Fix Your Google Presence

Last week, we discussed the importance of having a favorable Google star rating, reviews, and positioning on the first page for certain search words. After all, Google is how 90% of online searching is done, and you want to make sure target and current clients can find you on Google, and what they find is conducive to developing a good relationship with you.

Step 1 – claim your Google Places account for your business. If you have not already done this, go to https://business.google.com and search for your business. You will have one listing per location you have. You can complete all of your information here, including phone number, address, business hours, website, and you can add photos that will be shown when your listing comes up. You can also monitor your reviews all in one place.

Step 2 – get your Google rating at 4.6 or above. Let’s face it. If your star rating is much below this, prospective clients are asking why. And if you have only two reviews, it might be understandable why the overall rating is low. One great 5* review and a 1* review will show a Google rating of 2.5*. Not good. Shoot for getting lots of reviews, so the occasional bad review is offset by many great reviews.

Step 3 – always respond to reviews. Regardless of what rating was given, always respond to every review you get. Even if there was only a rating but no review given, go ahead and still respond. If it was a great rating (5*), make sure you thank the client for the review and tell them how much you appreciate them as a happy client. If the review was any lower than a 4*, immediately apologize for disappointing the client. Always take responsibility (even if it was not your fault), and make sure to say that your goal is for clients to be 100% satisfied. Immediately encourage them to call you. You want to respond quickly and quickly take it offline, so it is not there for everyone to see publicly. 

Step 4 – to raise your star rating or increase the number of reviews you have, you can call or talk to your clients. Ask them if they are happy with the service they receive, and always ask if there is anything you can do to make them happier. If they are happy, ask them if they would be willing to put a favorable review on Google. Tell them you will be watching for the review, and if they do it in the next 24 hours, you will put a $10 credit on their dry cleaning account for their next visit. Or you can automate this process by using a company like Be Creative 360 that will automatically send out emails/texts seeking reviews and post them on Google, all without you having to do a thing. That is what we do. In addition, you can get a web chat feature on your website home page that allows clients to ask questions, and then you or someone on your team can reply.

Step 5 – Show up on page one of relevant google searches. Your webmaster, or the person who built your website, can help by placing certain keywords in the background and strategically on the pages of your website. This helps the search engines to see your business clearly as a potential solution for those searches. You might also consider a blog where you write articles, positioning you as the expert and trusted advisor. The keywords in the blog articles are another way Google will tie those words to potential clients' searches to find you.

This will get you started with showing up on the most important search engine (Google) for target clients trying to find your business. And don’t forget to check on the Google presence of your immediate competitors too. While I do not suggest spending too much time playing a defensive game against your competitors, it is important to see how you stack up compared to other options in the market. Hopefully, this will light a fire under you to grow and maintain your Google rating and reviews. This is one of the most important tactics to create a magnetic attraction to your business.