No matter what type of business or organization you have, listing and review sites play an important role in getting found online, generating awareness, and helping people determine whether or not they want to choose your business.
It’s not enough to just set up a few listing and review sites. It’s important to know how to use these sites in a way that’s going to generate business and make potential buyers want to learn more.
We recently hosted a webinar where we discussed how your business can use these sites to promote your business for new customers using interactions you’ve had with existing ones. Some highlights included:
How to get started: Where to be & how to optimize your profile
How to encourage people to leave reviews
How to maintain your listing & review pages over time
In this post, you can watch the webinar in its entirety and read some of the questions asked by our attendees. Interested in our free, future webinars? Sign up here to stay informed!
(This article contains third-party links. Any links we provide from non-Constant Contact sites or information about non-Constant Contact products or services are provided as a courtesy and should not be construed as an endorsement by Constant Contact)
What does it mean to claim a page? How can I claim my business’ page?
Claiming a page means that you will gain control of the page, saying that you own the business. When a page is unclaimed, you will typically see a button that says "Claim this Business" or something similar depending on the site. Then, you will need to follow the process to verify your site. For example, Google My Business will send a postcard to your address and you will need to input the verification code on the card.
What is a Listing or Review?
A listing is all of the places online where your business is or could be listed and show up in search results. Most of these places or sites are where you can also collect reviews for your business. Think Yelp, BBB, Google My Business etc.
You really want to find existing listings that are already out there about your business and claim the listing so you can gain control of it and also respond to reviews. You may also want to spend some time thinking about other sites that will be relevant to your customers and your industry so you can show up in search results.
Does Google My Business cost money?
No, Google My Business and many other review sites are free. Some of them do offer upgraded features.
Is there a good core list of places/sites that we should check in order to claim our businesses? I know we've only claimed on two sites but finding/knowing where else to go can seem like a daunting task.
Try searching for your business to see what comes up on the first page. Also, think if there are any site specific for your industry. For example, real estate agents would want to use Zillow.
You mentioned during the webinar that reviews are copyrights so I’m not able to copy and paste them onto my website. Could you tell me how to post reviews on my website?
There is a dynamic review coding tool (also known as ReviewStream) at http://www.myreviewdashboard.com. This is a paid service that will allow you to collect reviews on sites that matter, manage and respond to those reviews, and promote them on your website and in your emails and social posts.
Is this information on listings applicable only for brick and mortar businesses? Any advice for e-commerce businesses or online businesses?
Many of these sites are fine to use for online businesses. However, Google My Business is set-up for local businesses that are brick and mortar or service-based businesses. For eCommerce, you may want to think about using YouTube as a channel to drive new traffic and sales for your products. For an example of an established YouTube channel, check out http://www.biggerbetter.biz which is Bryan's Marketing YouTube channel.
Does Constant Contact have a template for reviews? I did not see one.
There are a few. Try searching for "feedback" in the template picker.
I have reviews on my website. Do I ask customers to leave reviews on these other sites? Seems like a lot to ask.
We wouldn't recommend asking them to leave reviews on other sites as well. When you're asking people to leave you reviews, pick one site to focus on. For this, you might think about where your potential customers are more likely to go asking and something that makes sense for your existing customers to use. Depending on your business, Google My Business might be a great option, but they will need a Google account for this as well.
What you should not do when asking for reviews, like offering a service or product? Can I offer incentives?
This subject is covered more in-depth during the webinar but quickly, you don't want to pay someone, force someone, give incentives like a discount or bonus, or even send a blank email to your entire list asking for a review. Providing an incentive for reviews is not something we recommend so you can get accurate responses. Many review sites have different rules about offering incentives and may remove the reviews if it is found that there was one offered.
What is some good verbiage to use in an email request for someone to review your business?
Our Facebook page has some negative old reviews on it. Is there a way to get rid of them?
The short answer is no. Our best suggestion is to respond to old reviews to say thanks and provide a genuine response. Let them know you just found their review and then try to ask for new reviews.
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We had so many great questions from our attendees that we had to come back to do another quick video. Dave Charest, Director of Content Marketing, covered more topics including how to get customers to leave reviews for your business and how to respond to irate reviews. Check it out and let us know what you think.
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