Putting together a winning SEO marketing strategy for your business can be hard enough without your not using every possible tool in the toolbox. One of the best tools you can use is a positive review of your business or products. Recent marketing research has found overwhelmingly that more than 90% of all online purchases are made due to a positive review or comment.
That glaring statistic is never more true than if you are going after the Millennials and the Gen Yers. These two populations, who fall, roughly, in the 16- 40 year old range, put tremendous stock in peer reviews and positive word of mouth from people they know. A great review or comment can bring almost instant credibility to your SEO efforts as well as to your brand awareness efforts. What you need to do is to build on them. Get them to work for you.
The best way to find some great comments is to check out your business on such sites as Yelp and see what you can harvest from your social media platforms such as your Facebook page. Ask for comments and reviews. Commentary is one of the ways that the search engines, especially Google, rate you on your SEO efforts. Great reviews and comments can rank you higher on a SERP than a rival who hasn’t any.
There are small retailers working hard in small towns who will stick a sign in their window that says something like, “Best service in town” signed by a customer and they have seen their traffic pick up immensely. It can work the same way for you online. Once you have these reviews, feature them at your home page and at every other page at your site. Feature them, also, out on your social media sites. Let your satisfied customers and clients start generating some great buzz for you.
Send out an immediate email after a customer has purchased something from you. Offer them a special gift or a discount on their next purchase if they offer you a review of the product as well as, maybe, your customer service too. Never let one get away, either. You can’t keep running the same tired three quotes for two years. Stockpile them and make sure they end up in the constant rotation. It lets everyone know that you are always there and are always leaving behind happy and satisfied customers and clients.
Word of mouth is the best there has ever been in the marketing and advertising business and your online reviews will make your SEO marketing reach farther out into those places that you may not have ventured before.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
