Reputation Management Tips for Local Businesses

People who own local businesses often make the mistake of ignoring or failing to maintain their online reputation. Don’t miss out on the many benefits of online reputation management for your local business!

From restaurants to plumbers, every local business needs a great online reputation.

Your business’z online reputation matters, and that’s true regardless of how much business you actually do online. Whether you’re a mom-and-pop coffee shop or operate a full-blown retail store on your website, you absolutely need to take ownership of your business’s reviews and online reputation — the future and success of your business depend on it!

If you’ve had a chance to read our blog — The Importance Of Reviews For Local Businesses — then you already have a good understanding of why reviews are so essential for your business’s online reputation. Today, we’ll be going over the many things you can do as a local business to build your business’s online reputation and keep it strong.

10 reputation management tips every local business needs to know

#1. Commit to providing great customer service

A lot of things go into your business’s online reputation, but the most visible aspect of that reputation to prospective customers consists of the reviews your customers have given you. While a negative review here or there won’t hurt you, most business owners would prefer to have as many five-star reviews as possible. But here’s the thing — in order to get five-star reviews, you have to provide five-star service.

Great customer service is something that every business needs to prioritize, especially when you consider how much competition your typical local business has. For example, say you run a pool service company. Most other pool service companies offer similar services as you, and for a similar price as well. So what can you do to make your business stand out? Provide the kind of customer service that will wow your customers and make them want to go online to tell the world about it.

#2. Claim your business listings

The first step any business should take in building and maintaining their online reputation is to claim your business listings on any and every possible review and/or directory platform. After all, your business is already listed, so you may as well reap all of the benefits that come with claiming the listing. Why is this important? Here are a few of the top reasons:

  • Build trust with your audience – When you claim your listing, you’re also making sure that any information about your business is accurate. That’s also why consumers tend to trust verified listings more than nonverified listings.
  • Respond to reviews – One of the biggest benefits of claiming your listing is that it allows you to respond to reviews about your business.
  • Increase your business’s visibility – Having multiple verified listings means that a link to your website exists on all of those sites — trusted sites that Google sees as authoritative — will help to improve your business’s rankings in the SERPs (search engine results pages), making you more visible and getting your name in front of more people.

#3. Prioritize social media management

Social media management is an essential part of any effective marketing strategy these days, but it’s simply not enough to have profiles on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You need to be active on social media. Social media is a powerful tool for any business owner this day and age, because these platforms allow you to interact with a wider audience, develop your brand and learn all about the customers you’re targeting.

Another big benefit of being more active on social media is that it will help your posts — as well as your website — rank better in the SERP. This is especially important if there’s any negative information about your business out there. The more positive content you have, the further down in the results the negative information will be pushed.

A good social media management strategy includes researching your competition, getting to know your audience, sharing your story and posting interesting, original content on a regular basis.

#4. Pay attention to your online reputation

Your online reputation is there — either growing or diminishing — all of the time, whether you are actively managing it or not. You can’t wish your business’s online reputation away, and ignoring it or pretending it doesn’t exist won’t help, either. That’s why, if you take nothing else away from this article, we hope you learn why it’s essential to pay close attention to your online reputation.

How can you possibly build the kind of online reputation you want, if you don’t know what kind of online reputation your business already has? It’s imperative that you monitor your online reputation closely so that you can be proactive about addressing any issues that come up. Plus, when you have a better understanding of what the online reputation your business already has, you can form a better plan to help you mold it into what you want it to be.

A few things you can do to stay on top of your business’ online reputation:

  • Set up Google Alerts – Google will notify you when new content containing keywords you preselect — like your business name — is published.
  • Monitor your reviews – Reviews can be published across a variety of platforms, but no matter where they are posted — or whether they are negative or positive — it’s important to respond as soon as you can, which means that you need to monitor your reviews.
  • Monitor blog comments – Blogging, as we’ll learn more about soon, is a great reputation management tool, but if you’ve opened comments up on your blog, you need to make it a point to monitor those comments.
  • Ask your customers! – It never hurts to ask your customers what they think about your business and how it’s perceived online.

#5. Write blogs on your website

SEO is a vital part of your business’s online reputation management strategy. When you can ensure that the first few results in the SERP for specific keywords consist of your website, your Facebook page, your Instagram page, your LinkedIn page, etc., you can push down any results that may not be so favorable or positive for your business. But how do you ensure that your website ranks well on Google and other search engines? Publish new content on your website regularly!

The phrase, “content is king,” has been a mantra in the SEO industry since the beginning, and it still rings true today. Blogging is one of the best ways to do that, and as an added bonus, you can use your blogs to better inform and educate your customers. Blogs are also very shareable on social media sites, and they help to establish your reputation as a thought leader in your industry.

#6. Start asking for reviews

A lot of business owners get hung up about the idea of asking their clients for reviews, and some of them even think that reviews that are asked for somehow aren’t legitimate. However, if you’re really dedicated to building an effective online reputation for your business, failing to ask for reviews is no longer an option.

A lot of people simply don’t write reviews on their own, because they don’t think about it. And if they do think about it, it’s probably because they are unhappy and want to vent a little about their experience. The simple fact is that people are much more likely to write a review on their own if they’re unhappy than if they were satisfied with their experience.

Asking for reviews helps to ensure that all customers, whether they’re happy or not, will get a chance to share their feedback with you and the world. Plus, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with asking for reviews! As long as you’re not bribing customers to write a review or directing what your customers are saying in the reviews, there’s absolutely no reason to feel uneasy about asking for a review.

#7. Respond to every review

While it’s important to ask for reviews, that doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to control what your customers choose to put in those reviews. You can only control what you do and how you respond to their feedback, and you absolutely should, regardless of whether that feedback comes in the form of a glowing, five-star review or a bleak, one-star review.

When someone leaves a five-star review about your business, make sure that you thank them for taking the time to write that review. As we mentioned, writing reviews doesn’t exactly come naturally to most people, so recognize the effort they took to write the review. And when someone leaves a negative review, it’s even more important to respond to it!

If the negative review consists of honest feedback for your business, take it to heart, apologize and take steps to make it right. And if the negative review consists of misleading or, worse, wasn’t even written one of your customers, responding will help you to set the record straight.

The bottom line is that responding to reviews allows you to control the conversation.

#8. Learn from your reviews

You can learn a lot about how your customers perceive your business by reading and paying attention to your online reviews. Of course, stuff happens, and one bad experience isn’t necessarily indicative of the kind of service you offer day in and day out. However, that doesn’t mean that those one-off issues aren’t important, or that you can’t learn anything from reading your reviews.

One of the best ways to learn what areas of your service need a little improvement is to look for overarching themes in your reviews — particularly the negative ones. For example, if eight people have complained about your technicians showing up late, it’s not a one-off issue — it’s an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed.

#9. Know what to do about fake reviews

Fake reviews, as well as competitor reviews, occasionally happen. But like with everything else, it’s how you deal with those fake reviews that makes the biggest difference. Here’s what to do when you get a fake review:

  • Never point out that a review is fake – If you craft a response to a fake review, it’s not helpful to point out that it’s fake — this will only make you look petty. Instead, say something like, “We don’t have a record of having done business with you in the past, but we’d love to address your concern. We invite you to call or email us to discuss your experience.”
  • Flag the review with the website’s administrator – Some review sites allow businesses to flag reviews that aren’t appropriate. However, you should know that it can take a long time for a fake review to come down — and that’s if it comes down at all. But it doesn’t hurt to try!
  • Generate more authentic reviews! – The very best way to deal with fake reviews is to drown them out with legitimate reviews, so make it a point to start asking for them!

