this requires considerable amount of hard work, time, and meticulous attention. How do go about it?  

A well chalked-out plan can help you track and respond to every online review about your business. You should also try and get more positive reviews, which can then, outweigh the not-so-positive ones. However, if you are getting too many negative reviews, it’s time to think—is there something about your products or services that needs to be fixed?

If you lose the focus on your core business, no amount of review management strategies can undo the damage.

Even with a review management plan, it can be overwhelming to stay on top of how your business appears online. Our Complimentary Digital Footprint Summary can help you with that. Get in touch with us today to discuss this report in more detail and to learn how to optimize your online reputation.

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