All of us search the Web for one thing or another. Many of us search for Google or Yelp reviews on everything from restaurants to car dealerships?even full-service vehicle graphics and sign companies. For the most part, if we find a not so stellar review or tons of ?never go there? comments, we more than not will skip the venue and find an enterprise with great reviews and recommendations.
Because my business is in the branding and marketing world, I am often asked for advice on building an online reputation that screams trustworthy.
Believe it or not, there?s no big secret to this task. Although Google or Yelp can?t and won?t take down negative reviews, there are ways to build a certain online presence that says ?trust me!? Here, I?ll give you my top five ideas to keep your online reputation high and build customer trust.
Understand the Need for Pull Marketing
When places like Google Reviews or Yelp ask Internet users to post reviews, this is called ?pull? marketing. They want to build a long-list of reviews and invite the public in to do it?and the public is responding. Those very reviews, good or bad do make Internet users determine whether to choose your business or not.
For example, there?s an Italian buffet-style restaurant in my area and while I won?t name it, this restaurant has the worst Yelp reviews ever. Oh there are a few good ones mixed in with the bad giving the restaurant about three stars as far as ratings go, but still the bad outweigh the good. To fix this, you need to get some good reviews.
First off, Yelp is free for businesses to join and they offer suggestions to help you garner some outstanding reviews such as offering a ?Yelp deal,? responding to customers who leave reviews and if you have the budget, even advertising solutions are available. Other review sites are similar such as Amazon, UrbanSpoon, etc.
If Yelp is ?pulling? your customers in to offer free reviews, you need to get in the game and become part of the conversation to regain or build trust.
How Good Is Your Reputation?
Ancient Roman writer Publilius Syrus once said, ?A good reputation is more valuable than money.? Once you realize your reputation needs some improving, don?t sit back and wait for your customers to help you. Political commenter George Will said the best way to do this is to ?create your own news.?
Do this by writing a blog, creating a Google+ page, Facebook presence, LinkedIn account and participate in other social media venues. Not only will these help your business get found (if kept updated) because you?re creating the content, all the news that?s fit to print as they say can be good news.
If you don?t have time for social media and blogging, there are plenty of individuals and organizations that offer these services so shop around and rebuild your reputation.
HTML, Meta Tags and Keywords
Okay, I know what you?re going to say here??I have no idea what a meta tag is, how keywords are used most effectively and as far as understanding HTML coding, it may as well be written in Greek!? You may think this is all true but actually, learning a little bit about these important elements will help search engines find your website or blog faster.
SEO Book?offers a lot of information for those who write their own blogs and website content such as a free keyword tool. If you have a website provider such as Hubspot, they too may offer tutorials on gaining more page views and traffic and even keyword suggestions. As far as meta tags go, every website and blog post needs these in order for the pages and blogs to get found by search engines. If your website provider doesn?t automatically create meta tags or allows you to, SEO book has a free meta tag generator tool?that works in a snap! Simply follow the directions, click on ?create meta tags? and then copy and paste the results into the HTML area of your blog or website between the <head> and </head> tags at the top of each page.
Of course learning a bit about HTML won?t hurt. Webmonkey?offers an easy to understand HTML cheat sheet.
Suck Up the Bad Reviews
There are just some people who have nothing better to do than find things wrong with the world and are complainers in general. Or, you may have fired an employee who can?t wait to run home to their computer and post a negative comment about your business.
If you respond to these complaints (and you?ll know which ones they are) you won?t win. Ignore them and instead respond to the good comments to engage your customers online. Pretty soon, these types of ?complainers? give up when they realize you?re not interested in their opinion at all. Never, ever try to improve negative reviews by having friends and family members give you five-star reviews either. Consumers aren?t stupid. They?ll see right thought that plan.
CRM and Customer Service
CRM or customer relationship management is not something to joke about these days, nor is paying attention to customer service. Because today?s economy is a tough one, consumers are being rather picky about where they spend their money. They want to be schmoozed, treated like kings and queens and receive special Internet offers?even an email telling them Happy Birthday.
Believe it or not, consumers also like persistence as long as it?s not annoying. I have a friend who chose his stock broker because the guy called him once a month for a year just to say hey and hi. When he was ready to invest, although there were locals he could have chosen, he remembered the stock broker?s calls and found his telephone number.
Above all, if your employees are not utilizing the very best customer service skills, either train them or spend the extra money to find a manager to lead them in the right direction. They are the window to your business so they need to know how to smile and remember the customer is always right.
What Works for Sunrise Signs
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I can?t say I?m a total expert in every aspect of branding and marketing, but what I can say is that I?ve built a solid online reputation, offer great customer service, quality products and if there is a problem, I make sure it?s handled immediately.
The Internet isn?t going away so all of you dinosaurs who think you can still create an online reputation full of trust by doing nothing are not in the here and the now. You need to start tweeting, Linking In, create a Facebook and Google+ page, post pins to your Pinterest Board and above all, make your own good news by blogging.
As far as advertising goes, if you do have company vehicles, even a fleet of vehicles, consider vehicle wraps and graphics as a moving billboard. People do notice graphics and they are more affordable than traditional advertising methods. See how I ?pulled? you in right there?
Image Credits:
FreeDigitalPhotos/Stuart Miles?/ jzcreations?/ Idea go
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