#10. Consider hiring a reputation management specialist

An effective reputation management strategy won’t happen overnight and isn’t a one-time thing. Reputation management is a long-term strategy that has a lot of moving parts, and it can be a lot for a business owner to take on. If you don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to your business’s online reputation, you aren’t doing it any favors.

Hiring a professional to help you manage your business’s online reputation will free you up to do what you do best — which is running your business!

Start managing your business’ online reputation with the Marketing 360® Reputation app!

Your business’s online reputation can make or break your success, and we hope that these tips will give you a good idea about how to create the kind of reputation you want. One of the easiest things you can do to start taking control over your online reputation is to start using repuation management software, like the Marketing 360® Reputation app. See our plans and pricing.

Originally published on 9/7/19

Starting Your Year Off On The Right Foot

Can you believe 2022 is just a couple of days away? I can’t either! If 2021 taught us anything, it’s that a business’s online reputation is more important than ever before. Here’s how to start your business’s online reputation off on the right foot for 2022. 

Claim your business listings

Claiming your business listings online is going to be step one of your New Year’s Resolution to have a stronger online reputation. Many people overlook this vital task because they don’t realize how important having a claimed business really is.

When you claim your business, you are showing your customers, current and future, that yours is a reliable and authentic business. The fact of the matter is, more and more customers are searching for local businesses online, and ranking ahead of your competition is very likely going to be what makes or breaks their decision to choose your business over any other.

Think about it, when a customer is going online to search for a business, but ends up finding an unclaimed business profile with inaccurate information, like their phone number, address, or business hours, they’re not likely going to trust that business with their time or money. Claiming your business and making sure your information is accurate and up to date is really simple considering how important an outcome doing so has. In fact, according to research done by Google, three out of four shoppers who find local information in search results to be helpful are more likely to visit stores in person. Thankfully, claiming your business listing is also usually free.

Claiming your business listings doesn’t only show your potential customers that you are a reliable business, it also gives search engines a reason to trust you and give you a better ranking. Search engines look for and promote legitimacy. By claiming your business, you not only show search engines that you are legitimate, but you also help boost your SEO (search engine optimization) and the likelihood of your business being seen more frequently. By claiming your business on verified sites, you improve your chances of increasing traffic to your website by making it more accessible and easy to find.

Claiming your business profiles should be one of the small business basics, and since claiming your businesses is such a simple way to get the attention of customers and search engines, it’s surprising that more small businesses don’t prioritize the practice, but that just means that a business that does claim its listings is going to stand out among the crowd.

Build your online presence

When you search for your business on Google, take notice of what comes up. How does your website look? Are there reviews for your business? What kinds of photos are there? Is your website mobile-friendly? What about social media? Which social media profiles are your target audience likely active on? Are you easy to find there? Making it simple for your target audience to connect with you makes your business appear accessible and personal, which is important when it comes to building trust and showing your customers that you are reliable.

Your potential customers need to be able to find you, and when they do, you want them to be impressed by what they see. Start by investing in an awesome website. Your website will be many customers’ first impression of you, and no matter what business you are in, you will find that an eye-catching and professional website will be beneficial to your business.

Even a company that has traditionally operated by word of mouth, like tree removal or lawn care, can benefit from having a nice, up-to-date website. Your website can tell your customers your story, humanizing your business; it can showcase some of your favorite reviews, giving customers a reason to trust you, and it can give your customers the basic information they need, like your address, hours, phone number, and pricing options.

Too often, businesses that have gotten by thanks to word of mouth have lost out on potential new customers because so many people are turning to the internet to find new local services. In fact, the number of local searches is on the rise, with 46% of all Google searches being people who are looking for local information and 82% of smartphone shoppers using the phrase ‘near me’ in their searches, a number that has increased 900% in the last two years.

You need more than to simply be present; you need also be active in order to have a strong online presence. That means updating your website and social media pages with new photos, current reviews, blog posts, and updates. Always respond to your reviews, both positive and negative, in order to show your customers that you care about their experience with your business.

Ask for reviews

Just like having a great website, having a handful of reviews on verified websites is crucial to the overall success of your business. Reviews are a vital tool when it comes to generating trust and increasing your overall sales.

Nowadays, almost everyone is turning to the internet to do their research before making their purchasing decisions. Customers can turn to websites, like Google, Bing, Facebook and Top Rated Local, to read about the experiences of past customers. While each of these sites has its own way of collecting and prioritizing reviews, reviews left on any of them will count as fresh content in SEO algorithms. Reviews will end up helping your business ranking by improving your overall SEO since fresh reviews count as fresh content, which search engines tend to like.

In addition to helping out with your SEO, reviews can also help you to connect with your customers. Your customers will naturally have some feedback for you, and their feedback is undoubtedly going to be incredibly valuable to you and your business, whether it is positive or negative. Positive reviews offer a great incentive for others to trust you with their business, and negative reviews offer you some insight into where your business might be slacking. Negative reviews also give you a chance to show others how you would like your business to be seen. For example, if you receive a negative review, you can respond to it, showcasing your responsiveness as well as your willingness to receive feedback. In your response, you can highlight some of the things you hope your business will be known for, like:

“We’re very sorry you did not get a chance to experience the outstanding customer service we hope to provide to every person who visits us…”

Customers like to see that someone will be attentive to their needs if anything goes wrong, and the fact of the matter is, they are more likley to trust a business that has had a few things go wrong. When they see only five-star ratings, they start to become suspicious that the feedback may not be authentic. A sprinkling of less-than-perfect reviews with well-worded and thoughtful responses is more likely to inspire trust in potential customers than a hundred bland five-star reviews.

Knowing how important it is to have online reviews, you should also know that there is absolutely no shame in asking for them! Chances are, you really do value and appreciate honest feedback, and there is no reason not to say so to your customers. As long as you are not paying for or somehow incentivizing people to leave you feedback, you can be confident that you are acting ethically in your request for reviews.

Revamp your customer service policies

Now is a better time than ever to make sure your employees are all on the same page when it comes to the kind of customer service your business offers. Establishing some customer service basics, a set of values, and even an overall business mission can unite your staff and help to set the baseline for how to behave with the customers.

Having a solid foundation in excellent customer service is a surefire way to gain the kinds of reviews that will instill some trust in your business.

Your customer service skills need to extend into your online presence as well. If you have multiple employees responding to reviews, posting to your social media pages, and interacting with your customers online, you need to have a unified voice that you feel best represents your company. It might be beneficial to start out by having a few templates for responding to customer concerns or negative reviews.

Build a strong reputation with Marketing 360® Reputation

Taking on the responsibility of managing your online reputation may seem daunting and could take more time than you have to invest into it. For many companies, the role of online reputation management is a full-time job. While most small businesses don’t necessarily have the budget to hire a full-time staff member to perform these duties, there is reputation management software out there that can save you time and help you get it right without having to hire someone. See our plans and pricing. 

Originally published on 1/2/20

Common Customer Complaints & How to Avoid them

Customers complain about a lot of things in reviews, and the best way to deal with those complaints is to learn to avoid them altogether.

Protect your online reputation by learning to avoid common customer complaints.

Business owners these days know that their online reputation is vitally important to their success — online and off — and it’s also why a negative review can seem like the end of the world. In previous blogs, we’ve talked about why a couple of negative reviews can actually be beneficial for your overall online reputation, as well as how you can turn around the situation by knowing how to respond like a pro.

But at the end of the day, no business wants to get a negative online review, and even though they don’t have to be the end of the world, all businesses would do well to avoid as many negative reviews as possible. That’s why we’ve come up with this list of the most common things customers complain about in negative reviews and what you can do to avoid those complaints.

