Online reviews are an often-overlooked form of online marketing that can have a significant impact on your business. In this beginner’s guide, we will discuss the five reasons why online reviews are crucial for your business. By the end of this article, you will understand the benefits of online reviews, how they can boost your search rankings, increase sales, drive traffic to your website, provide valuable feedback, and how consumers use review sites to research businesses.
Boost Your Search Rankings
Online reviews are a powerful way to improve your SEO and push your website higher in the search engine results pages. Reviews often link back to your website, which helps search engines like Google to recognize the site’s importance. The more links to your site, the higher in the search results your website appears. Even without links, mention of your business online helps search engines to learn more about your business, and generate more traffic to your website. Sites that get more traffic have more clients, and the effect is often cumulative.
Positive Reviews Help Boost Sales
Positive reviews can be a significant factor in increasing sales. Customers are much more likely to complete a sale after reading a positive review about your business. Reviews build trust and confidence, and even a single review can help increase sales. Studies have shown that 50 positive reviews for a business can improve conversion rates by up to 30%. It is also reported that 88% of consumers consult reviews before deciding to make a purchase.
Drive Traffic To Your Website
Over 50% of consumers click through to a business website after reading a positive review online. In many cases, they may have found your site purely because of the review, rather than searching your business name directly. Even if you don’t take bookings or make sales through your site, customers who visit your site can find out more about your business, and conversions are more likely.
Provide Valuable Feedback
Online reviews provide valuable feedback on your business, even negative reviews can help to identify areas that need improvements and ideas for providing better service to your customers or clients. Although no one likes negative reviews, they can be beneficial. The best way to deal with negative reviews is to dilute them with more positive reviews.
Research Businesses
Many consumers now go directly to review sites to find and compare businesses, rather than finding them in search engines. It has become increasingly common for consumers to carry out their pre-purchase research on review sites rather than on the business website itself. If you have no reviews, this can be off-putting to potential customers who may question why your business lacks reviews compared to similar businesses in your industry.
In conclusion, online reviews are a critical part of online marketing and should not be overlooked. They can improve your search engine rankings, increase sales, drive traffic to your website, provide valuable feedback, and help consumers research businesses. Encouraging customers to leave reviews should become a part of your marketing strategy; the effect of these reviews may be cumulative and eventually exponential. Reviews are an incredibly cost-effective marketing strategy that your business should embrace.