We've said it many times before, but a website really is a non-negotiable part of doing business. I spoke to a prospect earlier today who said that he doesn't do any marketing, online or otherwise. Yet this same prospect had a website, has local directory listings and has clients leaving opinions of his services online, Google even brought up a newspaper article from last month that mentions his name and business directly. All of this was (except for his basic website that has been in place and unchanged for years) was without his knowledge and out of his control.
It's never been easier for potential customers to find out what others think of your business. Likewise, it's never been easier for existing customers to leave their opinions of you, good or bad, very publically and without contacting you to let you know.
Even if you are like the prospect that I spoke to earlier and don't wish to actively market your business online there are steps you should be taking to protect your online interests that shouldn't take you too much time, but will ensure that you are protecting your assets to a certain extent.
Claim your Google+ Local Listing.
Every business in the world has a Google + Local page or they can claim one. The vast majority of businesses haven't done anything with theirs as they haven't even realised it's there to be claimed. If you claim your Google + Local page you can give yourself an advantage when potential clients are searching for businesses like yours in your local area because Google wants to offer its own results over and above anything else. An optimised Google + Local page will also help when people search directly on your business name, because Google will recognise this as another citation of your business being valid.
Claim your local directory sites.
Sites such as Yell, Thomsonlocal and Yelp are like the evolved version of the old phonebooks. They list business contact details, addresses and usually a brief description. This information will most likely have been auto filled from your website, but won't necessarily have been refreshed even if your website information has been. These local directory sites hold a large amount of credibility with search engines who recognise them as a valid source of information. Many local directory sites have been online since the early days of the internet, which adds into their trust factor as far as the search engines are concerned. If you claim your business listing in an online directory you are given the opportunity to add additional information, for example pictures, offers, or even just give more accurate detail about what you do.
Set up Social Media sites in your business name.
You may have no desire to represent your business on Social Media, but the fact is that millions of people do use it, and you may have customers or potential customers looking for you on there. The worst thing that could happen is that someone else could set up a page using your business name and pretending to be you. Ensure this doesn't happen by setting yourself up, and if you don't want to use the sites leave a message clearly stating the best ways to get in touch with you. Once you've set the sites up, set up email notifications for if anyone does write on your wall or send you a tweet just so nothing slips through the cracks.
Make sure your Business Name, Address and Postcode are correct.
Each business has a unique Name, Address and postcode (NAP) and Search Engines use this information to ensure that information they return is about the same business, not another business with the same name. If you have moved premises you're likely to remember to update your stationary and forward your post, but you also need to make sure that you update your address details with all local directories, Google and on your own website so that online searchers can find you too. It's also important to keep all citations of your name and address the same, for example if your building number is 24-26 High Street, some people may just list it as 24, or 26. Whilst a postman would hopefully understand and deliver your mail, a search engine would see these as different things and therefore not give you the same credibility in the search results.
Encourage Positive Reviews
It's an unfortunate fact that people are more likely to complain than they are to praise. Your business may have had hundreds of satisfied clients over the years, and you may even have a box full of glowing testimonials, but it only takes one dissatisfied client to vent their frustration publically online to ruin your online reputation. Whilst the obvious solution is to always provide excellent customer care, there's always going to be an occasional slip. If you already have dozens of happy customers talking about you online then one bad review will be a drop in the ocean. If you have no positive reviews then the bad one is all that anyone can see. Take pre-emptive action by encouraging everyone you deal with to leave a positive review of your business online. If you've followed the advice above and claimed your local directory listings then you can even ask people to go to a specific site to leave their reviews. We set up private review portals for our clients to make sure reviews can be captured and posted as easily as possible.
Not every business wants to actively manage their online profile, but it is important to have some kind of system or process in place as even if you aren't interested in being online, I can guarantee people will already be talking about you and your business on the internet.
To find out how you could make it easier for clients to share their great reviews about your business online click here!
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