If two friends came up to you and asked if they could borrow €500, who would you rather lend the money to? The person known to settle his debts on time or the person who has a reputation for dodging calls when payback time comes along? It’s an easy decision to make, right?
Ask any experienced SEO consultant and they’ll tell you that your online reputation is just as important as your search results ranking. After all, people are more likely to patronize a business that other people have trusted, as mentioned in an article from Talk Business Magazine:
"The use of social proof, and in this instance, customer reviews, appeals to human nature we’ll trust a product if we can see that others have already trusted the product. If a customer’s willing to put their own face next to a review, we’re even more inclined to believe what they say is true, after all this is what celebrity endorsement relies on.
SEO should not solely focus on getting your site up to the 1st position in the results pages, even if you get there, someone else might have a more visible search result than you. Customer star ratings, including your profile photo and other so called “rich snippets” are equally important, and can prove to be a very cost-effective form of marketing."
A brilliant online reputation is difficult to build yet easy to tarnish. That’s why, you should take great care when managing the reviews you receive from customers. Here are a few online marketing tips to make managing your reputation easier:
Keep Calm
One of the knee-jerk reactions for business owners facing negative reviews is to lash out. This is one of the worst things you can do. Instead, you should keep calm and tackle the issue at hand by reaching out to the irked customer.
You do not necessarily have to resolve the issue, especially if the complaints are unreasonable. What is important is that you have shown that you have made an effort to rectify the situation. Your efforts show other people that you are all about customer satisfaction.
Hire a Professional
If you do not have the necessary resources to manage your online reputation yourself, you can always seek the help of a white hat search enginge optimisation company like Whitehat SEO Ltd. A team of professional marketers can help you monitor several platforms all at once, ensuring you won’t miss a word anyone says about your business.
These experts can also optimize positive reviews, which makes it easier for people to find them. With search engine optimisiation, and the help of the Whitehat SEO ltd. online marketing ea view may become an actual transaction for your business.
(Source: Customer reviews — using social proof to increase visibility and drive conversion; Talk Business Magazine)