The Importance of Online Reviews for Local SEO and How to Get More of Them

What’s one of the first things you look at when looking at a new business? For many of us, we first search for the business’s rating and how many positive reviews they have.

After all, who are you going to trust more? The top-rated company with five hundred amazing reviews, or the business with a mid-tier rating and two so-so reviews? You want your business to fall into the former category, not the latter.

You might be surprised at how much good reviews can influence new customers and the opinions of current customers. This article will help you understand more about:

• How online reviews help boost your business.
• What you can do to encourage your customers to leave feedback.
• What you can do to make your website more effective than ever.

Why Great Reviews Are Crucial For Your Business

We all know that positive reviews are good for business, but do you know the specifics as to why that is? The impact of positive reviews is actually more nuanced than ‘they up your public rating.’

If you’re a business person who wishes to be successful, you need to fully understand the importance of customer feedback. Online reviews are extremely important because:

They Let Everyone Know You’re Trustworthy. Shopping for or working with a new business that you’ve never interacted with before isn’t always easy, especially if you’re shopping for services that are expensive or impactful. Your customers will look for extra ways to determine if you’re trustworthy so they avoid wasting their time and money.

So, they’ll look at your reviews. If they see awesome, glowing reviews, they’re far likelier to trust you from the start. They’ll give you a chance and try out your services or purchase your products.

Who knows? Their first purchase could lead to them becoming a lifelong loyal customer who recommends you to all of their friends.

Conversely, no reviews or a handful of poor reviews can cause people to distrust you immediately. They’ll most likely then click off of your website and go to a competitor.

They Give You A Good Edge Over Your Competitors. If there’s another business that offers similar services to yours, people will often use ratings and reviews to determine whom they’ll support – and they’ll almost always choose the company with the better reviews.

You want to be that company with the better reviews! Lots of great reviews make your business look a lot better than your competition, even if you’re in the same industry.

They Give You Valuable Feedback That You Can Use. Reviews and feedback aren’t just good for your customers and the algorithm; they’re also good for you. They give you helpful feedback that can let you see where your business may be lacking. Then, you can fix any problems you have and provide your customers with a better experience.

Of course, we all love amazing reviews that tell us we’re perfect and to keep up the good work, but those aren’t always the most constructive. Positive, helpful feedback that tells you what you could be doing better will help you enhance your company and attract more people.

They Boost Your Google Ratings. Google is more likely to boost businesses with many good ratings and reviews. Lots of happy customers can push your business to the top of the search results, which will attract even more happy customers.

What You Can Do To Encourage More Happy Customers To Leave Reviews

It’s clear that online reviews are a good thing, but now you need to understand how you can encourage people to leave a review. Unfortunately, many customers aren’t racing to leave reviews unless they’re exceptionally happy or extremely displeased. Many people simply get what they need from your business and go on with their day.

So, it’s up to you and your SEO team to find out the best ways to encourage reviews. Don’t worry; this isn’t as hard as it might initially seem. You can get people to leave more feedback with a few easy actions.

Consider:

Put Reminders! Lots of us forget to leave reviews after we purchase something, so having a reminder is a good idea! Put links to leave reviews in multiple places on your website, social media accounts and more. Feature your reviews on your website so that people will see and remember that leaving feedback is a good thing.

If you want to enhance your business even further, you can have a wonderful app developed for your business. Then you can have review reminders programmed into your mobile app. These reminders are especially effective when strategically placed after your users have performed certain actions, like purchasing products.

Offer Incentives. We all love a good incentive, especially if it’s free! Offer your reviewers nice incentives like discount codes for leaving a review. Remember to stress that they don’t have to leave a positive review and that you appreciate any feedback, regardless of if it’s positive or negative.

Remember, you don’t want to buy reviews; you want to encourage honest, organic reviews.

Use Multiple Review Platforms. Using multiple review platforms makes it easier for people to talk about your business. It also makes it easier for potential customers to see information regarding your business.

So, don’t just stick to Google reviews; look at other popular sites like Yelp as well.

Thank Your Customers! We all need appreciation. Make sure your customers get a lovely ‘thank you’ message after they submit their review so you know that you value and appreciate their feedback. This small action may seem minor, but it can make people feel like you care.

How You Can Make Sure More Satisfied Clients Leave Good Reviews For Your New Zealand Business

Enhance your website, work with people who truly know everything there is to know about local SEO and web design – work with us at Kiwi Website Design! We help New Zealand business people make their businesses more successful and appealing with our expert services.

We’d love to discuss your business with you to discover how we can help you become even more successful. Call us today at 0800 932 669 to get the process started!

Work with Kiwi Website Design to boost your SEO and your business like never before.