Do You Have a Strategy for Managing Your Online Reputation?

As you know, the customer journey has evolved from word-of-mouth to word-of-mouse. Consumers start out with a referral from a friend and then they search for your business online. They’ll look at your website, sure, but they’ll form their opinion when they read what your past customers have to say about your business on Google, Facebook, and even Yelp. In short, your reviews matter.

An overwhelming 74% of people who used a review site to search for home services used Yelp. This past week, Surefire Local teamed up with Darnell Holloway, Director of Business Outreach at Yelp to help our community of builders and contractors better manage their reputation on one of the most used reviews sites.

A big part of what we do at Surefire is help businesses in the home improvement industry with their digital marketing, including managing online ratings and reputation.

I encourage you to check out the replay to learn tips and tricks for optimizing your free Yelp business page, managing your reviews, and engaging people on Yelp.

One way to increase the chances that someone finds your business is by making your Yelp page more engaging. It’s a visual world. Post your best photos on Yelp and set a goal of sharing a handful each week from your current projects. There’s no better proof of the quality of work you provide than by showing it. Sometimes people have to see it for themselves before they believe in and are willing to work with you.

By the way, have you heard about the Surefire Local Marketing Cloud?

If you need help managing your online reputation, getting more reviews, or responding to reviews in a timely manner, I suggest you check the core features and benefits. One of the most popular features of the Surefire Cloud is that users can send review requests directly from the platform. Then, when a review comes in, you also have the option to reply to it, so when it gets posted on Google, Facebook, or another reviews site, your response will get shared with the initial review. This is a powerful way to get ahead of a bad review you may receive down the road that was a result of something entirely out of your control!

The Surefire Local Marketing Cloud also gives you a snapshot of how you’re being reviewed. What I mean by that is you’ll get to see a word cloud of the words that appear most often in your reviews.

Knowing this is a great way to get an idea of how customers view your business and what your strengths and weaknesses are so, you as a business, can adjust accordingly.