{"id":1058,"date":"2020-07-16T19:16:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T19:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearimaging.com\/blog\/?p=1058"},"modified":"2020-07-16T19:18:06","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T19:18:06","slug":"online-reviews-dos-and-donts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/?p=1058","title":{"rendered":"Online Reviews&#8230; Do&#8217;s and Don&#8217;t&#8217;s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The DONT&#8217;S<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1) Do not do sentiment checks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ve seen these around. An email asks you how your experience\nwas and there is a thumbs up or thumbs down, a smiling emoji and an unhappy\nemoji. If you click on the thumbs down you get directed to a contact form so\nyou can complain. If you click on the thumbs up, you get directed to the Google\nReview page so you can leave a review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is called a &#8216;sentiment check&#8217; and Google&#8217;s Terms of Service\nspecifically prohibits this. Instead, just put the direct link to your review\npage in your email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-chatmeter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/www.chatmeter.com\/blog\/chatmeters-stance-against-review-gating\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2) Do not do bulk requests <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google says: &#8220;do not solicit reviews from customers in\nbulk&#8221; Unfortunately, Google does not clarify what it defines as &#8216;bulk&#8217;\ntherefore it is hard to know exactly what they mean. One thing is for sure, an\nemail blast to one thousand customers asking for a review would without a doubt\nqualify as a bulk solicit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-independence-digital\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"fuuRKWi5P7\"><a href=\"https:\/\/independencedigital.com\/the-new-rule-that-changes-how-you-ask-for-google-reviews\/\">The New Rule that Changes How You Ask for Google Reviews<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;The New Rule that Changes How You Ask for Google Reviews&#8221; &#8212; Independence Digital\" src=\"https:\/\/independencedigital.com\/the-new-rule-that-changes-how-you-ask-for-google-reviews\/embed\/#?secret=w5dQ53ZeOu#?secret=fuuRKWi5P7\" data-secret=\"fuuRKWi5P7\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3) Do not copy and paste google reviews on to your website <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reviews that are left by people on your Google My Business profile\nare the property of Google and copying them into your site is in violation of\nthe Terms of Service, and would be considered duplicate content. And you don&#8217;t\nwant to have duplicate content on your website. Your best bet is to just\nsolicit testimonials from customers specifically for your website, or get the\nGoogle Reviews embedded into your website using an API. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-boast\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/boast.io\/google-review-policy-what-business-owners-can-and-cant-do-to-get-more-google-reviews\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4) Do not offer incentives, rewards or compensation in exchange\nfor reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Very often you see companies offering coupons or incentives if\nthey leave a review. This is in violation of Google&#8217;s Policy. Truth be told you\ndo NOT need to bribe your customers into reviewing you. A review campaign can\nbe very effective without having to give anything in exchange for a review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/answer\/3474122?hl=en\">https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/answer\/3474122?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5) Don&#8217;t pay for fake reviews <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Believe it or not there are agencies you can hire that have armies\nof Google Accounts and they will give you reviews if you pay. It is very much\nagainst Google&#8217;s policies, and can result in your account getting banned. It is\nnot worth the risk. You can get lots of reviews from<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/thread\/24892462?hl=en\">https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/thread\/24892462?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The DO&#8217;S<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1) Do send multiple emails, follow ups<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few people will write a review upon the first request even if they\nsay they will! You must follow up multiple times, in a friendly fashion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2) do reach out to past customers and ask for reviews, even if it\nhas been years<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is always a good thing to communicate to your customers, as\nlong as you keep it authentic, caring and human. If it has been years you\nshould start off by just reaching out to them and asking how they&#8217;re doing,\nbefore asking them for anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3) Do train your staff to ask for reviews IN PERSON at all of\ntheir customer touch points<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Examine all the touch points your staff have with your customers.\nEach one is a potential for getting a review. It will require continuous\nnudging on your part to get the staff into the habit of asking, but it is well\nworth it.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4) Do give customers shortened links to your review page<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Links to your Google Review page can be extremely long, and\noff-putting for your customers. Instead, log into your Google My Business page,\ngo to the dashboard and see the shortened &#8216;review request&#8217; link, and use this\ninstead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5) Do get reviews on Facebook, Yelp and Google My Business<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t put all your eggs in one basket. Show Google that you are\npopular on all the major platforms. Also, if one of them goes under or no\nlonger offers reviews, you will be ok since you hedged your reviews on multiple\nplatforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Closing Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting reviews is a very important part of your digital marketing\nstrategy. You need to be aggressive about getting them, so get out there and\nget those reviews but make sure you follow these best practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need help with your website my company Clear Imaging has\nbeen helping small business owners manage their websites since 2004. We&#8217;re\nsuper dependable, always answer emails and we get the job done; that is why\nwe&#8217;ve been around so long. Come on over to the contact page and let us know if\nthere is anything we can do for you. Until then, God bless and stay safe.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clearimaging.com\/\">https:\/\/www.clearimaging.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The DONT&#8217;S 1) Do not do sentiment checks You&#8217;ve seen these around. An email asks you how your experience was&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,224,201],"tags":[205,154,203],"class_list":["post-1058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-relations","category-reputation","category-reputation-management","tag-google-reviews","tag-online-reviews","tag-reputation-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1058"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1061,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions\/1061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clearimaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}