You might think that online reputation management isn’t something you should concern yourself with. I’d urge you to reconsider that thought!

According to eMarketer 83% of consumers say that online reviews influence their opinions about a particular company, and 8 of 10 of these people added that a unfavorable entry on the internet has caused them to change their mind. One poor review, whether true or untrue, can thwart all of your best efforts if you don’t have an online reputation strategy in place. With that in mind, we would like to offer five strategies your business can use to monitor and strengthen your online reputation management.

1. Monitoring your brand names – Listening what’s being said about you and your company is of vital importance. There are plenty of wonderful free tools to help in this regard. Check out Google Alerts, Hootsuite, and Social Mention and others.
2. Claim all of your relevant social properties – Unused social media sites can be utilized by your rivals to pull you down, and spread negativity. Be sure you claim all social sites that matter for your brand.
3. Dominate page one of Google for your brand name – A great way to make sure what people see and read about you when they Google you would be to own all the virtual real estate! If all they find when they Google you is wonderful stuff about you and your brand, you’ll not really be damaged from the random attack.
4. Go after customer reviews – Customer reviews aren’t just going to appear on your website: you have to request them. Don’t be shy about seeking reviews. Quite often, your customers are going to be flattered you asked. And of course if you offer incentives, let them know that you’re not attempting to bribe them or influence their review!
5. Engage with your people – Interacting with those writing comments, Facebook posts and tweets is a great way to head off any harm from the get-go. Don’t participate in mud-slinging however, no matter how justified you’re feeling! Thank them for their contribution to the discussion, and politely disagree, standing up for yourself. (If they’re not right, of course!)

Online reputation management is far more important than ever before, in this day of instant communication. Don’t neglect yours!

1. Having a mobile ready site – Making sure your website is able to be viewed on any mobile device is a mandatory first step. There is something of an art to designing the mobile version of your website, as the emphasis here is on speed. It is estimated you have about five seconds for your site to load on a mobile device or they’re on to greener pastures. Make sure that your site loads fast and looks great! Based on Google polling, 52% of users say a bad mobile experience makes them much less likely to engage with a business.
2. Offer deals, coupons and incentives to readers – 29% of web consumers have indicated a desire to download a coupon using their mobile device. Be sure to take them up on this!
3. Buy inexpensive mobile advertising – Mobile paid ads are the new kid on the block, there is however a lot of opportunity using these. Costs are still very reasonable, and you can get a ton of targeted traffic to your site rapidly.
4. Create a mobile loyalty program – Using a mobile platform to make a mobile loyalty program is just a smart decision to make. No longer only used by eating establishments, you can create rabid fans by making use of a simple, user friendly digital loyalty card application.
5. Capitalize on mobile email and SMS – Mobile email is now being opened at a rate of 41%, and is on schedule to surpass the PC by the end of 2013, as outlined by MarketingLand.com. SMS (texting) has an incredible 95% open rate. These two statistics alone should be incentive enough to get your business heavily involved in the mobile side of things!

Jokes in poor taste – It should be obvious, but you must put on your thinking cap before you tweet, update or post. And above all, don’t try and take advantage of someone else’s catastrophe as a way to promote your products or services. While a celebrity death or humiliation may seem like easy pickings for trending traffic, you may end up alienating more people than you attract!

Offensive statements and political rants – Closely connected is the temptation to broadcast your preferences political, social or otherwise, which may well have the misfortune of NOT aligning with those of your clients and customers. Don’t go there! Avoid sharing anything that might be misunderstood, or you’ll end up scrambling for cover! Once trust is broken, it’s very difficult to rebuild.

Failing to separate your business and personal accounts – Not to mention that it appears far more professional to create a company profile and page, many times there are benefits (depending on the social network) for a purely company account. This is definitely true with Google Local. A public business account is usually more likely to be found in the search engine results.

Not using social media buttons on your site – These are so easy to apply, and available for all social media platforms. You’re literally throwing traffic away if you don’t use these simple tools to extend your reach by making them accessible for your homepage and all the content you create. This is very easy to do.

Not using the links from your social sites – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google all allow you to link back to your website from your profile page, as well as from posts. This is an fantastic way to create some easy, authoritative links that will help others find you as well.

Did you know that over 30% of traffic to your site comes from a mobile phone? Google’s statistics show that by 2013 there will be more internet searches on a mobile phone than a regular computer. How can we use it to convert our visitors into customers? Obviously, by optimizing the site for mobile phones!

But one big question is – how do you design a mobile website?

I’m going to explain very quickly the elements you need in order to make a mobile website functional and easy to use for your visitors.