The top 5 customer complaints and how to avoid them

Customer complaint #1. Failure to keep promises

Businesses make promises to customers every day, and the ones with the happiest, most satisfied customers are the ones that keep those promises. On the other side of the coin, nothing can ruin a customer’s experience with a company more than the failure to keep a promise.

Trust is something that takes a long time to build in any relationship — and that’s true regardless of whether we’re talking about personal relationships or relationships between customers and businesses. Unfortunately, that trust can be shattered after just one bad experience, which is why failure to keep promises is such a difficult complaint to truly resolve. After all, why should the customer trust you to follow through with your promise to fix the issue when you failed to follow through the first time?

What can you do to avoid it?

  • Don’t make promises you can’t keep – To put it simply, you should never make a promise if you aren’t 100% certain that you’ll be able to keep it. Even if you think there’s a strong possibility you can keep it, it’s better to be honest than it is to end up failing to follow through on a promise.
  • Train your employees – Everyone should always be on the same page within your business; otherwise, one of your employees may end up promising something that can’t be followed through on. Teaching your employees to effectively communicate can also help to ensure that your business is always keeping its promises.
  • Be honest about roadblocks – Sometimes, you fully intend to follow through on a promise, but circumstances get in the way and prevent you from doing so. And sometimes, those circumstances are completely out of your hands. Your best course of action in these kinds of situations is to simply be honest with the client and let them know how you plan to fix it. Sure, they may be a little upset, but the vast majority of clients will understand and respect you for your honesty.

Customer complaint #2. Being shuffled between customer service representatives

Have you ever called a customer service hotline, explained the issue you’re having, only to have to explain it to three or four more people until you’re finally transferred to someone who can help you? From a customer’s perspective, this can be infuriating, and it certainly doesn’t leave the impression that your business is operating with competence. It also has the unfortunate effect of making the client feel undervalued, which can leave them looking to fill their needs elsewhere in the future.

Most businesses are fully aware of how bad it looks when customers are shuffled around from person to person, and just as it can create a negative experience for the customer, it can also be a waste of resources for the business. If a situation can be resolved by the right person the first time, it saves several people from having to give up their time to address the situation, which means that your business can operate more efficiently and functionally.

What can you do to avoid it?

  • Train your employees – One common reason why customers get shifted from customer service rep to customer service rep is that they don’t all have the same level of knowledge, experience or ability, and additional training can help them all feel more comfortable in helping clients deal with a greater variety of needs. Another area of training could be in who to turn to in specific situations. Sometimes, shuffling clients around is unavoidable, but it’s much better for them to deal with two people than it is for them to deal with three or four.
  • Invest in a better answering system – If yours is one of the many businesses that has an automated answering service, it might be time to upgrade yours to one that offers a menu of options for clients to choose from. This way, they can find the right person to speak with right away.
  • Empower more of your employees – Sometimes, customers get tossed back and forth between customer service reps because only one or two people have the power to actually help them. You don’t necessarily have to entrust every employee in your business with the same amount of responsibility, but if there’s a certain issue that is routinely being tossed from person to person, you might consider giving more people the ability to handle it.

Customer complaint #3. Being surprised by fees or other unpleasant information

Imagine yourself in this situation: you’re working with a remodeling contractor to remodel your kitchen. You work out an agreement with them on the overall cost of the project, which will be a stretch for your budget but you’re committed to the work. Then, when all is said and done, you’re blindsided with hidden fees. This is not a situation anyone wants to find themselves in, and it can definitely leave a bad taste in your customers’ mouths.

Hidden fees aren’t the only nasty surprises that can derail a customer’s experience with your business. Any hidden information, like how a business uses a customer’s data or personal information, risks or possible downsides of a service or product and additional options the client could have chosen, can hinder a customer’s trust in your business and leave them with less-than-positive feelings about your business.

What can you do to avoid it?

  • Educate your customers instead of deciding for them – Let’s say you own an HVAC company. Your client would save money over time if they bought a new furnace instead of repairing the old one, and the decision may seem like a no brainer to you, but you still have to let the client decide. You should, of course, ensure that they understand the real pros and cons of each option, but you shouldn’t hold back any options from a client just because you don’t think they are the right ones.
  • Be as upfront and transparent as possible – Whether we’re talking about how your business handles personal information or fees, it’s essential that you’re always as upfront as possible with your customers. No one likes to be kept in the dark, and it’s important that people understand what they’re getting when they work with your business.
  • Train your employees – It’s possible that a customer didn’t get the whole message because an employee failed to give it to them. Or maybe it’s because an employee made a mistake that they failed to own up to. Either way, training your employees to communicate more honestly will help to provide your customers with a better overall experience.

Customer Complaint #4. Rude or unfriendly staff

We’ve all been there: you’ve gotten off of work late, and you’re in the drive-thru or stopping by your go-to takeout place for a quick bite. You’re already a little frustrated because you’ve had a long day, and the restaurant got your order wrong. You explain the situation to the host or clerk as calmly as you can, only to have them roll their eyes at you and ask what you want them to do about it.

In these kinds of situations, even the coolest heads have trouble prevailing, and now, not only are you frustrated, but you’re well on your way to angry and probably won’t be frequenting that restaurant ever again.

Not every situation is as overt as this. Sometimes, customers pick up on subtle things, like body language, that makes them feel like a burden. On other occasions, an employee’s disinterest or neglect could do just as much damage. In any form, rude employees are the bane of any business, and they can do serious damage to your reputation if you’re not careful.

What can you do to avoid it?

  • Train your employees – Every business should have standards in place for how customers should be treated, and it’s incredibly important that you make those standards common knowledge. You should also work directly with your employees every day to ensure that they know how big of a role customer service plays in customer satisfaction, as well as their role in providing that service.
  • Trim the fat if necessary – While training is always a great course of action when an employee is ambivalent or rude, in some cases, they just aren’t the right fit for your business and you may have to make the tough choice of letting them go. Chances are, if an employee is acting that way toward customers, they aren’t happy in their position anyway. Do them and yourself a favor by putting someone in that role who actually wants to be there.
  • Raise your hiring standards – It’s much easier to provide great customer service when you hire people who are committed to it before they even start working with you. A lot of people want to do a good job for their customers and take pride in their work, and those are the type of people you want in a role with direct customer interaction.

Customer Complaint #5. Delays in service

We all lead busy lives, and some days, people have less patience for waiting than other days. Imagine you’re having one of those less-than-patient days, and that, instead of getting your order wrong like in our previous example, the restaurant takes 10 minutes longer than they said they would to get your food out to you, leaving you feeling a little on the hangry and impatient side.

Waiting is an unavoidable part of life, and there are a whole host of reasons a customer may need to wait. One of your employees may have had a personal emergency that prevented them from coming to work, leaving you short-staffed and unable to be as efficient as usual. Your supplier may have had a delay, which has led to delays following through on orders or services. The delay may be caused by something you have absolutely no control over, like the weather.

What can you do to avoid it?

  • Make honesty your best policy – Many of the examples we covered of why delays happen are out of your control, and when things like that come up, all you can do is be as honest as possible with your customers and offer to make up for any inconvenience at a later date. Most customers will understand and give you a break if you’re honest, but if you try to sweep the problem under the rug and act like everything is fine, the delay will likely leave them upset.
  • Warn customers of potential delays – If you’re aware that there’s something that may cause a delay, it’s in your best interest to be upfront with your customers about it. Sure, if a customer knows a delay might occur, they might choose to go elsewhere with their business, but if they know about potential delays ahead of time and they still want to work with you, they won’t be blindsided if delays happen and will be much happier for it at the end of the day.
  • Have a backup plan in place – In some circumstances, if a potential delay can be foreseen, it can also be avoided by having a backup plan in place. For example, if you rely on every member of the team showing up, it might be good to hire some as-needed help during flu season, or even during the holidays when lots of people are out visiting family.

