How Your Online Reputation Can Make or Break Your Business

How important are customer reviews to your Plumbing or HVAC business? In short, a plethora of positive testimonials from clients can significantly increase your return on investment. Companies that are lacking in the online review department are not building the credibility needed for customers to contact them for services over their competitors. In fact in a recent poll of 272 people that attended an InsideLocal webinar, 55% did not have a sound online review strategy in place.

Along with unique and informative content, quality links, and a streamline website, not to mention the many other facets that go into search engine optimization, customer reviews play a significant role in your page placement on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Roughly 88% of consumers put as much faith into online reviews as they would a word-of-mouth recommendation. This means that companies need to put forth the extra effort to ensure that numerous customer testimonials are always available to those looking to choose your Plumbing or HVAC company as their go-to service provider.

Search engine optimization experts do use certain tools and strategies to initiate better rankings for their customers through the implantation of easily accessible online reviews. One useful system is Nearby Now, which has a feature that automatically sends out a review request via email once your technician has arrived on the job.

Another program can be set up on your website that will hide any reviews that fall below a 3-star rating. However, reviews posted on Yelp, Angie’s List, and any other site that is open to the public are permanent, which is why it is so important to make sure your customers are completely satisfied with the services you provided.

It is also crucial to build up a number of good reviews. If you only have a few testimonials or possibly none at all, one bad comment from an unsatisfied customer can cause significant harm to your business. If you notice that you have received a poor review, it is important that you address the matter as soon as possible to see if there is any way you can rectify the situation and possibly increase your rating.

Professional SEO companies can only go so far to improve your rankings and conversion based upon review visibility. Ultimately it is left up to you to continue to encourage customers to provide positive online feedback. You have to understand that this is a priority that your Plumbing or HVAC business must adhere to.

Some companies may offer their customers some kind of incentive if they write them a positive review, but like any other bribe this is not good practice and could jeopardize the standing relationship with your client and your credibility on various search engines. Others may even write their own reviews under different names and hope that will give their business the positive reputation they need. You have to realize that Google doesn’t miss much, and most customers aren’t fooled that easily, so never under any circumstances attempt to do this. The truth of the matter is that all you need to do is ask. If you have provided courteous and superior service and you see in their eyes that your customer is happy, odds are they won’t object to writing you a review.

Your customers are busy too; so don’t feel strange about asking for a review more than once. A simple reminder or even a few notifications can make quite a difference. It is actually proven that customers are more likely to respond to a second or third inquiry than the initial review request.

Facebook can also be very helpful in establishing an impressive online reputation, as it has become more and more common for customers to post a review there. Additionally, do not scoff at niche sites like Home Advisor or other pages that specialize in hosting reviews for companies in your specific industry.

Now that you understand how valuable online reviews are to the overall success of your Plumbing or HVAC business, you need to proactively peruse as many as you can. It is also a good idea to take the time to read over your own reviews so that you can make note of what your company is doing right and what can possibly be improved upon.

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