Your main website colors can be incorporated into your design as can your main logo or graphic header. The point of a mobile website is to make it as quick loading and simplistic as you can. So what you need to do is make sure the header graphic you use is re-sized to fit a mobile screen.

In regards to information I recommend you take only the most vital information and actually have some simple tabs for each one on the front page. What you have listed depends on your business, but don’t forget, you don’t need every tab showing on the front page.

By all means list categories on the front which lead to other pages on your mobile site. This will make the mobile site easier to use for visitors.

You should, without a doubt, place your contact information on the mobile site as well as all the places you are listed on social media, such as, – Twitter, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn, and not forgetting a link to your the desktop version of your website.

When it comes to content you don’t want to fill each page with a novel’s worth of writing. Keep it simple and straight to the point.

Additionally you can add an opt-in newsletter but this ideally be placed under a tab that reads, ‘news and offers’; that way your website won’t look cluttered.

That really is all you need to know about designing a mobile website. The technical aspect is very simple too, but you’re best to hire a professional if you’re not sure how to do it.

With a little creativity, its easy to get lots of customer reviews.  Here’s 10 Foolproof ways to do it today.

#1 – Ask Your Customers For a Review At Every Positive Interaction.

Getting online reviews is a lot like making a sale: if you don’t ask for it, it ain’t gonna happen. This advice probably seems very simplistic but it’s not.  The important part is to actually set the goal to ask for a review from every customer during a positive experience and do it.

Break the ice by asking, “Do you ever write online reviews on sites like Google or Yelp?” If they say yes then it shouldn’t be a stretch for them to review your business and encourage them to do it on the same account they usually use.  If they say no, explain how simple it is and that many other customers had never done it before reviewing your business but they realized how important it was to you and you couldn’t be more appreciative.

Ask and you’ll get reviews.  I promise.

#2 – Put a Sign On The Counter

For a couple dollars at Wal-Mart, you can get some of those cheap 8.5″x11″ plastic frames that stand up on your counter or desk. Take a few moments to design a flyer that says something like: “Nothing makes us happier than reading positive reviews online.  If you like what we’ve done, please take a moment to go online and give us a great review”.  Put a picture of your smiling staff and some logos of the major review websites: Google, Yelp, Yahoo, etc.

This probably isn’t going to convince someone who never uses a computer to write a review for you, but will remind and encourage an avid reviewer to write one for your business.  Once the sign is up, you don’t have to think about it.

#3 – Put Links In Your Email Signature

Most email programs allow you to set up an email signature which automatically shows your valediction and contact information at the bottom of your outgoing emails.  If you have not set it up you really should because it’s a great way to do automatic marketing to people you are already in contact with.

Put a line in your signature that says something like: “Like what I’m doing? Let other’s know by reviewing us online. Click Here”. Of course you’ll replace the Click here with an actual link to your Google, Yahoo, Bing, or Yelp Profile.  You could even do all four and give the reader the choice of which they like to post reviews on.

The brilliance of this method is twofold.  Once it’s set up it will be in every one of the hundreds of emails you send but it’s also great because when someone reads your email they are typically in front of a computer when providing an online review would be easy.

#4 – Put Links On Your Website

One of the most important elements of getting people to take any action is to make it simple. If you make a page on your website that explains how much you appreciate reviews from satisfied customers and put a direct links to your page on each of the major online review websites, you’ll make it a lot easier for people to do.

Having a section of your website devoted to this also makes it easier for you to explain how to provide reviews and actually get people to do it.  Rather than trying to explain to people where to go and how to do a review, you just say, “Go to our website and click on the top right where it says, “Reviews”.

#5 – Incent Reviewers

Please be careful with this.  Google says it is against their guidelines for a business to pay for a positive review. There is a difference, however, between paying someone $5 to write something nice about you and putting a sign on your counter that offers a free drink, slice, upgrade, etc for giving an “unbiased” opinion of your business online.

If nothing else, it gives your staff an opportunity to start a conversation with someone who already loves what you do but needs a little nudge to make a review online.

#6 – Set Up A Computer For Reviews

Other than actually typing for them, you can’t make it any easier than setting up a computer available to your customers for providing reviews. While it might seem like a stretch to install a computer strictly for this purpose, you may already be close.  For example many hotels offer computer access to patrons of the hotel.  Why not make the internet homepage your google profile with a screensaver that reminds people to make a positive review?

If you’re already providing internet access, can you remind patrons to give back by providing positive online feedback?

