Online reputation has become one of the best ways for businesses to earn a competitive edge over other companies in the same niche, making it an essential part of any marketing agenda; using the right reputation marketing techniques ensures that this can happen. If research shows any problems with online trustworthiness, it is important to recognize such information and then do whatever is necessary to improve it. It is especially important now as Google continues to slowly tweak its ways of ranking and rating businesses.
See What Others Can See
The first step in being able to properly manage a company’s online reputation is to determine its current status. Google now provides a quick way for determining this for a company in the search results. Under the main link to a website, it is now possible to find a 5-star rating system, a numerical rating, and information about how many reviews a company has received.
Consumers with a quick search can see if a company rates high or low from reviews submitted to different review sites like Google Places, Yelp, Foursquare and more. It can be a great idea and very helpful, at least it is if a company has a higher rating and better reviews than its peers. This new function does help the consumer while leaving a business scrambling to deal with the new ways in which reviews can cause problems.
Good Versus Bad Customer Reviews
Google has also implemented new ways for customer reviews to show up in other places as well, such as Google+, within AdSense advertising, and even on Google Maps. This is more convenient for consumers; however, it is making things much more challenging for any companies that have a few negative reviews. Reputation marketing was never as important as it is now as a result of such changes.
It is also important to know that as Google has made it easier for customers to see current business reviews, it is also more difficult for a business to gain better SEO ranking due to negative ones. The more bad reviews a business has, the less benefit that site will gain from any SEO marketing efforts. Beyond that, research shows that most consumers look for as many as ten great reviews before deciding to buy from a company
Improving Reputation Ranking
Though it is very frustrating and appears as if Google has turned against business owners by changing how reviews can affect page rank, understand that the basis of it all is to provide customers with the best choices possible. To that effect, there is only one solution for companies wanting to earn those coveted first page rankings and keep them – be worthy of good customer reviews and rating.
By providing the best products and services, attentive customer service, and knowing about social media and active reputation management, any company has the ability to improve its standing with customers. When a business in operation is what was represented on a company’s website, satisfied customers will leave good reviews. Businesses must do everything possible to publicly position themselves to earn the best reviews possible and then share those reviews to help increase ratings and attract more new customers.
The Internet is competitive; so reputation marketing and management has taken on an important role in SEO and business success. Take care of that online business reputation and don’t be afraid any more to have that reputation exposed – be proud of it instead!