Getting good online reviews from your customers is necessary to keep your business up and running. The web is a great place for research. Especially if you are a local business, your customers will pay close attention to the reviews that come through the Google local search results. And which search result would you click on – the one with no reviews attached, the one with poor reviews or the listing with great ratings?

To be able to obtain high ratings from reviews, keep in mind the following tips: maintain credibility, encourage good online reviews, respond and be sensitive to comments, and frequent updates on your business.

Maintain Credibility

Always provide what you promise. Providing quality and excellent services from your business will easily get the customers’ nod and give you the corresponding online testimonials that you need. Be Specific and accurate with your products or business description. If you fail to do this, then your costumers and your business will vanish in thin air.

Encourage good online reviews

If you want customers to give you a good online review or a review at least, then allow them to do so. Having an accessible review space for comments on your site will be a good idea. Make the space visible and easy to read for your site’s visitors.

The best places for people to leave their online testimonials are independent authority sites, such as Google Plus, Yelp or if you’re in Australia TrueLocal.com.au.

Seek your clients’ feedback

Once a job is done, go ahead and ask your customer for feedback. Unless people are really unhappy, they rarely bother to write online feedback. But often, all they really need is us asking them to leave us some. Of course, we want their honest feedback, and it is important to stress that to the customer.

Get more good online reviews using effective handouts

You can also hand out a flyer to your happy customers upon completion of a job that shows them how to leave feedback for you online. We actually design such flyers for your local business – please contact us if you’re interested.

Respond and be Sensitive to Online Feedback

Make sure you reply to online feedback and comments made on your blogs and other websites. This will show your (potential new) customers that you are always present and available to address their needs and concerns. Being able to respond also smooths and speeds up transactions which leads to better online reviews.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can often sort out any negative comment from customers before they write their dissatisfaction in social media and other external sites.

Frequent Updates

Provide new articles and features about your business on a regular basis. This will not only keep the interest of your previous customers but also entice new prospects. Have at least 2-3 new articles weekly. The more new articles you present, the more opportunities there are for your customers to be engaged and provide reviews. This will also show that you and your business are still alive and kicking :-).

To sum things up, allowing your customers to be involved and satisfied with your business also spells good news for you. Do you have any favourite tips on how you get good online reviews from your happy clients?