Mike Blumenthal, blumenthals.com/[email protected] | Twitter: @mblumenthal
where social & rank meet
maps & reviews
• Within Geo-Area• Business Name• Business Category• Content
Score of Website •# of links referring to business •
Highest score of those links •
Legitimacy & Location Trust Local Business Center Primary & Secondary Data Providers KML Sitemap, Bulk Upload, Whois, Phone Verification
Total # of WebPage (Citations)Geo References
& Reviews
A Model of Ranking Factors
• Within Geo-Area• Business Name • Business Category• Content• Anchor Text in Citations
Score of Website •# of links referring to business •
Highest score of those links • Popularity of User Maps •
Legitimacy & Location Trust Local Business Center Primary & Secondary Data Providers KML Sitemap, Bulk Upload, Whois, Phone Verification
Total # of WebPage (Citations)Geo References
& Reviews
Relevance & Ranking Factors
• Within Geo-Area• Business Name • Business Category• Content• Anchor Text in Citations
Score of Website •# of links referring to business •
Highest score of those links • Popularity of User Maps •
Legitimacy & Location Trust Local Business Center Primary & Secondary Data Providers KML Sitemap, Bulk Upload, Whois, Phone Verification
Reviews: Where Social & Rank Meet
Total # of WebPage (Citations)
Geo References &
Reviews
Local Shoppers Look Online First
Sources: eMarketer
Local Shoppers Look Online First
Sources: eMarketer
90% search online for nearbybusinesses via search engines
Consumers Trust Reviews
The Groundswell Affect
70% Trust Reviews From
Strangers
Sources: Neilson 04/2009Harvard Business Review 04/2008
• Low to Moderate Ranking Impact• Seems to confer “Velocity”
- Google prefers “active” businesses
Reviews & Google Ranking
• Reviews engage the business in the conversation.- Efficiently & Effectively
Sustainable Social Presence
Customer ConsiderationsEASY
Whatever review process you choose, it should be open, transparent and beyond reproach. An unhappy customer is bad enough but one that thinks you are scamming the review world will be relentless.
This correlates to the above. You want to provide your customers/clients with a range of sites so as to be compatible their online behaviors. It is hard to know if they prefer leaving reviews at one place or another. The more comfort they have with your suggestions the more likely they are to leave the review. You need to be where your customers are. In setting up your program asking them what they prefer is a good idea.
Whatever system you implement for the customer, it should be so dead simple that they just don’t have to struggle. The least number of clicks, the straighest path, the least to remember should all be ideals of whatever system you put in place.
CHOICE
ETHICAL
Business ConsiderationsINTEGRATED
INTO BUSINESSPROCESSES
Putting your eggs in one basket is never a good strategy. For example Google has been known to periodically loose reviews from one source or another. It is also difficult to predict next year’s review site winner and the looser. Being in a range of places protects against both eventualities.
Reviews are like traditional testimonials. If they all occurred last year or the year before both potential clients and the search engines are going to wonder what’s up.
For a business, saying you will do something versus actually doing it, is a matter of the process being easy for employees and a required part of the internal procedures. This may require employee training and perhaps new procedures to be sure that the ask for reviews happens.
REGULARITY
DIVERSITY OFREVIEW SITES
Business ConsiderationsLEVERAGE
Even if you run the best business in the world, you will sooner or later, get a bad review. Decide ahead of time how it will be handled and who will handle it. Ending up in argument on the front steps of the customer is a no win situation and some thought put it in how you are going to respond will avoid the worst outcomes.
If one review can be seen in 4 review site instead of just one then all other things being equal, a review placed there is more valuable. For example even though CitySearch is declining in popularity, they still have 25 million uniques AND share their reviews with Google, Yahoo, MC and more giving you an opportunity to have the review seen 100 million times
PLAN FORTHE BADREVIEW
Virtuous Cycle
• General Review Sites:– Citysearch – Yahoo Local– Sites where your customers are– Vertical Review Sites
Which Review SitesShould You Use?
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Case Study – Barbara Oliver Jewelry
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04/09 - “Just got a new one in, she googled jewelry repair and in she came. Just thought you would like to hear so you feel
validated…….”– Barbara Oliver
Case Study – Barbara Oliver Jewelry
Case Study – Barbara Oliver Jewelry
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Case Study – Barbara Oliver Jewelry
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02/13/10 - “Hi Mike, this week 6 new customers in the store based on reviews alone. 6 sales, have I mentioned lately how much I love you? If we continue to do this right, I can forego some of the expensive advertising and build up my wallet and our businesses. WooHoo
Thanks!”- Barbara Oliver
Case Study – Barbara Oliver Jewelry
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01/13/11 - “Just got a $7700 sale. They came in after shopping at Andrews, as
they read all the reviews prior and liked what they read. Thank you again Mike
for the nagging………………!”- Barbara Oliver
Case Study – Barbara Oliver Jewelry
Mike Blumenthal, blumenthals.com/[email protected] | Twitter: @mblumenthal
where social & rank meet
maps & reviews
Visits (millions)
GoogleUniv.
Yahoo Univ.
Gmaps
Yelp
CitySearch
Yellowpages
Yahoo Local
Local.com
Mrchant Cir.
Bing Local
Dex Knows
Insider Pgs.
YellowBot
CityGrid
Total Possible Visits (millions)
Trend
Gmaps 124 X X 981 Ç
Yelp 47 X X X X X 1061.1 Ç
CitySearch 29 X X X X X X X X 1065.7 È
Yahoo Local 13 X X X X 1270 È
InsiderPages 3 X X X X 1003.3 ÈAngie’sList
0.9 X X 981.9 Ç
Judy's Book 0.3 X X X X 1001.3 È
Who Shares Reviews With Whom
Yahoo Local
City Search
Insider Pages
Judy's Book
Angie's List
Gmaps
Yelp
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Total Possible Visits Visits
Total Possible Exposure Of a Review
Yahoo Universal Results
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