Power of Reviews

One of the most powerful business marketing forces on the internet is reviews. Reviews from qualified and reputable users of a site like Yelp or Facebook can make a huge impact on your business, whether you like it or not. Search engines use these reviews to get a gauge on how well your business conducts business.

The total amount of positive reviews are scored against the total amount of negative reviews and an overall average is used to make an assessment of whether to send more traffic to your website or not. If you have low negative reviews or none at all, you have a much better chance of getting free traffic from a higher listing on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Negative reviews are weighed much higher than positive reviews. A good rule of thumb is having 5 positive reviews for every 1 negative review. This will keep your overall score high. If you have negative reviews, make sure to engage the reviewer and see if the problem can be solved. If they can be satisfied, it may be appropriate to ask the reviewer to make a change to their review or delete the negative review altogether.

Whether you believe in online reviews or not, they are affecting your business. One way to create more positive reviews is to simply ask your clients after they are satisfied with your work or product to leave a review for you on Yelp or Google Places. It may also help to offer some sort of incentive to your customers if they are willing to give you a positive review. Be careful that your incentive does not come off as a way of “buying” your customers positive opinions. This can be avoided by making the offer sincerely based on the customer having a good experience with your business and genuinely wanting to leave a review.

So what is the power of reviews? More phone calls and higher interest in your business! Why would a business owner want to focus on the power of reviews? Because if can literally be the difference between getting 5-10 leads a day to getting 50-100 leads a day.

Try getting a review a week for 8 weeks and then check out how your business fairs against the competition. Did you make gains? Great! Keep working on those reviews and stay ahead of the competition!

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments ->

Written by: Jophiel Silvestrone

Jophiel Silvestrone has written 326 posts in the Tech Blog.

Jophiel grew up on a ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana near Chico Hot Springs. Working on the ranch instilled work ethic and self motivation. Filled with this drive, Jophiel started mowing the local school's yards twice a month throughout the summers, at the age of 12. He moved to Billings in 2004, where he has been deeply involved in the local business community ever since. A serial entrepreneur, Jophiel has ran multiple businesses in our local community. The first business, a janitorial and carpet cleaning company, founded in 2005, has employed over 50 locals. Moving on to the media industry, Jophiel and several partners founded Green Directory Montana in the spring of 2007. Green Directory's sustainability ranking software awarded points based on sustainable or "green" actions. These points counted towards a business's total "Green Score," which in turn ranked them against other businesses in their category and throughout the entire site. It also featured a limited edition print version distributed annually. A business acquisition allowed Jophiel to focus on new projects, and a few close business colleagues and Jophiel started Rocky Mountain Mr. & Ms. Magazine, a lifestyle publication for men and women in the Magic City. After a year and a half at the helm of RM3 Magazine, the business was purchased. He now runs a web development company SkyPoint Studios and fathers his son Jaoquin, who plays football, basketball, soccer, and is learning snowboarding from his dad. Recently, has expanded to locations in Havasu, Arizona & Vegas. SkyPoint Studios is a market leader in both Billings & Havasu and Jophiel is working on building that same level of market dominance in Vegas. Specialties: Extensive experience in online and offline business. Especially savvy at WordPress, and operate several sites, one example is the blog: skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com/tech-blog. Check out skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com for the latest projects from SkyPoint Studios.