One of the most important components of good local search marketing is the concept of other peoples (read customer’s) point of view. Consumer reviews can be done on smartphones or the web.
Today in the mobile universe that view can be expressed in a number of ways. The most common way and the key to customers choosing your place of business or practice is to be featured on review sites such as Yelp, Google Places,Facebook Places and Foursquare to name a few. They may find you in local search at first but then look for reviews. Online reviews, which permeated the hospitality industry once the domain of restaurants, pubs and bars, can now be expected to be found for every type of local business sector from plumbers & tax specialists to dentists & driving instructors. Local consumers, not just the early adopter crowd are being heard online in review site with their thoughts and desires. The reviews are also buttressed by cross posting from the review sites to their Facebook and Twitter streams.
Local Search Reviews Help Customers Decide
Recent research done by http://www. brightlocal.com demonstrates that reviews play an important role and they vary by gender and provider. BrightLocal are a local search consultancy in London, U.K. and are very active in providing tools and skills for companies to make the most of their local search.
So what does it mean to your business? Be there or be square as they say. If you don’t appear in these mobile sites you may be missed .
Restaurants, Clothes shops & General shops (e.g. supermarkets) are the most searched for businesses online, followed by hotels/B&Bs.
(ii) Gender stereotypes appear to be alive & kicking in modern society –
* – Female consumers are the driving force behind searches for Clothes Shops & General Shops – twice as many women shoppers have looked online for clothes shop than men;
* – More men search for practical services such as Tradesmen, Garages & Builders.
Keep an Eye on Your Reviews
Because of the public nature of reviews you are getting both extra publicity, and citations which assist in your search engine visibility and have the collateral effect of being a little bit of market research. You should use the free tool Google Alerts to set up your business name or trading name to show whenever a mention of you or your business shows up in Google’s index If you want to make your comments on a review perhaps do it on your social media sites like Facebook and Twitter linked to your review. Both positive and negative feedback and your responses help consumers make choices. Don’t be discouraged either by flamers or rude posters, just ignore them, they are a part of the free society we live in.
If you want assistance with your review site postings contact us at 226-444-3820 for a free 1/2 hour consultation or check out the appropriate chapters in my book on Amazon Finding Your Business Today: Help Customers Find You and Get Ranked at the Top of Google
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