#7 – Send Emails After Customer Interactions

After a positive interaction with a client, send them an email a few days later asking if they had any questions or concerns about the situation that was taken care of. Within the email ask them to provide a positive online review if they feel the situation was handled properly. This works great because you can pick and choose the customers you send the email to and they won’t read it until a time when they are in front of a computer or on their smartphone and can actually write a review.

#8 – Make Requests Through Social Networks

If you’ve already developed a following on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc, it shouldn’t be hard to get online reviews from the people within this network.  You could post updates encouraing people to review you, but you’ll have better luck reaching out to individuals by direct messaging and asking for a review with a link to your Google Places page or a link to a page on your website that offers several links to places where people can leave reviews.

#9 – On-Hold Messaging

If you already have a service that provides information about your business and products while customers are on hold, why not include a blurb about providing online reviews? It works well because it’s something you can set and forget but can also backfire if you have a tendency to leave clients on hold for too long. Use with caution!

#10 – Get the First Review Out There

I need to be very clear about something: DON’T MAKE YOUR OWN REVIEWS! The reason I say this is because Google can often tell when a review is not genuine based on the IP address (physical location) and whether the user’s account is frequently used or commonly reviews other businesses. If you set up an account just to make a review and then never do anything with the account it sends signals to Google that you could be a spammer.

All that being said, people are social beings who look to others for direction. It is a lot easier for someone to make an online review of your business when they can see that others have done the same. The most surprising part is that even just one review can make a huge difference between whether someone decides to make their own or not.

I strongly encourage all my clients to get at least one review up on each major review website.  Get a relative or close friend to make it for you, but get it up there.  It will also set the tone for the ensuing reviews. And please don’t tell Google I encouraged you to do this!

—

Do you have other tactics that have increased your reviews? Want to tell me how it has worked for you?  I’d love to hear back from you in the comments below!

For instance, what if you’re in Chapel Hill, NC and you need a dentist.  You might search in Google for “Chapel Hill dentist”. “Chapel Hill Dentist” is your “keyword”, and the results that come up on the FIRST PAGE of the search results are the ones that Google considers to be most likely to satisfy your need for information.

If YOU ARE a dentist with an office in Chapel Hill, and you are looking for new patients, you want your site to come up first in the search results. So You as a dentist would benefit from a well-optimized website and probably need the services of a good SEO expert to help you out. After all, you’re a dentist – not an SEO expert. It’s usually best to hire experts to complete the job.

The thing is, unless you are on the FIRST PAGE of the search results when people search for “Chapel Hill Dentist”, then it’s unlikely the potential client would find you – ever.  And the higher you show up in the search results on that first page, the more likely they are to notice you.  So it’s vitally important that you are high on the first page of the search results, or some competitor who is there will get all of your business.

And that’s where SEO comes into play.    Google’s main job in life is to provide the very best matching websites and mobile sites to it’s users.  An SEO expert’s job is to make your website pages look like the very best information that Google is able to find.

Many website designers make beautiful websites – but do not have a clue about SEO.  It’s not good enough to have a beautiful website if nobody can find it!  In fact, good SEO is MORE important than a pretty website.  If you are not found, it’s like you don’t exist. Your competition gets the business, even if you are a better business person than they are.

SEO is a complex art that is constantly changing.  We all are aware of how fast technology advances these days.  Google updates its search algorithm many times a year in an attempt to keep their search business relevant – or even they will be left behind.  Twitter, Facebook, and many others are in fierce competition for the eyes and ears of the internet users, especially those that are in a mood to spend money.

Online commerce is growing by leaps each year and it’s only going to become more and more so.  The importance of being online in multiple avenues where the customers are is vitally important to the success of businesses.   As people reach into their pockets for their iPhone or Android phone, they are often looking for local businesses.

So it’s key to understand that SEO is important for your being able to get these hot leads to bring in new clients for your business.  At City Web Consulting, that’s our job – bringing new clients to you.

Let me ask you a question – do you think it’s a good deal for you to spend $1 to make $2?  What about spending $2 to make $5?  or $3 to make $10?

We have access to huge streams of people searching for your business.  We can help them find YOU instead of your competitors. If you would like to have those new clients calling on you, let us know and we can work with you to make it happen – quickly.  Let’s get started today. Call 919-816-2980 now to get clients calling you!

Part 2: How Can SEO Help my Business?

If you’ve ever wondered how to get your website on the front page of search results on Google, the answer you’ve been looking for is SEO. It’s an incredibly important, vital component to any successful business website (or any other website, for that matter!) If you want your potential customers to be able to find you, then you have to make it possible for them to do that, preferably quickly and easily, and SEO is your key to making that happen.

