“Roughly 30 percent of all searches have a local intent,” says John McPhee, the vice president of Formic Media, a Portland firm that specializes in search and social media for small businesses.
“This equates to roughly 18-20 billion searches per month,” he continues. “With reviews being served within the search results, it’s imperative that business owners get in the review game.”
Reviews Are Like Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing has long been considered the most effective form of promotion and “the leading influencing factor in how consumers select a business to patronize,” says Formic Media founder and President Kent Lewis.
Ask yourself: Are you more likely to trust what a business trying to sell you something says, or someone you know who has interacted with that business, product or service?
The answer is obvious. Yet, in today’s online world, it doesn’t even matter if you know that person—the individual providing advice—anymore. The reviewer can be completely anonymous. As a small business owner, getting reviews isn't just in your best interest, it's crucial to your business' success.
Reviews = Credibility (For Humans)
Today’s consumers have immediate “access to information on the web, particularly via mobile devices,” which means “reviews are literally a few clicks away,” Lewis says.
“A business that has received numerous positive reviews is far more likely to be visited than a business without reviews. It’s a credibility factor, to a certain extent,” McPhee explains.
“Consumers will prefer to patronize a ‘trusted’ or ‘liked’ business, given the choice,” Lewis adds.
To put some quick numbers behind the effects of “fanning” on relationships, according to the KISSmetrics infographic "The Importance Of A Fan Base”: "38 percent of respondents reported they would likely become a fan of a brand on Facebook if they saw a family member or close friend do so." And 34 percent of respondents reported the same if they simply saw a person they knew, an acquaintance, "like" a page.
Reviews = Credibility (For Search Engines)
“Google, and the other engines, use reviews as a piece of their local search ranking algorithms,” McPhee says. “If you don’t have reviews, you’re not going to rank, simple as that.”
“According to David Mihm’s annual local search ranking factors, reviews are the fourth leading signal to Google when it comes to local SEO ranking factors,” McPhee adds.
Get in the review game by encouraging your customers to review you on Neighborhood Notes’ The Localist, Portland's locally owned business directory. (Add your business if it’s not yet listed.) You can also learn more about local search at Neighborhood Notes’ first Own Your Ass[ests] workshop, 3 Things Every Small Business Needs to Be Relevant in Local Search, on Sept. 12. And stay tuned, we’ll be offering more tips on how to cultivate reviews in our Craft of Business series.
