How to Find Reviews of Your Business Online
How to Find Reviews of Your Business Online
As a business owner, you might find it frustrating, time consuming, and maybe even downright irritating to keep track of your online reviews. Unfortunately, however, none of this really matters.
Despite the fact that finding, keeping track of, and responding to online reviews might not be on your list of “things I want to spend a few hours a week doing,” it has become a task that is incredibly important and should not be overlooked.
Finding your online reviews is an important piece of your overall Online Reputation Management strategy. Today people are heavily swayed by online reviews.
Think about it. When was the last time you went out of your way to patronize a business after reading a negative or disparaging review of it online?
Your goal should be to know when new online reviews of your business appear online. Monitoring all online conversations about your business sounds like an overwhelming job, but it's not necessarily as difficult as you might imagine. There are several tools and services that can help you stay informed.
In reality, the most difficult part of monitoring your online reviews is figuring out which monitoring system works best for your business.
Will you attempt to handle the job yourself? Will you hire employees that are trained to do this? Or will you enlist the help of an online reputation management company, like Reputation Local, to keep you in-the-know?
The choice is ultimately up to you. The most important thing to remember is that you must not close your eyes and ignore the fact that online reviews of your business must be tracked. It's as simple as that.
Is Tracking Online Reviews Really So Simple?
In theory, it should not be difficult to keep track of online reviews of your business. However, with so many local review sites and so many social media outlets, there are numerous places to look for reviews of your business.
A review can appear at any time of day or night, and on any day of the year. Thus, the task of manually searching for reviews of your business can quickly become an onerous undertaking. Luckily, there are ways to make review tracking much simpler.
Manually Doing Searches on Google and Bing
It's possible to manually enter your business name or URL into the most popular search engines each day to see what comments and reviews you can find.
While there are dozens of search engines on the internet, Google and Bing are the most popular. A manual search can be highly effective in locating reviews and comments about your business, but many business owners find this type of manual process to be time overly time consuming and burdensome.
Google Alerts
Setting up a Google Alert is fairly easy and free. To start the process, simply create a new Google Alert using the search criteria of your choice.
You might want to use your business URL, your business name, a nickname for your business, or words that are commonly used to describe your business.
Once your alert is set up, you will receive a notification every time Google notices a new mention of your search criteria in news stories, blog articles, or on other websites.
Hire an Online Reputation Management Company
Many business owners have excellent intentions when it comes to monitoring their online business reviews. But excellent intentions do not always lead to action. This is where hiring a local online reputation management company comes in to play.
A reputation management company has the technology and resources to monitor what is being posted online about your company, and then provide you with the information in a simple format.
All Reputation Management Programs are NOT the Same
Making a commitment to finding and responding to online reviews of your business is important. One poor review that goes unnoticed or is not handled quickly and properly can reap negative effects on your business.
Setting up a Google Alert or manually searching for new reviews are excellent first steps in the online reputation management process. Each is designed to help you keep track of comments made about your business.
But are Google Alerts and manual searches enough? Probably not.
There are dozens of reputation management tools and companies available to business owners. Each offers unique benefits.
Some software tools only detect star ratings or reviews on major reviews sites. They miss references about your business, or “mentions,” on blogs, news sites, social media and other media channels.
Even if you find a great tool, it still requires weekly oversight and management. Because this process is so important for the reputation & growth of your business, often it is best to hire a skilled company to handle all of these tedious tasks for you.
Finding the Right Reputation Management Company
If you decide that your online reputation management strategy should be left to the professionals, many experts will be happy to provide you with help.
Finding the right reputation management company for your business is a process that should not be taken lightly. It's important to find a company that offers several services so that you can choose the package that best suits your needs.
An excellent reputation management company, like Reputation Local (we're biased), will not only monitor the internet for reviews and comments made about your business, but it will also help you handle and respond to those reviews and comments when necessary.
Eliminating the Stress of Finding and Handling Online Reviews
Business owners who have dealt with a negative online review or comment understand the stress involved with handling this type of situation.
Most business owners do their best to provide top notch products and services to customers. Unfortunately, regardless of whether a business deserves a negative online review, such reviews can appear when you least expect them.
Your best defense against a negative review of your business is to stay on top of things. Make sure you are aware of all reviews (both positive and negative) as soon as they are posted and have a plan in place on how you will respond to them.
Reputation Local provides a range of online reputation management services and tools, as well as local search engine optimization, pay per click management, retargeting, and content marketing for businesses and franchises. Give us a call today at (303) 926-5227 if you would like to discuss your business needs, or fill out our contact form on our Contact Us page and we will give you a call.