Each week, we collect some of the best advice for small businesses from around the internet. This week, these four articles caught our attention:
- Breanna La Liberte: Don’t wait for your online reputation to magically improve
- Rieva Lesonsky: 4 ways to encourage online reviews
- Vice MONEY: Here’s how Yelp reviews affect restaurant success
- Neil Patel: 97% of customers read online reviews. Here’s how to make sure yours are in the top 1%
Don’t wait for your online reputation to magically improve
Summary: Getting reviews is one of the most effective ways for small business owners to bolster their online business reputation and attract new customers. But reviews do much more than that.
They also play a major role in how businesses show up in local search results. Businesses with strong online reputations rank higher when people search for local businesses. However, if you’re waiting for your reviews to improve on their own, you may find yourself waiting for some time.
Our take: Those familiar with our blog already know that we think online reviews are one of the biggest opportunities for small businesses. In fact, if you run a small business today, the single most important thing you can do to attract new customers is to take control of your online review score. Not only will it help you win the trust of prospective customers, it will help your business climb to the top of local search results.
4 ways to encourage online reviews
By: Rieva Lesonsky
Summary: “Online ratings and reviews from customers are key to driving new customers to your business and growing your sales.” Unfortunately, too many small business owners aren’t able to do all they should to encourage customers to leave online reviews. This has resulted in too few or no reviews at all, which means those businesses get overlooked as customers turn to business with plenty of reviews and a high star rating.
Our take: Getting customers to review your business isn’t hard, but it doesn’t happen on its own. In most cases, customers just need a little nudge to prompt them to leave a review. Rieva Lesonsky has 4 suggestions to encourage customers to review your business.
Here’s how Yelp reviews affect restaurant success
By: Vice MONEY
Summary: “Online reviews can have a real, measurable impact on a restaurant’s bottom line. In order to understand how those stars affect restaurant-goers, we spoke to the experts – two economists, a Yelp representative, and a businessman who has turned restaurant owners’ review anxiety into a business opportunity” – VICE News.
Our take: This short video provides a real-world look at the impact of reviews on local restaurants. The two economists in this video demonstrate how an increase in positive reviews drove an increase in restaurant reservations. While this video specifically highlights the restaurant industry, the principle holds true for businesses across all consumer-facing industries.
97% of customers read online reviews. Here’s how to make sure yours are in the top 1%
By: Neil Patel
Summary: Neil Patel, who has been called one of the top ten marketers by Forbes and other publications, doesn’t think businesses should accept that there is little they can do to take control of their online reviews. The first step is just to recognize the importance of managing online reviews.
Our take: Fair warning, Neil didn’t hold back in his article. It’s loaded with advice and insight, and it provides small business owners with a comprehensive approach to improving their online business reputation. In this article, he suggests that reviews can be measured, and if it can be measured, it can be improved. Neil believes in taking a data-driven approach that proves why reviews matter and why business owners should make them a priority.