Danielle from Hello SEO discusses website tips to rank better in Google searches using keywords and how perfect review can help you easily get more positive reviews for your tradie business.
Hello SEO and Perfect Review [0:02:12s]
Danielle started her company, Hello SEO a few years ago after starting an e-commerce business and realising she needed more traffic to her website. She learned about SEO and started creating rank-and-rent websites which helped Tradies get phone calls and emails from these websites. She realised Tradies were missing out on business because they didn’t have their Google my business correctly set up. Having a Google my business profile is vital for any business as it’s where Google reviews show up. Perfect review is a tool designed to help businesses get more reviews, manage their online reputation, and improve their search engine rankings.
Local Google Searches [0:05:12s]
Local Google searches are where Tradies can get fast results when they do a few things correctly. It is all about having the right words in the right places on your website to help Google to understand what services your business provides, its target market and location.
Good reviews for businesses can help drive sales and are essential for any business as they help build trust with potential customers. Positive reviews can also help improve search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website. Unfortunately people tend to look at negative reviews first before reading the positive ones. Leaving reviews can help businesses gain credibility and recognition however, many people only leave reviews if they have had a bad experience or if the company has made it easy for them to leave a review. Perfect review can help businesses save time and effort with features such as automated review requests, review monitoring, and reporting.
When setting up Google My Business many businesses fail to pick their subcategories or select incorrect categories that do not have as much traffic. There are hundreds of different categories, so it is essential to check what category a business should be in. Keywords are important because they help people find businesses through search engines for example Google matches users with the closest and most relevant business based on their location.
The Power of Google Reviews [0:05:53s]
Leaving reviews is a form of word-of-mouth advertising that can help businesses gain credibility and recognition and impact a business’s reputation and success. Positive reviews help build trust with potential customers by showing that other people have had good experiences with your business. People tend to look at negative reviews first before reading positive ones. If there are no negatives or if they are not significant, people will start trusting the company or service more. Positive reviews can lead to increased website traffic, phone calls, and ultimately, more business.
Positive reviews signal to Google that a business is active and trustworthy, which can improve your ranking in local searches. Keywords used in positive reviews can also help a business rank higher for specific search terms.
Encouraging customers to leave reviews on multiple platforms, such as Google and Facebook can help improve a business’s online presence. Using a review platform that consolidates all review links into one place can make it easier for customers to leave reviews. Having the review link in an email or SMS message can be an effective way to get more responses from customers.
We look for the negatives and if there are no negatives, or the negatives are something that we don't consider important, then we start to trust the company or the service or the product and then we read the good reviews.
Introduction To Perfect Review [06:32s]
Perfect Review was created to make reviews more prominent and easier to gather. The tool is designed to make it easy for tradies to get reviews from their clients while out in the field. Dnielle explains how Perfect Review uses RFID technology to make it easy for customers to leave reviews. A card reader can be linked with a phone using RFID technology. Tradespeople can use this technology to ask customers for reviews by tapping their card against the customer’s phone. This makes it easy for customers to leave reviews without having to download anything or type anything out. If a customer has an older phone that doesn’t support RFID technology, the Perfect Review cards have a QR codes that can be scanned instead.
Statistics of Reviews [14:32s]
Getting regular reviews on Google can help improve a business’s local ranking but it’s also important to have Facebook reviews and recommendations on other platforms like Trustpilot or HiPages. Having reviews across multiple platforms shows that a business is active, credible, and trustworthy.
Did you know consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before feeling that they can trust a company? 57% of consumers will only do business with a company if it has four or more stars out of five and 84% of people look for reviews before making a purchase, often starting by looking at negative ones first.
If you don’t actively gather Google reviews it can result in lost business opportunities. The best way to encourage customers to leave a review is when you are onsite and they are happy about the service you have just provided. Provide your staff with cards asking for feedback and encourage them to ask customers if they would be willing to leave a review.
Consumers read an average of of 10 online reviews before feeling that they can trust the company and 57% of consumers will only do business with a company if it has four or more stars out of five.
Responding professionally to bad reviews [28:42s]
Handling negative reviews can be tricky. Danielle recommends you respond promptly and professionally, acknowledging the customer’s concerns. First, check if the reviewer is a customer and ask them to contact you directly and apologise for any inconvenience caused and offer to make things right. Try to avoid getting defensive or argumentative, as this can escalate the situation. Answering professionally shows that you care about your customers and if you fix the issue they may even adjust their review.
It is important to monitor your online reviews regularly and respond promptly to any negative feedback. Flag a review if it is fake or violates Google’s policies, such as containing hate speech or personal attacks. Do not flag a review simply because it is negative or critical of the business. Look at negative reviews as an opportunity to improve your customer service and process.
At the end of the day having one or two bad reviews among many good ones is normal for any business. Four-star reviews are still good and make a business look more legitimate than one that only has five-star reviews.
How to sign up for Perfect Review [32:15s]
There are different review companies available that use SMS and email campaigns to generate reviews. These programs can be expensive, costing around $100 per month. Perfect Review does not use SMS or email campaigns but instead provides cards for customers to leave a review.
To get started with Perfect Review, businesses need to pay $97 for a link or landing page setup or $194 for three plastic cards and a link setup. Once subscribed, businesses will have access until phones stop reading the cards or Google changes its terms of service.
Anyone interested in jumping onboard can find more information here: Perfect Review
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Danielle helps businesses achieve greater visibility through Google My Business optimisation and Google Reviews.
Clinton is driven by a passion to help the construction and field services industries evolve through the use of technology and education.
