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Reviews

by Macshare
16 replies
Are there any good companies out there that will give reviews for local businesses?

I'm not talking about the typical fiverr gigs. I need reviews that will stick and not get penalized.
#reviews
  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Lenney
    Wrong place for this post - try the local marketing forum
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    • Profile picture of the author Macshare
      Originally Posted by Jeff Lenney View Post

      Wrong place for this post
      This thread is fine right here.

      try the local marketing forum
      What the hell is that?
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      • Profile picture of the author rachelamitsharan
        I encourage you to collect reviews from end customers only. Paid reviews are seldom helpful. Provide good service and then nicely ask the customers to leave a positive review on the site of your choice. Most would oblige. But do make sure that you check the terms and conditions of the website that would carry the reviews. Some websites frown upon soliciting reviews (e.g. Yelp) while some encourage you to solicit (e.g. Google).
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        • Profile picture of the author Macshare
          Originally Posted by rachelamitsharan View Post

          I encourage you to collect reviews from end customers only. Paid reviews are seldom helpful. Provide good service and then nicely ask the customers to leave a positive review on the site of your choice. Most would oblige. But do make sure that you check the terms and conditions of the website that would carry the reviews. Some websites frown upon soliciting reviews (e.g. Yelp) while some encourage you to solicit (e.g. Google).
          Here's the thing, I have lots of happy customers who continue to call me again and again as well as recommend me to their friends. BUT, they never leave reviews. I have asked people to leave reviews to let us know how they liked the work. I have included a review form (showing how to do it with Google) with receipts, etc. But very rarely does a customer actually leave the review. I assume it's either laziness or forgetfulness. Either way, reviews help and I would like more.
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            Originally Posted by Macshare View Post

            Here's the thing, I have lots of happy customers who continue to call me again and again as well as recommend me to their friends. BUT, they never leave reviews. I have asked people to leave reviews to let us know how they liked the work. I have included a review form (showing how to do it with Google) with receipts, etc. But very rarely does a customer actually leave the review. I assume it's either laziness or forgetfulness. Either way, reviews help and I would like more.
            I would really like to hear what @iAmNameLess or @Catalyst eMarketing would say about this.

            I would suggest that reviews don't play as much a part in the overall "Local" ranking equation as many think.

            I think there is such thing as to much when it comes to reviews, so trying to boost their numbers could in the long run create trouble in listing.
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            Success is an ACT not an idea
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            • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
              Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

              I would suggest that reviews don't play as much a part in the overall "Local" ranking equation as many think.
              I tend to use really customer reviews from a different perspective than what the OP is implying.

              We have an automated system to elicit a review on products purchased that involves sending out an email 10 days after the items have shipped with a request for review.

              The mail has a little star rating system and the receiver can submit a review right from inside their email and add comments as well.

              The received review goes into an pending approval state and the client if they have reviewed a 4 or 5 start review gets a automated coupon with set expiry date and a followup thank you.

              I'm not sure that the reviews help with any ranking per se but they definitely help with conversions for prospect that we've driven to the products via ppc or organic.

              The system is an "off the shelf" module for open cart by isenselabs but I'm sure other shopping carts would have something similar. The sense guys make some good other ecommerce stuff that helps if you are an open cart user and if not I'd suggest studying what they develop because some of the ideas can be applied to any platform. The review mod is here

              In the early days we used to hand out review cards to existing clients that took them step by step through the process of providing a google review.

              It worked for a while whilst the novelty was still fresh and the reviews we gained from those days have still stuck many years later.
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              • Profile picture of the author Macshare
                Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

                I would really like to hear what @iAmNameLess or @Catalyst eMarketing would say about this.

                I would suggest that reviews don't play as much a part in the overall "Local" ranking equation as many think.

                I think there is such thing as to much when it comes to reviews, so trying to boost their numbers could in the long run create trouble in listing.
                I;m all ears to hear what the experts have to say. I tend to believe that reviews may play a small part, being one of hundreds of factors that may help. But I also believe that having more reviews makes the company look better to perspective customers. When you search for a plumber and see a bunch with 1 or 2 reviews and then one with 12 good reviews, wouldn't you tend to lean towards that one?

                Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

                I tend to use really customer reviews from a different perspective than what the OP is implying.

                We have an automated system to elicit a review on products purchased that involves sending out an email 10 days after the items have shipped with a request for review.

                The mail has a little star rating system and the receiver can submit a review right from inside their email and add comments as well.

                The received review goes into an pending approval state and the client if they have reviewed a 4 or 5 start review gets a automated coupon with set expiry date and a followup thank you.

                I'm not sure that the reviews help with any ranking per se but they definitely help with conversions for prospect that we've driven to the products via ppc or organic.

                The system is an "off the shelf" module for open cart by isenselabs but I'm sure other shopping carts would have something similar. The sense guys make some good other ecommerce stuff that helps if you are an open cart user and if not I'd suggest studying what they develop because some of the ideas can be applied to any platform. The review mod is here
                The reviews you are talking about here are for products and will show on the selling website?

                The reviews that I am talking about are for the company itself and have to be left by the customer on Google, Yelp, Manta, Angie's List, etc.

                In the early days we used to hand out review cards to existing clients that took them step by step through the process of providing a google review.

                It worked for a while whilst the novelty was still fresh and the reviews we gained from those days have still stuck many years later.
                This is what I mentioned giving out to customers with their receipts. It showed them step by step how to leave a Google review if they had a Google account or not. Hell, we may have actually used the same template
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                • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
                  Originally Posted by Macshare View Post

                  This is what I mentioned giving out to customers with their receipts. It showed them step by step how to leave a Google review if they had a Google account or not. Hell, we may have actually used the same template
                  Try having an iPad on the counter and offering an incentive when they login and complete the review there and then.

                  Just as they are about to pay you offer 5% off (to selected clients) to just login and complete the review there and then.

                  That was the most successful method we had but it was when iPads were new and the clients just wanted to touch one and be guided through the process...

                  ...now..not so powerful....

                  ...but could be if you can apply the right leverage.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Macshare
                    Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

                    Try having an iPad on the counter and offering an incentive when they login and complete the review there and then.

                    Just as they are about to pay you offer 5% off (to selected clients) to just login and complete the review there and then.

                    That was the most successful method we had but it was when iPads were new and the clients just wanted to touch one and be guided through the process...

                    ...now..not so powerful....

                    ...but could be if you can apply the right leverage.
                    That's a really good idea since I use an iPad already.
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                • Profile picture of the author savidge4
                  Originally Posted by Macshare View Post

                  When you search for a plumber and see a bunch with 1 or 2 reviews and then one with 12 good reviews, wouldn't you tend to lean towards that one?
                  I have actually noticed in my local 3 packs. No Reviews and 1 and 2 reviews are beating out the guys I KNOW have 12 or more.... as in the guys with 12 or more are no longer listed, not even in the "More" section.

                  If you look at say "LA Plumbers" as an example #1 in the 3 pack - No Reviews followed by 4 reviews and then 15. In the "more plumbers" section you find companies with 20+ reviews

                  The reality in all of this... the reviews really don't overly matter its about the position. Even in the LA Plumber example I would with out question bet that position #1 is getting more calls than #3 even tho #3 has more reviews.

                  If you look at Google data when they share it, they make it very clear that user tendency is to go right down the list #1 and if they don't fit the bill, #2 and then #3 and so on.
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                  Success is an ACT not an idea
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                  • Profile picture of the author zimbizee
                    I cannot express enough how much i despise of paid reviews. Fake opinions don't help anyone, especially REAL potential customers that may try your biz due to the lies told buy your dishonest paid for reviews.
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            • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
              Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

              I would really like to hear what @iAmNameLess or @Catalyst eMarketing would say about this.

              I would suggest that reviews don't play as much a part in the overall "Local" ranking equation as many think.

