Your online reviews are more than just a virtual pat on the back, they are absolutely essential for your brand awareness and perception. When it comes to positioning your business as the clear best option, online reviews are paramount.
Attracting new customers is a huge hurdle for businesses of all kinds. Most people begin their search for a new product or service online, and your online reviews will help you gain their attention much quicker.
In fact, online reviews help you attract new customers organically. That’s right, by just having more positive online reviews and a higher star rating you will naturally attract more customers.
How can online reviews organically help you attract more customers online? Read on to find out.
Rank Higher on Google Maps and Google Business Listing
Online reviews help you show up higher on Google Maps for your business listing. This is a huge advantage when it comes to attracting customers, especially for local or multi-location businesses. Increasing your Google Maps position helps you show up first for relevant keywords and when customers search for a related business on Google Maps.
When you look up a general keyword that could relate to a local business, the Goole Maps results show up first. For example, if you look up “seafood” (without “restaurant” or any local words) Google shows the map listings first, above any other website results. Of course, Google shows you options that are nearby, but it also focuses on the options that have a higher star rating. Ranking higher on Google maps with your Google Business listing is incredibly important for attracting more local customers and standing out against the competition.
Online Reviews Separate Your Business
Reviews are the main feature of google listing. When you have more reviews and a higher star rating, you distinguish yourself as the clear winner against competitors. Just think about it, would you rather choose the business with two vague reviews or the one with a 4.5-star rating and hundreds of reviews?
Having a ton of positive reviews makes your business seem far more credible and trustworthy, which is the key to attracting customers online. When customers shop for a business online, they have to rely on the information that is available to determine if they should visit the business or not. Reviews are a strong form of social proof that can put customers’ minds at ease. Customers can see all of the other things that people love about your business, and if your business responds to reviews it only strengthens their trust in you.
Better SEO
Having more positive online reviews will help your website rank higher as well. Google clarified that online reviews and responding to reviews play a clear role in your search rank position, so online reviews do impact your SEO.
Getting your website to rank higher has clear benefits. Most people don’t scroll past the first page of Google for a result, so showing up as a top search result undoubtedly helps your visibility. When your website ranks higher, more people will head to it which means you can increase your traffic. More website traffic means more chances to convert new visitors into customers. Online reviews get your website higher in the search results, which allows you to attract and ultimately close more customers.
The Full Online Review System
Online reviews help you attract customers in a number of ways, namely by helping you rank higher on Google Maps, increasing your website ranking, and distinguishing you as the clear choice through social proof.
To see the organic advantages of online reviews, you must have a strong system for managing reviews, leveraging them, and using them to propel customers through a strong sales funnel. The entire online review system requires a detailed understanding of the process and implementation of effective methods. That’s where we come in. Attract and Close has a full system for online reviews that includes reputation management, leveraging reviews, and sales funnel. We can help your business master this system so that you can continue to generate and leverage more reviews than ever. To learn more about our powerful system and how we can use it to help you, schedule your free discovery call with Attract and Close HERE.