When it comes to listings and review sites like Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook, if you havenโt claimed your business profile, youโre losing money.ย
And no one wants to lose money.
Did you know that โ90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year, with 33% looking every dayโ? (BrightLocal 2019) And if you arenโt controlling what theyโre seeing about your business, who is?
In this article, weโll be covering the why, where and how of claiming your business (or nonprofit) online.
Letโs face it โ listings and reviews are a huge, and very important, part of your online marketing. In fact, it is one of the five key elements of a strong digital marketing strategy!
Where business listings and reviews fit into your online marketing strategy
If you havenโt read our online marketing guide, The Download, yet, the five key elements for good online (or digital) marketing strategy include:
- A mobile-friendly website
- An email marketing tool
- A primary social media channel
- Up-to-date business listings
- A way to easily create content
But I digress. Today, weโre talking about the fourth element; up-to-date business listings.
Letโs start at the beginning. Weโll work our way through the basics of online listings and reviews, from claiming your business online, managing your listings, and responding to customer reviews.
What are listing and review sites?
The best way I can describe these sites is that theyโre a cross between an online phone book and a collection of critical reviews.
Let me expand upon that thought.
An old fashioned phone book housed basic business information โ where a business is located and its phone number. If a business paid for an ad, then it might also include business hours and perhaps some information on a specialty or something else that the business owner wanted to convey to potential customers.
And a businessโs reviews used to be determined by a small number of critics.ย If you happen to own a restaurant, then youโre certainly familiar with food critics โ where a writer comes to your restaurant, and critiques everything about their visit. The next day, thereโs a writeup in the local paper, telling everyone what they thought of your restaurant.
Now that the world has gone digital, the phone book is replaced by online listings, everyone is a critic, and every business can be critiqued at any time.
Let me state that again:
In todayโs digital world, everyone is a critic, and every business can be critiqued. (Tweet this!)
Whatโs more is that โ90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year, with 33% looking every day.โ (Womply Research)
With that in mind, itโs important to know whatโs being said about your business, and itโs imperative to control what you can.
One way to control the information about your business, that exists online, is by claiming your business.
Claiming your business is merely a process of letting a listing and/or review site know that you own a specific business.ย
Claiming your business listings
Quite often, if a business is listed online but not claimed, itโs because a customer entered the information after visiting the business. And if youโre lucky, they entered it correctly.ย
So, if your business is listed, and all of the information is correct, why do you need to claim it?ย
The most important reason for claiming your business is: When a business is listed online but hasnโt been claimed by the owner, anyone can enter information on that business.
Where to claim your business
As one of our Harness the Power of Listings & Reviews webinar attendees pointed out, there are literally thousands of listing and review sites online. So, how do you know which one(s) to claim your business on?
Start with the top three to five sites.ย
Why the top three to five? Because โbusinesses that claim their free listings on at least 3 review sites earn 36% more revenue than average [and those] that claim their free listing on at least 4 review sites earn 58% more revenue.โ (Womply)
The big three listing and review sites:
Due to their amount of use and traffic, these are the sites that are a must when it comes to claiming your site.ย
1. Google My Business
If you only have time to claim your business (or nonprofit) on one site, this is the one you need to make sure to get done. On average, Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second. It is indisputably the most-used search engine in the world, with approximately 90% of the worldwide market.
And when a potential customer searches for your business on Google, the results generally look something like this:
This is free advertising on the largest search engine in the world โ I donโt know about you, but I canโt afford to pass that up.
2. Facebook
As online review sites go, Facebook is the second most-used platform behind Google My Business, with approximately 85.57 million average monthly U.S. traffic.
While Facebook is usually thought of as mainly a social site, setting up a business page on Facebook has a lot of benefits. Besides providing a platform where you can connect with your customers, itโs also a place where customers can rate your business.
In addition to Facebookโs review and rating capabilities, when searching for your business online, your Facebook business page always shows up second in the list.ย
Did you notice what page shows up third? Yep, that would be Yelp!
3. Yelp.com
With just over 15 years of crowd-sourced reviews under their belt, Yelp is still one of the most trusted review sites in the U.S. Any and every business can and should be listed with Yelp.
Additional listing and review sites
You should definitely take the time to claim your business on all three sites, but donโt stop there.ย
In addition to the big three, you should also be sure to claim your business on the top listing site for your industry, if not the top two.ย
What if I donโt know of a listing site for my industry?
Donโt worry. With as much information thatโs on the internet now, you can bet that thereโs a listing site for your industry, and quite possibly even your particular niche. And itโs surprisingly easy to find listing sites for specific industries, including nonprofits. Just Google it. Yep. I said, โGoogle it.โ
After all, potential customers will be doing a search for your industry, so why shouldnโt you?
So, search for phrases like, โhome services directoryโ and see what sites come up. Also, search for your business industry like, โhair salons near meโ and choose any listing. On Google, you can then open up the map view, scroll down to โWeb resultsโ and see where your competitors are listed.
