Small businesses face lots of scrutiny by potential clients, and marketing has shown than over 80% of people will search independent review sites instead of the company’s provided reviews. It’s important for both small businesses and larger companies to monitor the website ranking, online reviews, and comments from social media users and consumers. What we suggest is to have resources ready to respond quickly (when allowed) to any problems before they influence your reputation in a detrimental way. Of course, the best way to avoid negative reviews is to provide quality experiences for your users.
Keep in mind that oftentimes the reviews and ratings might not even be justified. Yelp notes that their reviews can be trusted, yet it is well known that their algorithm blocks (places in non-recommended section) legitimate reviews when the reviewer gives a 5-star rating and has few prior or subsequent reviews, and/or when the business doesn’t pay for their service. In addition, some reviews are merely competitor attacks, others are friends who write on behalf of the business, and in some cases a business may pay or provide incentives for reviews. All this can certainly be frustrating.
Some obvious places to look for your small business reviews are social sites like Facebook, Linked In and Yelp.com, and Google Places (Maps) Below are some other places where your business or products might be getting reviewed. What I suggest, search your business name and copy the URL of every site where you’ve been reviewed, and for the ones you’re not yet listed at, add or claim your listing to get started.
TripAdvisor.com
As the name suggest, TripAdvisor helps users filter travel destinations via user reviews. A must-know for travel businesses.
BBB.org
The Better Business Bureau is expensive to use, yet its trusted reputation makes it a must-monitor for every large business.
Yellowpages.com
The yellow pages are a directory of businesses, organised by category. They provide free and commercial listings. You can write a review at https://www.yellowpages.com/writeareview/
Business.com
Business.com provides business advice, tips, and resources to run and grow your business. You can find their reviews at https://www.business.com/reviews/
Manta.com
Manta.com is an free business directory. The website allows users to post information about their company. You can find their reviews page at https://www.manta.com/manta-reviews
AngiesList.com
Angie’s List is a paid service for consumers to get certified, and notes unbiased reviews of local businesses. It is a large and trusted network with more than one million members.
Local.com
Local.com is a directory that specializes in local search, and provides reviews of businesses. You can claim your listing at http://www.local.com/claim-your-listing
Foursquare
Foursquare is a popular social networking city guide app / site designed for mobile and smartphones. You can claim your business at http://business.foursquare.com/claim/
And some others, albeit less popular options:
InsiderPages.com
Mainly focused on rating those in the medical and health care field. Insider Pages also features reviews on restaurants, beauty and home & garden. You can signup from their mobile menu at top-right.
MerchantCircle.com
MerchantCircle focuses on promoting businesses by using online user reviews via a pseudo paid advertising system. Businesses can create their own account at https://www.merchantcircle.com/signup
JudysBook.com
Judy’s Book provides review guides to users, such as “Top 10 Auto Mechanics” and so on. Businesses can create their accounts at https://www.judysbook.com/SignIn.aspx
OpenTable.com
Because OpenTable.com allows users to make reservations immediately, good reviews on this site can help restaurants take advantage of the convenience factor.
Great post!