Yes. Reviews are helpful. Very helpful.
- They can help your organic search results.
- They can help you get found on mobile devices.
- They help you come up in local results – which by the way appear ABOVE the organic rankings.
- They are simply trust factors. People want to hear about other people’s experiences with you.
- “90% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements.” – Erik Qualman’s #1 Best Seller Socialnomics
There are several places to post all with different purposes & results….
Your Own Site – Like on the testimonials page. (Perhaps also scattered throughout the site as trust factors.)
Posting reviews and testimonials on your site simply puts more content on your site that you didnt write. Often times this content contains the very words people are using to refer to our service or product. This only helps us in the SERPs since it is our goal to use our keywords in our content so that Google and other engines recognize that we are actually about those keywords people are looking for.
Google Maps
This is only possible if you have an actual physical location.
You should have an actual store front, but I’ve seen some listings rank without them, just with a home address.
Just because other listings rank for a faux location, doesnt mean yours will too. They are the rules.
PO Boxes are not allowed either.
Google Maps will allow you to come up for a city specific keyword in your location.
The local results appear ABOVE the organic results. These are the first main results of the page.
The more rankings you have, the higher you appear on this list.
Yahoo Local
All the same principles as Google apply here.
You have a few more restriction on the content you can post yourself, but the reviews are your highest priority anyway!
Yelp
This is simply a review location.
It does not rank in a particular search engine like Yahoo local and Google maps.
However it will get indexed in ALL engines as a standard organic listing if well reviewed.
Its also very common to be searched on a mobile device.
Facebook
Nearly everyone spends some part of their week on Facebook.
Lets put some reviews on a platform their already spending time in!
If you have a Facebook fan page, you can allow for reviews there as well for credibility.
Other Review Sites
Each industry often times have their own unique review sites as well like Urban Spoon for restaurants or Customer Lobby & Service Magic for professional services.
While it may be important to add you listing to an industry specific review site, its more important to just allow the reviewer quality & concise options.
Too many options and the user is overwhelmed.
Not enough, and they may not want to create a profile.
We recommend Yahoo, Google & Yelp to start.
Oh, and beware of paid sites too. While some may be a good idea, it’s important to get the facts first. Just what are you paying for!? Who is looking? How many? Where will you be found? Where do they display their results? Ask us for help if you are considering one of these paid routes.
From there, lets find a way to incorporate it into your SOP. If not, your review location may remain empty.
So, maybe each time you finish a booking/job, you send them an invoice (or if prepaid) a thank you follow-up email. Will that work?
In it you can leave a personal message, a thank you, maybe a referral code or discount for their next booking. And then a template section with a request to review you on one of the platforms.
Why not throw in your social profiles too! It’s just another way for them to connect with you!
Hi Client,
Thanks so much for letting us be apart of your special day! What a great event!
If you have a moment sometime soon, we would be honored if you would review us on one of your preferred platforms.
We have profiles available at Google, Yahoo, Facebook & Yelp.
Anything helps.As a token of our appreciation, we are offering (insert incentive to fill out here.)
We also encourage you to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn or even subscribe to our blog here.
Thanks again! We look forward to being a part of your future events.
(Insert special closing message and signature).
Feel free to call us if you have any question or need help with this process of creating social media accounts or adding your local listing Google, Yahoo, or Yelp.
