One of the most efficient methods of promoting a business in our digital era is online reviews. They are valuable for two main reasons. First, they create a positive online image for the business. Second, they serve as an excellent feedback tool. By reading them, an entrepreneur can see what is good about their services or products and what is bad, and thus make adjustments to their strategies in order to keep their customers happy. According to some reports, 4 out of 5 people on average decide against buying an item if it has a negative review. Most consumers regard online business reviews as a more credible source of information than advertising or corporate social media materials. If we have convinced you of the importance of reviews for your business, here are some valuable websites where they can be published.
1. Yelp
- Founded back in 2004, which proves its credibility.
- The number of available reviews on Yelp has surpassed the 100-million mark.
- Targets location-based companies in all possible categories, starting from dentists and ending with building contractors.
- The service is completely free both for entrepreneurs and users who want to leave a review. That said, businesses can’t ask consumers for reviews directly, but only through the Yelp branding.
- You can specify your business details such as your location when signing up. Then, you will be visible on Google.
2. Google My Business
- Placing information about your company in Google’s local directory ‘Google My Business’ guarantees that your search engine ranking will improve.
- Google My Business is a free tool that coordinates with the entire range of Google products, meaning that your customers will be able to find you no matter what device they’re using.
- To complete the registration process with Google My Business, you need to verify that your company really exists.
- Your profile may contain all your business-related information such as your opening hours and address. Google Maps will extract those details and show them to users when they are searching for your business.
- Entrepreneurs can respond to customers’ reviews.
3. HireRush.com
- HireRush.com targets local service professionals in each of the 50 American states. The range of available services is rather wide (from music lessons to pet grooming).
- Registered users looking for a particular service can see all the reviews that previous customers have left and post their own comments.
- A professional can’t publish a review about their own work. That makes the website really credible.
- Business owners can respond to their customers’ reviews.
- All businesses are rated by consumers on the five-star scale.
4. Facebook
- Facebook is one of the biggest social networking platforms in the world. It’s monthly US traffic is estimated at around 85 million users. It’s also becoming one of the best review websites.
- Three years ago, Facebook added a feature called ‘Professional Services’. It helps users find companies with the highest rankings in specific locations.
- Businesses can have their presence on Facebook. Users can follow those accounts and write about services or goods.
- It’s easy to leave reviews on Facebook for registered users. They don’t need to create a new account as many review websites require.
- Business owners can answer their customers if they are logged into their Facebook page as the administrator.
5. YellowPages
- The legendary YellowPages directory is now in the digital form with close to 11 million users in U.S. visiting it monthly.
- YellowPages is the second top resource through which Americans search for businesses in their specific locations.
- Owned by YP. This company’s mission is to assist local-based businesses in increasing their customer bases and revenues.
- Publishing online reviews is free for registered YP users.
- When relevant, YP shows reviews from other sites such as TripAdvisor.
- Entrepreneurs who have claimed their business listings on YP can respond to customers’ reviews.
- Companies have two options for having their listings on the site: free and paid.
Online customer reviews are an integral part of marketing strategy for modern companies. If you want a good online reputation for your business and wish to know what your customers think about your products or services, we recommend creating accounts at several review websites, starting from the ones listed above.