Bad reviews happen. Learn how to manage them with Marketing 360® Reputation.

There are lots of things that you can do to avoid the ire of your customers. But even the best businesses get bad reviews from time to time. It truly is how you handle those reviews that makes the biggest difference in how they affect your business’s online reputation. If you ignore a negative review or leave unattended, it’ll only fester, and that inattention actually gives more weight and truth to the review. But if you make it a point to respond to that review, own up to your mistakes, apologize and make it right, not only might you win over the customer who had a negative experience, but you might also win over potential customers researching your business online.

The best way to deal with negative reviews is promptly, and with reputation management software from Marketing 360®, you’ll get real-time notifications when you receive new reviews, as well as a whole host of other tools that can help you better build and maintain your business’s online reputation, including a Rating Score™ that will give you an idea of your online reputation as a whole and monthly reports on your online reputation.

Start taking ownership of your business’s online reputation with the Marketing 360 Reputation app. See our plans and pricing.

Originally published on 12/16/19

Maintaining a Strong Online Reputation This Holiday Season

During the holidays, it’s more important than ever to have a strong online reputation.

‘Tis the season to get your business’s online reputation in order.

Every store you turn to is playing holiday music. Lights sparkle on homes. Eggnog is in stock once again. In other words, the holidays are finally here at last.

The holiday season is a busy time of the year for most businesses, and not just retail. People want to look their best for holiday photos, leading to an increase in business for barber shops and beauty salons. People host their out-of-town family members, giving local restaurants more business and the need for plumbers to unclog more toilets. People get a little stressed by all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, which leads them to treat themselves with a massage or a trip to their favorite nail salon.

The bottom line is that there is a lot of business to be had over the holiday season, and if you want to cash in on some of that business, you need your business to be found online and you also need to have the right kind of online reputation behind you to encourage your customers to keep choosing you, and to encourage new customers to choose you, too.

10 reputation management tips for the holiday season

#1. Make sure that your staff is ready

The holiday season leads to an increase in activity for your business, and it’s essential that you know that your staff is ready to handle it. This might mean that it’s time to hire a little extra help for the holidays.

Not only does seasonal help enable you to handle a greater number of customers, but it also frees up more of your time to focus on your online reputation. Seasonal help can make it easier to survive during the holidays, and employing seasonal employees gives them a few extra dollars to help them create holiday bliss.

In addition to making sure that you have the appropriate number of people to help your staff, you should also ensure that your staff is trained properly to handle the increase in business. It won’t help very much to have more staff members if they are constantly turning to with questions or guidance. Make sure that every member of your staff is properly trained and as dedicated as possible to providing a great experience for your customers.

#2. Manage/claim your listings

One of the most important aspects of reputation management is managing and claiming your business listings across any and every review platform and/or directory site that it’s listed on. This is something that you should make a point of doing as soon as you can — holiday season or not — as it’s a key part of ensuring that your business stays successful online.

If your business is already listed on review sites and/or directories, what’s the point of claiming or managing your listings? The algorithms that pull information into these directory sites and review sites don’t always get it right, and it’s essential that you make sure that the information out there about your business is accurate. If someone sees an outdated listing on Yelp or Facebook and tries to get ahold of you, it doesn’t send a very good message when the number listed no longer works or when they drive to your old location only discover that you’ve already moved.

#3. Stay relevant by posting content regularly

Businesses these days absolutely have to stay relevant if they want to stay in the public eye, which is essential during this time of the year. When your customers have a need that you can meet, you want your business’s name to be the first thing they think of, and one of the best ways to ensure that that happens is to post content regularly on your website and social media platforms.

Ensure that your business ranks highly in the SERPs (search engine results pages) so that you can be found when people google related search keywords by blogging regularly. Keep consumers in the know about any up-and-coming sales or events you may be having by publishing a press release. Stay in contact with your customers and help them see the personal side of your business by posting on social media.

#4. Make customer service a top priority

The holiday season is the perfect time of the year to show off your customer service skills, and when you have so many customers to work with, it can lead to an increase in reviews for your business, both good and bad. And the kind of customer service you provide will have a direct impact on the kind of reviews your business gets during the holidays.

In addition to helping you get more reviews during the holidays, by focusing on customer service, you can also help to increase customer loyalty, which leads to an increase in spending and a decrease in the need for customers to look elsewhere.

#5. Start a campaign to generate more reviews

Reviews are the bread and butter of a business’s online reputation, and the more reviews you can get, the better off your business will be. The holidays are a great time of the year to generate more reviews for your business because of the increase in customers you’re likely to receive, and there are a lot of simple things you can do to encourage your customers to leave you more reviews this holiday season:

  • Ask for feedback – The simplest way to get more reviews for your business is simply to ask. Sadly, most people won’t write reviews on their own no matter what kind of service you provide, but when you ask, more people are more than happy to leave a review.
  • Send follow-up emails – After someone has shopped with you or relied on you for service, send an email following up about their experience. This is also a good opportunity to send customers a link to the review sites you prefer they use.
  • Make it convenient for them – The easier you can make leaving your business a review, the more likely your customers will leave you a review. That’s why it’s important to ensure that your business is listed on a variety of sites, so that your customers don’t have to set up a profile on a new review site in order to review you. Another way to make the process convenient is to have a tablet in your shop that customers can use to leave you a review in the moment, which means that you don’t have to rely on them to leave you a review on their own later on.

#6. Respond to your reviews

When your customers take the time to write a review for your business, it behooves you to take a few minutes to respond to them, especially if the review is negative, the customer asked a question in the review, there was a complaint or the review consisted of particularly kind feedback. If someone leaves you a blank review with five stars, there’s no reason to respond, but when someone shares their genuine experience with your business, making it a point to respond will show them that you appreciate them.

Not all responses to reviews are made equal, and if you want to make a good impression, it’s important to get your response right. Here are a few tips to help you respond to reviews like a pro:

  • Don’t wait; respond promptly. Believe it or not, a lot of people expect a response to their review within a few days, so make sure that you don’t put it off for too long.
  • Whether the review is negative or positive, always thank the customer for making it a point to write it in the first place.
  • If the review is negative, it’s important to apologize, and that’s true regardless of whether the review paints an accurate picture of what really happened or not.
  • Don’t argue online. Whatever you do, don’t get into an argument with someone reviewing your business online, even if you don’t think the review was fair. Instead, give them your contact information and invite them to call you to discuss the matter further online.

#7. Interact with your clients through social media

As we mentioned previously, posting content to your website and social media profiles is a great way to stay relevant over the holidays, but posting content is just one part of a healthy social media management strategy. You also need to regularly monitor your social media profiles so that you can respond to any feedback or customer interaction online, and you’ll be in the know about what people are saying about your business on social media.

Whether people are interacting with your business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat, it’s important to give them a little love. When you interact on social media, you’ll be demonstrating that you truly care. Not only that, but your customers expect for you to interact with them online, and in a timely fashion. When a customer interacts with you through Facebook, they expect a response within six hours, and when someone interacts with you through Twitter, they expect a response within just an hour.

#8. Keep your emotions in check

Emotions run high during the holiday season. Feelings of depression, anxiety and family discord are all magnified during the holidays, making everything just a bit more challenging. On top of that, a lot of people thrive on the holiday parties and excitement, which means that your emotions might be running the gamut, and it can be more difficult to keep them in check and act professionally day to day.

