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Understanding Google My Business & Local Search

Asking for Reviews (Post Google Apocalypse)

Since Google started clamping down on review solicitation, particularly in the dental and auto dealer worlds, many businesses have expressed fear, dismay and discouragement about reviews in general and Google’s review policies in particular.

Comments like “At this point I am ready to give up and ask my customers to avoid Google and go to Yelp. it is not worth all of the brain damage. does anyone at Google care enough to help? or should I just move on?” or “I’m completely moving away from encouraging customers to leave reviews on Google.” were all too common in my post on Google’s newest “guidance” in the arena.

My suggestion? Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Google may be frustrating and they may be opaque but they are still generating 60-90% of your leads. Endorsements on the front page of a search result are still very valuable. The issue is finding a way to continue to get reviews around the internet, including Google. You may need to test a few tactics until you find one that works but it is worth the effort.

But you say: How can I possibly ask a customer to leave a review there if Google is going to throw it away and waste their time. I say: Tell you customers what to expect, give them choices and let them decide.

The reality is that you don’t need 10 reviews a week at Google. In fact you don’t need 10 reviews a month or a quarter there to succeed. Most businesses need to accrue one review every month or two so that at the end of 3 years you will have 30. You need to ultimately get more than 10 so you get Zagat rated and you need to stop fretting about how many you have there and how many you have lost. You need to keep putting one foot in front of another, keep gaining endorsements across the internet.  In the end if you run a good business and have loyal customers you will get your share of reviews at Google and elsewhere.

If you have had massive review take downs at Google you need to review your processes and procedures and acknowledge that what you were doing was not working and will not work. If you are a car dealer you need to stop spiffing your salesmen to hustle a customer over to an on-sight review work station. If you are a high volume dentist you may need to simply hand out a piece of paper explaining the review process rather than actively soliciting reviews of 20 clients a day via email. And if you were buying reviews or using a review service to enter comment cards well DUH!, time to stop. If you were helping folks sign up for a Google account, that probably needs to end as well.

So what is left for a business to do that wants to gather reviews? The same as has always been the case. Put in place a review process that gives customers lots of choice, generates reviews at a wide range of sites in addition to Google and is easy for your staff to implement. Keep it ethical, keep it simple and you will find that you get the enough reviews at Google and lots of reviews elsewhere.

Here is a sample email/letter that I have crafted for a client. It was written for a legal client but the logic of it can be used for any business.

*******

Leave Us Your Feedback

We’ve found that customer endorsements are very helpful in keeping our business thriving so that we can continue to provide service to the community. We would truly appreciate an online review from you!

Visit the site of your choice to leave a review or comment. Pick whichever one that you find easiest and most convenient.

1. You may use your Facebook login at Citysearch or InsiderPages

Citysearchhttp://goo.gl/MP27j

Click the thumbs up/down to leave your opinion then login via Facebook or your email address
Insiderpagehttp://goo.gl/hDyBH
Click on write a review and follow the instructions.

2. If you are a regular Google User and already have a Google Plus account you can go to

Googlehttp://goo.gl/ygGGm

Login and click on the write a review link.  Note that Google requires you to show your full name on the review. If you wish to be less public you can use Avvo where you will be able to post your review anonymously.

Note: Google has opaque rules about which consumer reviews they will show. If you are not an active user of their products you might want to pick a different site so that you can be sure that your review will be seen by others.

3. Avvo is a legal site for consumers that allows login by Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn or your own email and it easily allows you to post a review anonymously.
Enter the review, indicate whether to show your first name or whether the review is anonymous and then login by your favored method.

4. Yahoo Mail accounts are common and if you have one this might be the easiest way to leave a review.
Click on write a review button, login with your Yahoo mail account and write the review.

Thank you for reviewing us. We appreciate your business.

Signed:
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