How to Manage Your Online Reputation in 6 Easy Steps
You should pay attention to what other people are saying about your firm once you have expressed what you want to describe it in internet listings. These “others” are typically clients who provide reviews of your business’s goods and services on websites like Yelp, Home Advisor, Judy’s Book, Tripadvisor, and Google+ Local. Certain websites, like Open Table, Zagat, and UrbanSpoon, only evaluate one kind of company, in this case restaurants.
Free as opposed to Fee
While some websites, like Angie’s List, are free to join, others demand a fee. Typically, customers are charged the fee rather than business owners. Nevertheless, companies that wish to be listed on Angie’s List and other fee-based websites have to abide by rules that aren’t applicable to free websites. For instance, a company must certify that it has performed recent criminal background checks on each and every one of its employees in order to be approved for Angie’s List. Whether you are allowed to claim your placement on a specific customer review website depends on these and other factors. It’s crucial to keep in mind that, regardless of whether you claim your listing or not, virtually anybody may leave reviews of your company on virtually any consumer review website, so it makes sense to invest some time in monitoring this activity. Here’s how to do it:
The 6 Steps to Achievement
- Look up the name of your company using a general Google search. Of course, include the zip code in your search so Google finds your business rather than some other place with the same name. You may get a few, lots, or perhaps no references to your business at all depending on how long you’ve been in business, what kind of goods and services you provide, and where you are located.
- Sites with a strong customer focus frequently provide reviews of B2C enterprises, but B2B companies might also appear. This is especially true if your business provides B2B services and your clients are in a sizable creative or technological industry.
- Review and evaluate any reviews that already exist. If your company is well-established, the local pages of the major review sites almost certainly have a few mentions of it. Recognize that the majority of customer reviews are never entirely good. If the website uses a five-star rating system, receiving three stars shouldn’t surprise or disgust you. Move on, taking that as a constructive critique. You should reserve your time and effort to address reviews that are actually harmful. To keep track of all of your reviews in one location, use a program like Local Site Submit.
- Look for a precise, verifiable explanation for a low rating. Because opinions are subjective, it’s challenging to argue against them without coming across as defensive or spiteful. Contrarily, facts allow for a more objective discussion. For instance, a reviewer can claim that your salesman was cold when, in reality, the staff member believed the salesperson was just conducting business. There is a difference of view there. However, if a reviewer claims that your car repair shop charges more than a nearby rival, that is a fact that can be investigated and either confirmed or refuted. Using stealth employee monitoring software like Controlio is one of the greatest ways to manage a remote workforce because it allows you to know exactly what your employees are doing, which is clearly incredibly beneficial.
- Only reply to reviews that provide a chance to address a grievance or fix a factual error. If they are unfavorable, address the complaint in a succinct, public statement, making any required corrections or offering an apology. Try expressing gratitude by using phrases like “Thank you for your feedback.” Perhaps our salesperson was being rude to save time. We have emphasized to every member of our staff how vital it is to take the time to express our gratitude to our consumers. Responding is meant to show potential customers that you are a serious business, not to win them back.
- Get good feedback. A negative review is one of those things that seems to be on the Internet forever. Ask happy clients to leave great evaluations about your business instead of attempting to eradicate it—which is nearly never successful. Write “Please Review Us On [Yelp or Google or Other]” with the URL on your business cards and at the conclusion of correspondence. Customers that you know are happy with your goods and services should receive these. The negative review will eventually be overshadowed by a string of positive ones. Furthermore, do not give in to the need to write a ton of positive reviews yourself. These kinds of strategies are usually obvious, and anyhow, you have a solid business, so why bother?