But regardless of whether you’re writing a blog for your website, designing a social media post or responding to a negative review, whatever you do, keep those emotions in check. This is especially tricky when you’re dealing with feedback online that you may deem unfair, inauthentic or downright fake, and the last thing you need is to get into an emotional brawl with someone online for the world to see.

Although people expect a response in a timely manner when they interact with your business on review sites or social media, it’s important not to rush your response, especially if you’re feeling emotional. You’re better off taking a breath and collecting your thoughts than jumping into an emotional response that will only accomplish making you look bad online.

#9. Be in the know

The more you know about your business’s online reputation as a whole, the better you’ll be able to manage it and make it as strong as possible. But with your business listed on so many different sites, how can you possibly keep track of all of them? Luckily, Top Rated Local has a solution for you.

Top Rated Local is not like any other review site out there. When consumers are checking out a business on Top Rated Local, not only will they be able to read the business’s Top Rated Local reviews, but they’ll also be able to read that business’s reviews from Yelp, Google, Facebook and a long list of other verified review sources. Top Rated Local also provides each business with its own Rating Score™ (with 100.00 being the highest), which is determined by the number of review sites the business is listed on, the number of reviews they have and the average star rating of their reviews, among other things. With the Rating Score, consumers can get a good idea of how a business stacks up against their competition and businesses can keep a pulse on their online reputation easily.

Another thing you can do to keep a close eye on your business’s online reputation is to set up Google Alerts, which will keep you in the know about conversations surrounding your business. Google Alerts are free, quick to set up, easy to use and can be delivered every time your brand gets mentioned, once a day or even once a month. In addition to monitoring your brand, you can also use Google Alerts to monitor what people are saying about your competitor’s subjects of interest and questions in your industry and more.

#10. Use reputation management software

The fact of the matter is that building and managing your business’s online reputation takes money, attention and — hardest of all to find — time, and that’s especially true during the holiday season when reputation management becomes a priority. The last thing that you want is to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season and leave your online reputation in the dust, and with the right reputation management software, you’ll get the help you need to get all of your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed without dropping a single ball.

With the right reputation mangement software, you can ensure that your business is always putting its best foot forward online, your business could become more of an authority in your industry, you’ll gain powerful insights into your reputation management strategy and you’ll likely see an increase in sales! The benefits of managing your reputation more effectively can’t be overlooked, but the biggest reason to get some help is that it frees up more of your time to manage your business, help your customers and do everything else on your ever-growing to-do list.


With so many people out there looking to spend a little money this holiday season, it’s the perfect time to start building and maintaining the kind of online reputation you want. And when you have Top Rated Local and the Marketing 360® Reputation app on your side — including the invaluable tools, like the five pillars of the customer experience, real-time review notifications, the ability to respond to your reviews, monthly email updates about your online reputation, syndicated reviews on Google Maps and the one-of-a-kind Rating Score — you’ll be able to manage your business’s online reputation from one convenient place.

See our plans and pricing. 

Originally published on 12/5/19

A Guide to Turning Your Seasonal Shoppers into Loyal Customers

For many small business owners, the end of the year comes with a serious upswing in sales. With so many people out and about shopping for their various holidays, you are probably going to see a surge of new faces turning to you for goods and services. While retail seems to get all the spotlight during the holiday shopping season, there are many businesses that will benefit from the winter festivities. Company parties will be looking for caterers; homeowners hosting their families will be turning to house cleaning companies; people will be headed off to nail salons, barbershops and beauty salons to get ready to look their best in photos, and weary travelers who were trapped on a plane next to a sneezy toddler may end up making a trip to urgent care. At the end of the day, no matter what kind of business you are in, we encourage you to take the time during this busy season to turn these seasonal shoppers into repeat, and even loyal, customers.

Expand upon the basics

Now more than ever, you need to showcase your very best customer service skills. With traffic, travel, looming deadlines and busier-than-ever stores, many holiday shoppers are feeling a bit more stressed out than usual. That means that they will be that much more grateful when you or your employees are able to listen to them, help them and show them that you genuinely care about their experience.

It is easier than ever to take care of all of your shopping needs online, so it is special and important when people choose to shop local and support a small business rather than go the easy route of online shopping or the cheap route of big-box retail. For many shoppers, choosing a small business is a personal choice, made either out of a desire to fuel the local economy or to experience the level of customer service you can only find in these kinds of stores. That is why it is so important to make sure you don’t neglect customer service during this busy shopping season. To read more about the importance of customer service, check out our previous blog, Why Nothing Beats Great Customer Service.

If you feel like you can definitely handle an increase in customers while maintaining your standards of customer service, then we’re going to recommend taking it up a notch and thinking about some of the ways you can expand on and exceed your customers’ expectations. If you can find a few easy ways to stand out to people now, you will have a much better chance of sticking in their minds, impressing them and, ultimately, bringing them back in to do business in the future.

You can start by making sure your store is in tip-top shape, possibly even investing in a good deep-cleaning. It might be fun to decorate the space, turning it into a winter wonderland, creating a whimsical window display, putting up a hashtag wall or going all-out with any seasonal decor of your choice.

Maybe you could offer free shipping on any in-store purchases over a certain price, giving your customers a chance to continue their shopping unencumbered by bulky bags. One surefire way to stand out is to offer the option of gift-wrapping! For many, the idea of wrapping a gift comes with an overwhelming feeling of dread, and even for those who don’t mind wrestling with yards of paper and tape, the option to save time or have a beautifully wrapped gift is a hard one to pass up.

Any way that you can enhance the experience of shopping in your store, whether by making it more beautiful or whimsical, having attentive and knowledgeable staff or by making your customers’ lives easier, the more likely you will be to stand the test of time and come to the customers’ minds the next time they are in need of whatever you provide.

Expanding on your customer service basics can also extend beyond the time your shoppers are physically in your store. At the time of checkout, if you ask for an address, you could send a hand-written thank you note to them, reminding them of your business and the excellent service they received there. This small gesture is one way you can show your customers how grateful you are that they chose your business, and reminds them of the kind of personalized attention and care they can receive when shopping with a small business. These are the kinds of things that give small businesses an advantage over the big chain stores.

Give shoppers an incentive to come back

You can expect that seasonal shoppers aren’t only shopping at your business, and with the whirlwind of shopping, cooking, travel, and family that many people experience during this season, it can all pass by in a blur to them. If you want to stand out in the memories of these shoppers, you might want to consider giving them some kind of incentive to revisit your business.

One way to incentivize shoppers to revisit your store is to offer some kind of coupon or discount on a future purchase. Remember, this does not just apply to retail stores; a home cleaning company can offer a coupon for a spring cleaning discount, like, “Redeem this coupon in April for 10% off any one cleaning service.” Someone coming in to get their hair cut and colored before visiting family for the holidays could be surprised when you offer them a free conditioning treatment with the next service. Someone who signs up for a gym membership in the month of December could be wowed when they are offered a punch card to bring along a set number of guests for free. Since they are already committed to returning, maybe you can incentivize them to bring along a friend!

Many holiday shoppers are likely to be out purchasing gift cards for family and friends, meaning they may not spend much time in your store looking around or getting an idea of the out-of-this-world customer service you provide. You can persuade them to come back and spend some more time in your business by offering coupons or discounts with the purchase of a gift card. By giving them a coupon that is good through the end of January, or by providing an offer like, “If you buy a gift card worth $25 or more, you get 15% off your next purchase,” you are inviting this shopper to come back and check out your store for themselves. There are many bigger retail locations that successfully use a similar model: “For every $50 you spend now, get $10 off between January 1st and February 12th.” Giving your shoppers a discount in order to get them back in your store could end up paying off for you in the long run when they become familiar with you and your service, and become loyal future customers.

