Knowing how to get online reviews is essential for any modern-day business. Online reviews allow potential customers to dive deep into your business’s reputation. Optimizing local SEO for your fence company can help you bring in more customers.
In the world of SEO, reviews dictate how well your business ranks on Google searches. Therefore, the better your reviews are, the greater likelihood you have to hike up Google’s algorithm. For some, this is incentive enough to get more online reviews.
We’ll explore other reasons why online reviews are essential and how you can get more.
What Is Local SEO?
Around 97% of potential customers search for local businesses online before anywhere else. A “local business” is a business that has a physical location. Local SEO is when you optimize search results to appeal to local marketing.
Google determines these rankings using three main factors:
- How far away a potential user is from your business.
- Your business’s online reputation, including elements like customer feedback.
- How relevant your company appears when potential customers search for goods or services.
Local SEO is pivotal to many small businesses’ survival. Furthermore, SEO can be a cost-effective strategy compared to other marketing tools.
Ways Small Businesses Can Generate More Online Reviews
Knowing how to get online reviews starts with improving your business’s local search listings. Doing so begins with completing these five best practices:
Verify Your Location
Small businesses may not give much thought to verifying their location, especially if they’re operating in a relatively small town or city. However, more than 70% of searches start with Google. Of this percentage, around 70% of searches remain on the first page.
To make the process easier for the user, Google typically includes verified businesses higher than those unverified.
You can verify your business by email, phone, or direct mail. First, ensure all your information is accurate and up to date. Once you complete the verification process, you can update your business’s name.
Update Your Google Business Profile (GBP)
The pandemic has changed how customers shop, including for local services like repairing their fences. Today, potential customers are far more likely to look at a company’s GBP (Google Business Profile). As such, you’ll need to update vital information like:
- Your company’s name, website, opening date, and business description
- Your hours of operation, including the holidays and weekends
- Your geographical location and what areas you serve
Add High-Quality Pictures
Your business’s pictures don’t necessarily need the same flair as an Instagram influencer. However, you should still prioritize quality when adding images.
Include pictures of your business alongside services rendered, like a before and after photo of a client’s fence. Optimize your images for mobile and desktop devices and add metadata like keywords.
Optimize Your Keywords
Keywords are a big part of SEO; knowing how to get online reviews means knowing how to use keywords. For local businesses, you’ll want to optimize keywords with locations like “fence repair company near me” or “fence installations in (city name).”
However, you want to avoid stuffing keywords and make your content sound natural and organic. Many companies explore content like blogs but updating your web pages and social media with keywords can generate more leads.
Ask for Reviews Directly
One reason why people like small and local businesses is that they often provide a more direct relationship than corporate brands. Especially when your business thrives off of providing services versus products, customer relationships take a front-row seat.
Small businesses may need help generating online reviews or expanding their digital footprint. However, they may still have well-established customer relationships forged over the years. Sometimes, the best way to get more online reviews is by asking a person directly.
For Google, you can only ask a customer for an online review, but this restriction doesn’t exist on social media platforms like Facebook. There are three main ways you can ask for a customer review:
- Verbally: The next time you repair a client’s fence or meet up with an industry partner for lunch, ask them to leave feedback online. Satisfied customers and trustworthy colleagues generally have no issue in doing so.
- Digitally: Instead of asking a single person directly, ask for online reviews via email lists, social media, or texts.
- Passive: Utilize direct marketing materials like flyers to urge people to leave a review.
Get Extra Help From Fence Marketing Pros
These tips go a long way in learning how to get online reviews. When you want professional guidance, turn to Fence Marketing Pros.
Learn how responding to reviews helps SEO and other helpful tricks by reaching out to us today!