              I think there is such thing as to much when it comes to reviews, so trying to boost their numbers could in the long run create trouble in listing.
              Yeah... There comes a point where they do get extra weight and that's based on the average amount of reviews given in the specific industry but even if you're above average, the weight given isn't exponential.

              You also have the quality of reviews that are factored in.

              Basically... it's like this...

              - # of reviews
              - Quality of reviews (word length, relevant keywords or services mentioned, co-occurrence and co-citations tying owner names to the business or employees to the business, etc. )
              - Rating of the review
              - Velocity of reviews... a running average since listing creation
              - How you stand vs. the average of the industry with reviews
              - Prior review history of the person giving the review and whether the rating was higher than the average review they gave or lower.

              Reviews aren't as simple as they seem to be on the surface, there's a lot to it and I guess you can refer to it as review optimization if you consider everything mentioned

              I dunno if reviews have really lost weight or importance... I've seen some situations where they might have accounted for about 10% of the total weight in the rankings, and other situations where they account for more than 50% (for those that know how to successfully do review optimization which is maybe .001% of all people offering local SEO)

              For this reason, I would question whether your money would be well spent if you found a resource to do this. There's a lot to it to actually have an impact.
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  • Profile picture of the author GTC1187
    According to my experience, reviews are not at all as important a ranking factor as the hype would suggest. Savidge is right.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Originally Posted by Macshare View Post

    Are there any good companies out there that will give reviews for local businesses?

    I'm not talking about the typical fiverr gigs. I need reviews that will stick and not get penalized.

    Problem is, of course, fake and/or incentivized reviews are against the TOS of the review sites.
    So, someone offering to write reviews would be suspect in the first place.

    So, you have to set up your own system as Ozi suggested:
    IPAD
    Post cards or cards on the counter with the desired review site full URL such as http://tripadvisor.com/reviewit
    Email follow ups with the full URL of your desired review site, and/or asking them to
    respond to your email with a review you can post on your own site
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    "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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  • Profile picture of the author RogueSparky
    It seems like the OP wanted reviews for potential customers to see, not for search engine optimization.

    He said this, and I would normally agree with it:

    "When you search for a plumber and see a bunch with 1 or 2 reviews and then one with 12 good reviews, wouldn't you tend to lean towards that one?"
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  • Profile picture of the author cvandeman
    During my 3 years at Angie's List, I saw first-hand how important reviews are to the success of the company listed. At least 100 times, I would take the list of companies on the first page of the search results for "painting in miami" or " plumber in modesto" etc... and rank them by their traffic using the tools available only to employees.

    Consistently, the majority of the traffic was going to the company with the most reviews and the correlation of traffic and # of reviews for the rest of the companies followed in order. The companies with more reviews got more traffic than the company with the next most reviews.

    There are a few other outlying scenarios like: company X has fewer reviews, but is reaching multiple markets with $40k ad budget, or company X has a recent and extremely aggressive "daily deal".

    I can only guess that it would play out in a similar fashion with Yelp, HomeAdvisor, Etc...

    For those interested, PM me if you want an easy way to get more reviews with Angie's List. I'll show you how to access a free tool, endorsed by AL, so you don't have to worry about penalties. I guess the philosophy is that the more reviews they can collect, the more valuable the platform is to members, the more valuable it is to members, the more valuable it is to advertisers--their main source of revenue.

    Otherwise, the iPad method is a great way to do it. The main reason people don't leave reveiews--even if they have good intentions--is that after the job is finished, it's not on their radar anymore. Like many of us, it becomes a "oh, i'll get to that later" thing.

    Another strategy is to leverage a special discount or offer that you make available only to Yelpers or Angie's List members. When you are about to give them a price, ask them "are you a member of XX review site?" if they say no, tell them you give a discount to those members and show them two prices: your regular price and the membership price.

    More often than not, they'll sign up and leave you a review and you'll start building momentum to bring in loads of organic traffic from review sites.

    Some of them even pay you to refer a member!
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