Stay in their minds after they’ve left

In addition to staying fresh on the minds of your customers through coupons and future shopping incentives, one simple way to stand out in the minds of your customers is by offering the option to email their receipt to them.

I know full well that, when a cashier hands me a receipt, I am shoving that thing into my purse, never to be seen again. With e-receipts, you cut down on unnecessary paper waste, your customer will have a hard-to-lose digital copy of their transaction, you can craft a sweet and personalized message to accompany the receipt and you can send a follow-up thank you message to their email a few days or weeks after the transaction, reminding customers of your service and your business.

While you never want to spam your customers into a state of resentment, a well-crafted, post-holiday thank you message could be really appreciated and could make you stand out in their minds. You could even send out a discount code as a message of appreciation, reminding people of your store and giving them a tangible reason to revisit.

Be ready for returns

While we may all be out there trying our best, sometimes, we don’t quite hit the mark with the gifts we give. After the holiday rush is up, you can probably expect to see a few people coming in to make returns or exchanges. Make sure your employees are well-trained and ready to handle these requests. When a customer is making a return, it might be worth it to see if they would rather exchange their item for something else. By giving them the chance to at least take a look around your business, you give yourself the opportunity to get to know this customer and wow them with your service. Even if they don’t want anything for themselves, they may be inspired to come back and get something for someone else. Make sure that you have a process in place to handle returns and exchanges, and make sure it is a simple process for your customers.


From all of us here at Top Rated Local, have a safe and happy holiday season!

Originally published on 12/23/19

A House Cleaning Company’s Guide to Reputation Management

When people find your business online, it’s incredibly important that it makes a great first impression.

Your house cleaning company relies on a solid online reputation.

No matter what city or town your house cleaning company operates out of, chances are, you have a little competition. It’s estimated that, in 2015, there were about 875,000 businesses in the cleaning industry, and that number has certainly grown since then. And because the barrier to entry in the industry is so low due to the fact that very little equipment is required to get started, more and more small businesses are being started in the house cleaning industry every day.

While word of mouth is still essential in the cleaning industry, nowadays, most people do a Google search when they’re looking for a house cleaning business to work with rather than asking their friends or family for a referral. With a good online reputation, not only is your business a lot more likely to actually be found online when people in your area search for relevant keywords, but you’ll have a higher chance of turning prospects into customers when your online reputation is bright.

With so much on the line, your business’s online reputation is something that you shouldn’t leave up to chance, and that’s why your friends at Top Rated Local® have set out to help you get it right.

5 key online reputation management tips for house cleaning companies

#1. Focus on providing great service

The first — and arguably the most important — aspect of building and maintaining a strong online reputation in the house cleaning industry is providing great service. On average, it’s estimated that a typical house cleaning company will lose up to 55% of its customers every year because of poor service.

The kind of service you provide directly translates into the kind of reviews you’d get. When you make providing next-level service one of your top priorities, you’ll save yourself the headache of dealing with negative reviews, which can be tricky to handle and easy to get wrong.

Asking for reviews — or at least letting your clients know that your business is listed on review sites — is one of the most effective ways to actually generate reviews. Many people won’t write reviews on their own; most don’t even think about it. But if you let them know that a review can help your business, most people are happy to write one. If you can truly wow your customers with the kind of service you provide, you can be confident that you’ll get positive reviews when you ask.

#2. Claim your listings

The more websites your business is listed on, the easier it will be for people to find you when they’re in need of cleaning services in your area. Whether people are looking for house cleaning services on Yelp, Google, Facebook or Top Rated Local®, you want your business to be found, and for the information about your business to be accurate and up to date. That’s why getting your business listed or your business listing claimed on review sites is such a critical step.

A lot of times, review sites aggregate listings from other places on the internet, so there’s a good chance that, even if you’ve never signed your business up for a review site, you may already have a listing. However, algorithms only work so well, and if they pulled your business’s information from an outdated source, it may not be up to date or accurate. Imagine how frustrating it would be for a customer to try to call you, only to get an old number! When you take the time to claim your business, you’ll be able to update and correct all of the information about your business.

Another huge benefit of claiming your business listings is that it gives you more control over managing them. On most review sites, when you claim your listing, you’ll be able to respond to your reviews, which will help you better manage them.

#3. Respond to your reviews!

It may not seem like it’s a big deal, but a lot of people lead incredibly busy lives and don’t have many spare moments in the day, and that they took a few minutes out of their life to sit down and write a review for your business, the least you can do is respond to it. Responding to reviews demonstrates to your clients how thankful you are that they took the time to write a review for you.

If you get any negative reviews, responding can help to turn a bad situation around, and it may even help you earn more clients and win over the reviewer who had the negative experience with your business. It also gives you a chance to explain your side of the story a little. We’re not saying that you should make excuses, but if there’s a reason that the experience was so negative, it’s OK to let the client know. But even if that’s the case, your number one goal in responding to negative reviews is to own up, apologize and make it right.

Responding to positive reviews is also a good idea. Like we said, people are busy and don’t have a lot of free time in their lives. If they could spare a few minutes to write a review for your business, show them how thankful you are by making it a point to respond.

It’s super important to respond to reviews, but it’s equally important to ensure that you do it promptly. After all, it’s what your clients expect. In the “gimme” age, we accept nothing less than instant gratification. Besides, the longer you leave a one-star review unchecked, the more weight it has. But how can you respond in a timely manner when you have no way of knowing when you get new reviews?

#4. Set up alerts

Managing your business’s online reputation isn’t something that you can do every once in a while and forget about the rest of the time. It’s an ever-evolving monster that will only grow more vicious the longer you let it go unattended. But who has the time to check every review site their business is listed on every day to check for new reviews? It can be an arduous task, but luckily, there are several tools out there that can help.

Google alerts are one such tool, and it’s a great idea for any business that cares about its online reputation to set them up. With Google alerts, you can track any mentions of your business online, but it also gives you the ability to track what people are saying about your competitors, which will help you to gain a competitive edge. Google alerts are also a great tool that is free to sign up for.

Top Rated Local is another reputation management tool that every business owner needs to have handy. Top Rated Local is unique in that it aggregates reviews from across the web, not just on Top Rated Local, and uses the data to provide each business with a Rating Score™. The Rating Score is determined by a number of factors, including the number of review sites a business is listed on, the number of reviews and the average star rating of those reviews. With the Rating Score, businesses can get a good idea of what their online reputation looks like all around.

Plus, Top Rated Local integrates seamlessly with the Marketing 360® Reputaiton app, allowing you to build and manage a strong reputation from one place.

#5. Publish content regularly

A large aspect of maintaining a strong online reputation has to do with what ranks in the SERP (search engine results page) for your business name and relevant keywords. The last thing any business wants is for the first thing that prospective customers see online is a little bit of bad press about the business, or a negative review. That’s why it’s a good idea to publish fresh content regularly. This will help to ensure that the sites you want to rank — like your website, Facebook page, etc., will be the first thing people see about your business.

One of the best ways to ensure that your website stays relevant is to publish new content on a regular basis via blogs and web pages. Web pages are great places to put information about your business and your services; whereas, the blog is a great place to lend your clients a little industry know-how and insight.

You should also make it a point to post regularly on your social media sites. These sites are a great place to share what’s going on behind the scenes of your business, like any community outreach events you’ve participated in, photos of your team, exciting news, etc. Social media gives you the opportunity to connect with your clients on a new level, but like everything else having to do with your online reputation, managing social media is an ongoing thing that takes time and patience to cultivate.


Become a Top Rated Local house cleaning company today!

House cleaning companies rely on a strong online reputation in order to attract new clients, as well as to keep their existing clients, and one of the best things you can do to start taking control over your business’s online reputation is to get listed/claim your listing with Top Rated Local! Best of all, it’s totally free! Get started today.

