One fine morning, you receive a call from a prospective client that she wants to meet you for discussing a business deal. Now, you have been waiting for this call for a long time.
This is one client you always wanted to work with. She agreed to have a lunch meet and left the option of choosing a restaurant to you.
You gather from her secretary that she loves Italian food. This is the best opportunity for you to make an impression. However, you have a job on your hands now. How on earth are you going to know about restaurants serving the best Italian food?
What do you do under such circumstances? You do what every other customer in your place would have done. Search online for the restaurants that serve Italian food. You can find hundreds of them. Check out the online review page to get an idea about what customers think about the quality of the restaurant.
If this is the way you think, you can bet that potential customers would adopt the same approach while searching for your business as well.
It is quite natural for people to do so. Millions of people do the same thing when they set out to even buy an appliance as simple as a smartphone. This is the power of an online review. Let us see how these online testimonials are beneficial to your business.
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In still confidence in a customer
The hardest part of climbing any huge mountain is in taking the first step. The same applies to business. A positive testimonial can serve as a great catalyst in enabling potential customers to take the first step. The following can simplify matters.
Robert has just moved into a new town. He does not know anyone here at all. He is looking for a doctor for his family. Resorts to the same modus operandi that people all over the world use, search online. And he finds three doctors in the vicinity. The first one has about 10 opinions, some positive and some negative as well. The second one does not have a single review online. The third one has more than twenty. Who do you think he will choose now? It is no brainier that Robert opts for the third one even though the second one was the best of the lot.
According to a local consumer survey conducted by the website Brightlocal.com, about 74% of consumers have the view that positive opinions make them trust a local business more than anything else. What does this convey? A positive online review does instill a sense of great confidence in the customer and builds the element of trust.
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Enhance online visibility
Every business is online today. It is extremely important to have an effective online visibility. Very rarely do people go beyond the first page of online searches in Google or other websites. SEO optimization can ensure that your business ranks on the first page of search engines. Google business reviews play a great part in achieving this objective. The same website, Brightlocal.com deduces that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.
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Increase your sales and revenue
You do not need a Nobel Prize winner in Economics to say that more the positive business reviews more will be customers visiting your website thereby translating into more sales conversions. An increase in the sales figures automatically increases your revenue.
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Improves your off-site rankings
Positive business reviews on quality third party websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor can add more credibility than having people post testimonials on your website. Google’s local SEO algorithms give cognizance to opinions posted on such quality third party platforms. This is one way of attracting quality SEO backlinks as well. The prime reason behind this rationale is that people post unbiased views on such third party websites. This improves your off-site SEO rankings.
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Helps businesses to understand their customers better
Market analysis is most important for any business to prosper. Unless you offer your customer a chance to post his review online, there is no way you will be able to analyze your market. You will not be in a position to know the good as well as the bad aspects of your business. This can help you to improve your customer relations and understand them better. As a result, your business prospers.
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Helps in your marketing
You need an effective SEO campaign to improve your online marketing experience. Online reviews do play a great role in influencing people to buy your products. Local SEO algorithms consider such customer opinions and helps increase exposure of these businesses online. This is one of the most effective SEO tips you get from experts.
Businesses are coming up with novel ways of reviewing products such as Info graphics, videos, and images. The businesses can use these techniques and improve their marketing campaigns.
This is why all businesses ask customers to leave their online testimonials. The survey conducted by the website Brightlocal.com shows that 7 out of 10 customers would be happy to offer their views if the business asks them to do so.
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You need a negative review or two as well
This statement can look a bit strange for some, but it is essential to have a couple of negative reviewing as well. This lends a sense of authenticity to the entire exercise. Customers know that businesses seek positive views to enhance their SEO rankings. A surfeit of sugar coated Google business reviews can create a sense of suspicion in the minds of people about the authenticity of the entire reviewing exercise. Many people consider this as one the most valuable SEO tips.
Final thoughts
What is SEO? To put it in very simple terms, an effective SEO is the art of ensuring that your business ranks on the first page of local search engines like Google. Posting online reviews does help in increasing your visibility on the internet marketing scene. This is what SEO optimization is all about.