Is it worth it to put links to review sites like Google or Top Rated Local on your website? The short answer: Yes. Let’s explore the value of these links.
What is a Review Link?
A review link is a button that links to a particular review profile for your business. For example, this chiropractor has links to his Google Business listing:
This is a simple feature, but it feeds into the vital role that reputation plays in digital marketing.
Online reviews are at the center of how you develop trust with prospective clients. These buttons serve as a call to action to leave a review.
Why Are Review Links Effective?
There are several factors at work here.
First is that review links on your site make for an easy, fast way to request a review. Since everyone has a phone, you can just ask a client to go right to your website and leave a review directly after the service.
The website link is particularly useful for Google reviews because getting more reviews helps your organic ranking in business listings.
Ranking as it connects to reviews is of particular importance for businesses that are now on Local Service Ads (LSA). With these ads, Google reviews play a big role in how business is ranked.
If you’re a contractor running LSA, it’s a really good strategy to have these website links set up. At the end of the job you can simply mention that you’d appreciate a review and direct the client to your website.
You’ll get more reviews when you make it easy for people to leave them.
The chiropractic site pictured got an immediate uptick in reviews, jumping from just a couple a week to a dozen a week.
The other factor here is that having these links on your site engenders trust.
For any business, it’s an excellent idea to embrace client reviews and make it easy for people to find them or leave them. It suggests that you’re proud of your customer service and you want people to know what your clients think.
This is the reason we also suggest adding the Top Rated Local widget to your site:
This basically says to visitors: We’re proud of our customer service and reviews, and we want you to see them!
Additionally, Top Rated Local uses a rating score that aggregates ratings from review sites across the web so prospects can get a quick sense of your overall reputation.
It’s worth it to be proactive about online review content because today people are going to find reviews about you anyway. Making it clear that you want people to see your reviews means you know what clients said about your work is positive.
There are a number of excellent strategies, such as email follow-ups, that will help you get more reviews from customers.
In the past, every business knew the value of positive word of mouth. A strong local reputation that drove referrals was invaluable.
Today, word of mouth has a strong digital component. Consumers trust online reviews as much as a referral from a friend, and they expect established businesses to have reviews that demonstrate that the business keeps its promises.
If you don’t have many reviews or your review profile is less than stellar, use these strategies to get your best customers writing about you.
This post was originally published on Marketing 360®.