Originally published on 12/17/19

How to Monitor Your Online Reputation

An effective reputation management strategy involves regular monitoring.

Reputation management is akin to physical health. Just as you can’t just go to the gym one time and expect to be in great shape for the rest of your life, you can’t expect your online reputation to get strong by merely claiming your listings or responding to a single review.

And, just as building physical strength and maintaining that strength takes constant vigilance, so does building and maintaining a strong online reputation for your business. It’s not an overnight thing; it takes time, hard work and, maybe most important of all, consistency.

In order for your reputation management strategy to truly be effective, it needs to be about staying up to date on how your business’s online reputation is doing on a regular basis.

A negative review is really not a big deal and can sometimes even be a beneficial thing for your business, but only if you’re able to turn the situation around with your response. And, the longer you leave a negative review unresponded to, the more weight and truth you’re giving it, at least in the eyes of anyone researching your business online.

You don’t have any control over what other people say about your business online, and you also never know when someone is going to surprise you with a one-star review. That’s why monitoring your online reputation should be a regular thing in your schedule.

Tips for staying on top of your online reputation

#1. Check review sites

It may be obvious, but one of the most critical parts of monitoring your online reputation is checking any review sites your business is listed on regularly. Responding to reviews, whether they’re positive or negative, is a great habit to get into, and what’s more is that your customers expect a response from you. That means that you need to be in the know about any new reviews by checking on your review sites.

Not only do your customers expect a response from you when they write a review for you; they expect a prompt response. If you only check your review sites sporadically, you can’t possibly respond to them in a timely manner.

#2. Keep track of social media accounts

Most business owners know that they should post on their social media profiles consistently. But, even if you don’t post on social media every single day, you still need to login and check on your social media accounts.

Just as people expect you to respond when they review your business online, they also expect you to respond when they engage with you on social media. And, the only way that you will keep up is if you monitor your social media accounts consistently.

In addition to logging into your social media profiles, it’s also important to be aware of any mentions of your handles or any time your hashtags are used. This will help you avoid using a hashtag that overlaps with another business’.

#3. Keep up with your blog

Blogging is an essential part of ensuring that your website stays visible online, and it’s important that you are publishing new blogs on a regular basis. Blogs should be informative, original, and helpful to your audience. Blogs should be your outlet for sharing your knowledge and expertise with the world. What they shouldn’t be is totally self-promotional.

Not only should you publish new blogs to your website regularly, but after you publish blogs, you should watch out for comments if you’ve left them on. There are pros and cons to leaving comments on. When people legitimately comment, it gives you valuable insight into what people think of your content. However, leaving comments open also leaves you open to spam comments, which can hurt the legitimacy of your blog.

#4. Set up Google Alerts

One of the best available tools for monitoring your business’ online reputation is Google Alerts. With Google Alerts, you’ll be in the know every single time someone mentions your brand online. It can also notify you when new content is published that contains keywords you’re targeting.

In addition to using Google Alerts to keep up with any mentions of your brand online, you can also use it to help you stay on top of what people are saying about your competition. This will give you a competitive edge when planning your digital marketing strategy.

#5. Harness the power of Marketing 360® Reputation

There are so many things you can do to stay on top of your business’ online reputation. Unfortunately, monitoring four different social media accounts and six different review sites can get exhausting, and there’s a good chance that you don’t have a whole lot of time in your schedule to stay on top of a lot of different sites. Luckily, there’s a solution — the Marketing 360® Reputation app.

Marketing 360 Reputation is your one-stop shop for reputation management. Get real-time notifications of new reviews, so that you won’t have to check review sites individually for new reviews. You’ll also be able to send out review requests, respond to reviews and more.

Another benefit of claiming your Top Rated Local profile is that you’ll be able to put a badge on your website that will make it easy for people to read all of your reviews from one convenient place. Furthermore, having the Top Rated Local badge on your site will help to give it authority and establish trust in your visitors.


Monitoring your online reputation doesn’t have to mean visiting dozens of reviews sites and social media profiles. Stay in the know about your online reputation with the Marketing 360 Reputation app.

Originally published on 1/29/20

5 Easy Ways to Make Your Small Business Stand Out on Black Friday

Black Friday, the unofficial kickoff to shopping season, is finally upon us. Traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, for many, the upcoming season can make up the majority of a business’s yearly revenue. So, you’ve got your inventory stocked, your shop cleaned up and your staff caffeinated. The competition is fierce, especially with retail giants and online shopping, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact on your shoppers. We’re going to outline a few simple ways you can stand out to all the busy, likely stressed, shoppers that visit your store. It can be easy to let a day this bustling with energy rush by in a blur of customers and transactions, but remember that you have a chance to show off what makes your store so wonderful and worth facing the crowds for.

5 ways to make your small business stand out on Black Friday

Know your product

You have a significant advantage over online retailers here. If people have a question about a product, if a customer wants to see an example of what they are purchasing or if they want to know what a product looks like in another color, you have the opportunity to talk with them, show them and interact with them. You and your staff get to be the experts here, and it is important that you establish trust with your clients by showing them that you are knowledgeable and prepared.

Practice the basics

Today, more than ever, you will need to showcase your finest customer service skills. You’re busy and people are stressed, so taking the time to show them that you are willing to give them individualized care and attention will stand out that much more. These might sound like the basics, but it is more important than ever to maintain and practice them. To start, smile, or at the very least, be friendly and genuine. Make eye contact when you talk to people to show them that you are engaged and listening to them. It is important that your customers feel seen and heard, as that can make a world of difference in their overall experience. Introduce yourself and try to use people’s names when you speak with them. This added level of personalized attention will put you leagues ahead of any online retailer.

Share on social media

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to share content and show off the excitement of the day on your social media feed! Now is a great time to show your followers that people are turning up and getting what they want from your store. This might just be the motivation someone needs to get up and out of the house and into your store. This can also help you set the tone for the kind of reputation you want your business to have. Are you guys fun and silly? Genuine? You can use this day to show your audience that that is who you really are, even on what might just be the most stressful day of the year.

Say thank you

Remember to thank your customers for their support. In today’s world, it would be very easy for them to do business at a chain retailer or online, so it means something that they chose to support you. The least you could do is tell them as much. Offering some gratitude is simple, meaningful and, most likely, genuine. This one-on-one attention and care might be the reason they chose to shop at a business like yours instead of at one of the chains.

Ask for feedback

Black Friday and the approaching shopping season means an influx in traffic, and each of those customers should be reminded that you would love to get their feedback online. Ideally, you will get a huge boost in your online reviews, ultimately helping out your search engine optimization, your online presence, and your overall reputation. By remembering to provide the kind of service and attention that nobody is expecting on a day as busy as Black Friday, you’re sure to stand out in people’s minds as being a five-star establishment worthy of a five-star rating.


We here at Top Rated Local wish the best to you, your business and your customers during this busy season!

Originally published on 11/29/19

Reputation Management Tips for Veterinary Clinics

Effective online reputation management is something every veterinary clinic needs to master

Veterinary clinics, like every other business, can’t rely on word of mouth like they used to. That’s because, these days, people are less likely to ask a friend, co-worker, or family member for a recommendation than they are to simply google, “veterinary clinic near me.”

With the right online reputation management strategy, not only will you have the best chance of showing up for those “near me” searches in your area, but you’ll also have a lot more control over what people find when they look for your business online.

Knowing how to implement an effective online reputation management strategy is a skill that every local business needs these days, and veterinary clinics are no exception.