Some other top places to claim your business include:
- Bing Places
- TripAdvisor
- Better Business Bureau
- CitySearch
- DexKnows
- Yellowpages
- Yellowbook
TIP: Make sure that youโre on the map. Since the iPhone is one of the most used smartphones in the world, Apple Maps is working itโs way up the ladder. However, itโs still mostly a map provider, albeit with better imagery than Google Maps. If you want to read a review on a business, youโre taken out of the Apple Maps apps and [sent] to Yelp, TripAdvisor or Foursquare.ย
How to claim your business
Each listing site is different, but the basics for claiming your business are pretty much the same.
- Search for your business on the listing site of your choice.
- If found, claim your business.
- If not found, add your business.
- Fill in your business information.
Unfortunately, since each site is different, no two have the same exact process for claiming your business listing. Letโs look at how the process varies across some of the top sites.
1. Google My Business requires that you go to their business page in order to manage your business listing with them.ย
2. Facebook makes creating a business page super easy. And while you can create a business page while logged into your personal page, I recommend that you go directly to the setup page instead. Itโs a cleaner, easier way to set up a Facebook business page.
3. Yelp, in my opinion, is the easiest site to claim your business on since you can add a new business right on the search page.
And if your business is already listed, you can click on the listing and then claim your business there.
Just follow the directions.
Thatโs the big three sites and most others that Iโve found generally follow one of those three processes for claiming your business.
When on the site of your choice, just look for CTAs (calls to action) that have words and phrases like; โclaimโ, โmanageโ, โget leadsโ, โjoinโ, and โlistโ. And while Iโm certain there are other clever CTAs out thereโฆwell you get the idea.
Managing your listings
Claiming your business listing isnโt just about making sure that the business name is spelled correctly, the address and phone number are correct, and that your business hours are listed. Itโs about engaging your customers and enticing new customers.
And while you start by making sure that all of the information on your business is correct in each listing, you also need to add photos and menus, post specials and specialties, fill out a brief business description, add links to your website, list any amenities your business has, maybe add videos, and more.
Business listings are basically a social profile for your business, only they require more information. And while you donโt have to fill out all of the available fields, you should.ย
The more information thatโs on your business profile, the more trustworthy your business or nonprofit appears.
Let me show you what I mean.
If you just look at the first page of these two listings, which one would you be more inclined to do business with?
One thing that Iโm constantly telling people is that โconsistency is keyโ. This goes for email marketing, social media marketing, business websites โ basically all digital marketing across the board.ย
In order to make the most of your online business listings, make sure that the information you share is the same on each site. So, make sure everything is spelled and typed in exactly the same way every time (I suggest using a cheat sheet in a word processor like Microsoft Word or Google docs to help with this).ย
TIP: Maximize your business listings by periodically updating images and posting special events, discounts, and specials โ just like you would on your social media sites.
What to do about reviews
Donโt be afraid of reviews. Theyโre your friends. Both positive and negative.
What matters is how you handle them.
You should always respond to your reviews. Let me say that again โ
Always respond to your reviews.ย
Hereโs why:
According to BrightLocalโs Consumer Review Survey 2019,ย
- 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, with 52% of 18-54-year-olds saying they โalwaysโ read reviews.
- The average consumer reads 10 reviews before feeling able to trust a business.
- The average consumer spends 13 minutes and 45 seconds reading reviews before making a decision.
- Among consumers that read reviews, 97% read businessesโ responses to reviews.ย
The key to responding to reviews, both positive and negative, is to start out by thanking the customer for their feedback. Let them know that what they think is important to you. Beyond thanking them, be sure to address their remarks, specifically. And if you remember the customer, let them know that.
The most important part of responding to reviews is to be professional, upbeat and positive, and thankful that they took the time to provide feedback.
And if you think that you donโt have time to respond to reviews, keep these stats in mind:
- Businesses that reply to more than 25% of their reviews earn 35% more revenue than average.
- Businesses that donโt reply to any reviews earn 9% less revenue than average.
Handling bad reviews
Did you know that businesses with a rating between 3.5 and 4.5 stars earn more revenue than businesses with any other rating? And that businesses with 5-star ratings earn less in revenue that 1 to 1.5-star businesses? (Womply)
That means that bad reviews are as important as good reviews, if not more important. Hurray for bad reviews!
Iโll admit it. Iโm human. And sometimes a bad review feels like a personal attack.
So, if a bad review gets you down, take a moment before you post a response. And before you hit that โpublishโ button, make sure that your response is upbeat, thankful, apologetic (when necessary) and proposes a solution. And you can always ask the customer to contact you so you can have an opportunity to make it right.
As Aastha and I mention in our article on how to Grow Your Business with Yelp, โnegative reviews are really positive feedback that you can use in order to improve your services or productโฆAnd if you respond appropriately, you can use reviews to build relationships.โ
And thatโs what having a small business is all about โ building relationships.ย
Listing and review sites give you another opportunity to build relationships โ and turn potential customers into lifelong customers.
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