Yes, the reputation of your business has always been important. It’s one of the things you use to build trust and a loyal customer base. But in today’s digital environment, we have Amazon and Google to thank for why our reputation isn’t just important but critical. With its customer focused review model, Amazon has made it so that many people expect to read reviews about products and services before they make a purchase.
Google has now done what most experts are calling a “game changer” in reputation for local business. When you use Google to search for a company name with the addition of your city name, Google will automatically display the reviews for your business. See Figure 1-1. So even if you get a referral from a great customer they most likely don’t carry around your business card. So the referral does what everyone does to get your information, they “Google” (or search) your company name and location. They are now served the reviews, good, bad, or none, for your business. If you have a business and you don’t offer reviews or testimonials, it could negatively affect your ability to get referrals.
Unfortunately, there are people out there that prey on other people’s trust and take advantage of them. This has made many people generally wary of anything they can’t verify before making a commitment, including making purchases. As honest business people, we have to incorporate different tools to account for the dishonest people out there.
The same way we can connect with people all over the world thanks, to the Internet, is the same way bad information can be easily spread about your business. Unfortunately there are websites that make it their goal to capitalize off of what people are saying about your business online. This is fine if what they’re saying is positive and true. It becomes a problem when it’s negative or false. It’s even more of a problem when it’s negative and false.
But either way, people are more inclined to share negative experiences than positive ones. With websites like Yelp, Google My Business and Ripoff Report out there, they have resources to share those negative experiences with relative ease.
What if I don’t have any customers with negative experiences?
If your customer interactions are all stellar and enjoyable, that’s awesome. You’re obviously doing something right with your business. Unfortunately these review websites don’t have a mechanism in place to verify whether a negative review is legitimate or not. So there are no checks and balances for the information that is shared about your business on these websites.
If someone is angry with you or feels as if they’ve been slighted in some way, that person can decide to tarnish your reputation with false information and reviews. This can be especially problematic because it’s very tough to get negative information about your business removed from the different websites. For example, if you dispute a complaint shared about your business on Ripoff Report, you and the person that made the claim have to agree to have it removed.
If the person that made the claim has it out for your business, it will be virtually impossible to get them to agree to remove it. This can be frustrating, especially since Ripoff Report and some of the other review websites have been around for years and are well indexed online. Often when someone does a search for your business, those websites will show up on the first page or even before yours.
This means that potential customers who decide to “Google” your business will see this posting on Ripoff Report before they see your website. That person may decide not to do business with you because of the review. Since the name of the website is Ripoff Report, they may jump to conclusions even if the review is positive.
So now you’re not just negatively affected because of the negative review, you’re negatively affected because of the website your review is on. So even if you have been doing everything right, a disgruntled individual may cause you a lot of distress and lost business by making a false review.
So it’s in the best interest of the search engines to look for ways to provide the most value possible to the millions of people doing web searches daily. This means that those review listings will often rank higher than your website even if your website has been around longer. It’s pretty safe to say that Google My Business Listings will rank fairly high since it’s a part of the Google family of properties.
But Yelp also ranks pretty high because it’s a very popular review website. In fact, the company is working to brand itself so that when people are interested in learning about a business their first thought is to “Yelp” it. Not only can you find reviews, customers can also get special deals and discounts by using Yelp. Yelp is quickly on its way to becoming known as a local business directory that happens to have reviews rather than only a review website.
Between Google My Business, which has a business review feature and Yelp, you have two well ranked websites that will show up before your own when someone does a search for your business.
Here’s a much more niche search for an optometrist in Baltimore, MD.
As you can see, the results don’t just include national chains. It also includes local practices that you can contact for more information. In fact, the chains like LensCrafters and America’s Best are listed after the less known optometrists. Google likes local searches and works hard to facilitate those.
So you don’t have to be a huge corporation to benefit from the Google search algorithm but you should take your cue from larger companies and take advantage of Google reviews.
The power of Google can work for and against you. This makes it critical that you know your online reputation and are actively engaged in making and keeping it positive. In addition to Google My Business and Yelp, there are other business directories that also feature reviews. The opportunities for people to review your business are increasing as websites begin to see the value and benefit in offering reviews and deciding to capitalize off of the potential for increased traffic. These websites are called citations. Citations include your basic business information, but you can’t edit that information until you have claimed you listings. Many citation sites aggregate their information and don’t have correct information about your business in its listing. Citations are also a factor in establishing your Google My Business credibility. When Google My Business is aware that there are many other citations listed for your business it makes your listing more of an authority. It’s important that you are aware of these websites, and use them to their full ability.
Consider this. If someone came to your business and spray painted it, threw trash around, destroyed the landscaping and made a general mess of things, you’d want to clean it up. The same goes for your online reputation. When someone goes and posts negative reviews online, gives you a low star rating or just says something not true about your business on a website, that’s the same as vandals destroying your office space. Don’t let that happen. Be diligent about keeping your business clean online and offline.
How does your online reputation stack up? Check out our Reputation Checklist for a complete self evaluation of your online reputation.
Josh Reed
Best Selling author of “Complete Reputation Authority“