4 key reputation management tips for veterinary clinics

#1. Claim your listings on review sites and directories

Whether or not you’ve taken the time to sign your business up to be on a review site or an online directory is irrelevant – chances are, your veterinary clinic is already listed. These kinds of sites pull their listings in with algorithms, which means that, whatever information was available at the time the algorithm pulled the listing, is the only information that the website in question will have.

What does this mean for you? It means that if you’ve ever moved to a new facility, changed your phone number, or updated your email address, the people who find you on that listing probably won’t be able to get ahold of you. This may leave them with the impression that your business is no longer operational for some reason or, possibly, that you’re just too lazy to keep your contact information updated — either way, it’s a lost patient for your veterinary clinic.

That’s why it’s important to claim your listings and keep them current. Not only will this ensure that people will be able to connect with your business regardless of how they find you online, but when your contact information is consistent across the web, it can help to improve your website’s ranking in the SERP (search engine results pages).

#2. Ask for reviews

Most veterinary clinics claim to be committed to patient care and treating pets like family, so what sets a veterinary clinic apart from the many others that show up in the SERP when someone googles “veterinary clinic near me?” There are many possible answers to this question, but most people will choose a local veterinary clinic over the others because of its reviews.

Reviews play a vital role in the decision-making process when people are searching online for any local business. As informative as a veterinary clinic’s website can be, it can feel like a gamble to entrust your pet to a clinic you don’t have personal knowledge of. Reading a clinic’s reviews helps to ease some of that doubt.

This, of course, means that you have to have reviews to read in the first place. If you don’t, it can give the impression of inexperience. At the very least, it doesn’t give the consumer any peace of mind about working with you, because they don’t have any real idea of what their experience will be like. Luckily, it’s easy to generate reviews. In fact, the best way to get them is to simply ask.

#3. Respond to reviews — and do so promptly

While it’s true that most people will write a review for you when asked, it’s also true that most people won’t write one on their own — even if you provide a next-level experience for them. Let’s face it, most of us lead stressful, busy lives, and we just don’t think about it. So, when someone does take the time out of their schedule to write a review for your business, it’s important to show them that you’re listening to their feedback by responding to it (and make sure you do so promptly!).

Respond to every review but, in particular, respond to the negative ones. Negative reviews can hurt a veterinary clinic’s online reputation, but you can mitigate the damage in the kind of response you leave.

When responding to a negative review, always apologize for their negative experience with your clinic, even if you think the review is unfair or inaccurate. If their feedback is valuable and you can use it to make a change within your clinic, let them know! Always give them a chance to talk with you directly about the situation, by inviting them to call or email you. This will prevent a public argument that will only make you look petty, and it will tell the reviewer, and anyone reading the exchange, that you value any feedback.

#4. Monitor your online reputation

People not only expect a response to their reviews; they expect a prompt response, which means that you need to know when someone leaves you a review. That’s partially why it’s so important to closely monitor your online reputation on a consistent basis. It’s also just as important to know what people are saying about your business online and what people find when they look for you online.

You could monitor your online reputation by logging into each individual review site one at a time, or you could simply sign up/claim your Top Rated Local® listing! Top Rated local offers numerous ways to stay on top of your online reputation.

Top Rated Local businesses enjoy a plethora of monitoring benefits, including real-time notifications when they get reviews, monthly reports on their overall online reputation, and a Rating Score™, which gives them a score out of 100 based on their reputation across every verified review site they’re rated on.


Start monitoring your veterinary clinic’s online reputation with Marketing 360®’s reputation management software. See our plans and pricing. 

Originally published on 1/21/20

Tips for Creating Content More Consistently

Consistent content creation is an important part of the online reputation management puzzle

There are many things that go into an effective online reputation strategy. You’ll need to claim your listings and keep them updated, consistently check in on review sites for new reviews, and respond to your reviews on a regular basis — just to name a few of them.

However, reputation management isn’t just about exercising some level of control over what people are saying about your brand online; it’s also about controlling the results people find when they look up your brand online.

When someone googles your business online, are they inundated with negative reviews and bad press, or do they find your website, social media profiles, press releases, and more?

Ensuring that, when people google your business, they find what you want them to is all about SEO (search engine optimization), and when it comes to SEO, there’s almost nothing more important than creating content consistently.

Google recognizes businesses that provide their customers with content that’s original, high-quality, and valuable on a regular basis, but creating content consistently isn’t always easy. What do you write about every day? How do you come up with fresh, new ideas?

5 tips for creating content more consistently

#1. Share your own unique knowledge

As a local business owner, chances are, you have a lot of knowledge to share. Whether you’re a chiropractor, a plumber, or an arborist, you know a thing or two that the rest of us don’t, and that kind of knowledge makes the perfect content to put on your website and to share on social media.

When Google ranks sites, it’s not looking for who can regurgitate the same information the most over and over and over again; it’s looking for content that’s original and authentic. And, as an industry expert, you’re in the best place to provide that kind of content.

How do you figure out what kind of knowledge to share? Pull examples from your day-to-day. If you’re an arborist, and a lot of your clients have been asking how often they should get their trees pruned or why it’s important to get them pruned, share that information in a blog or on social media!

#2. Save ideas for future content as you find them

If you wait until you’re ready to sit down and start blogging to think of a topic to write about, it’s going to make the whole process a lot longer and a lot harder than it has to be. You’ll be a lot better off (and you’ll be able to produce content a lot more consistently) if you have a few ideas socked away for future topics.

Oftentimes, when you’re doing research or on a job, you’ll come up with a great idea for a blog or a social media post. Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of believing that you’ll remember it later. As a business owner, you have a lot going on, and the reality is that you’re probably not going to remember it.

Instead, take a minute to jot down any ideas you have in the moment, and keep them saved somewhere you can reference them later on. This way, you’ll always have something to write about.

#3. Let feedback guide you

There are all kinds of content that you could be creating for your audience, but not all of it will be effective or helpful for your brand. Luckily, you can use feedback on the content you’ve created so far to guide you when it comes to the type of content you’ll be producing in the future.

There are many places you could go to get feedback into the type of content you’re creating. One way to go about this is by using social analytics to find out which of your social media posts get the most engagement and clicks. On your website, you can keep track of how your content is ranking. It’s also a good idea to pay attention to feedback in any comments.

Another way to go about gathering feedback about your content is to simply ask for it. When you talk with your clients, it doesn’t hurt to ask them what they would like to learn or about any questions they may have that your content could answer.

#4. Outsource some of your content

No matter how much knowledge and experience you have, and how many sources of fresh topics you have at your disposal, keeping up on consistently producing content can be a lot of work. It can also get old quickly and easily become something that gets put on the backburner when your schedule starts to fill up.

But, there’s no rule that says that you have to produce all of your own content. In fact, if you are able to outsource some of your content to others, it will stay more fresh and interesting for your audience.

One great resource for content might be other businesses that you partner with. Ask them to publish content on your blogs in exchange for publishing content on theirs. This is also a great way to earn backlinks to your site, which will help with your organic rankings.

#5. Remember that there are many different types of content

Traditionally, when most people think of creating content, they think of publishing new blogs on their website or giving followers tips on social media. However, it’s important to remember that content creation goes far beyond text, and whether you’re sharing a video tutorial, an infographic, or even photos of your team volunteering or celebrating at your annual company party — it all counts as creating content.

If you limit yourself to text-based content, it’s going to feel like consistent content creation is an uphill battle. But, when you open yourself up to all kinds of content, it will help you tap into your own creativity and make it easy for you to consistently produce new content.


Consistently creating content is an important part of SEO, which is an important part of building and maintaining a strong online reputation for your business. And, the good news is that there are lots of things you can do to make creating content on a regular basis easier and less time-consuming.

Originally published on 1/31/20