In a nutshell, SEO encompasses all of the methods and techniques people employ to make it as easy as possible for search engines to find and index their websites, which, in turn, makes it easier for potential customers to find them, too. There are many different ways to go about optimizing your site, from strategic backlinks to achieving the perfect keyword density and much, much more, Search Engine Optimization is a big job, but more than worth the effort it takes to get it right.

But you don’t have to personally be an SEO expert for your website to reap its benefits – we’ve got a whole team of them here at City Web Consultants.  We are ready to start optimizing your website today, and we invite you to get in touch with us to find out exactly how we can help make your site irresistible to search engines.

You’re right, it doesn’t have to be perfect. But it shouldn’t suck. Here’s a list of why your website is failing – or may be not living up to your expectations and goals.  Hopefully you’re not making these mistakes:

• Lack of focus.  What is the main goal of your site?  For small businesses, your focus should be on getting new clients and repeat clients.  Simple.  Does your site achieve that goal?
• Confusing site navigation. If people arrive on your site and they can’t find what they’re looking for easily, they’ll quickly leave.
• Similarly, there is no clear call to action. Does your content/information conclude with asking them to take action, like buy or click on another page?
• Amateurish website. Graphics that look like you did them yourself (no offense), content that’s not aligned and goes off the page, photos that cause some pages to be too wide, etc.
• No enough content, or content that’s lacking in value. Too many pictures and not enough words not only annoys your visitors but doesn’t help your website’s search engine rankings.
• No contact information. Your site needs your email address, physical address, and a phone number in the header area where people can see it without scrolling.
• Missing pages. Search engines like to see that you have certain pages such as a privacy policy and terms of use, among others.

Are you thoroughly confused and scared about your website now? Allow me to take care of it all for you. Great websites are what I specialize in.

Learn More

The content here are not generated by shortcodes, they are directly typed into tinymce post editor.
consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus rhoncus, arcu non blandit tempus, elit diam congue velit, ac porttitor enim purus sed ante. In feugiat, velit eleifend placerat scelerisque, tortor felis hendrerit neque, sit amet semper turpis velit fringilla risus. Mauris tempus risus non tortor mollis sit amet viverra mauris ullamcorper. Donec sit amet massa orci, quis commodo eros. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Sed sed magna ante, quis lacinia augue. Vestibulum quis lectus sed nisl fermentum malesuada.

Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Duis tincidunt pharetra neque, sed convallis velit pellentesque at. Maecenas ac lacus felis, nec consequat eros. Duis sed velit sed neque vestibulum molestie. Cras mauris eros, cursus eu vehicula sit amet, vulputate luctus lorem. Sed dignissim nulla non risus condimentum dapibus euismod non quam. Integer sed nibh nec dolor scelerisque viverra.

Heading 2

Phasellus mollis ullamcorper fringilla. Suspendisse ante turpis, blandit gravida condimentum eget, gravida sed augue. Nam nisi nibh, egestas varius porttitor eget, interdum eget ante. Integer interdum fermentum erat, in porta quam blandit id. Quisque volutpat faucibus commodo. Ut sed lorem ante, ut bibendum magna. Nulla posuere, purus vel fringilla dapibus, diam arcu placerat quam, at varius dui nulla at mauris. Proin eu erat nulla, sed tempus tellus.

Heading 3

Fusce gravida, est a euismod tempus, elit ipsum adipiscing dolor, sit amet lacinia felis elit vel justo. Donec nisi enim, facilisis ac aliquet eget, placerat in tortor. Cras semper consectetur nunc, mattis dictum turpis sodales ut. Morbi malesuada, nibh vel rhoncus vehicula, ante enim imperdiet sapien, eu laoreet eros sem et arcu. Fusce accumsan dictum nisl, eget venenatis ipsum mattis sit amet. Quisque orci quam, pretium sagittis euismod et, iaculis et lacus. Ut imperdiet erat nec diam pretium consequat. Curabitur rutrum adipiscing nulla, interdum suscipit urna condimentum ultricies. Donec volutpat felis et neque aliquam nec egestas lacus hendrerit. Phasellus imperdiet diam ut orci pharetra in fringilla est molestie.

Heading 4

Vivamus convallis, metus vel vehicula venenatis, turpis lacus egestas leo, ut mollis purus arcu in lectus. Quisque convallis mattis pulvinar. Maecenas consequat massa sed purus aliquam vel pretium leo imperdiet. Sed velit mi, placerat eget scelerisque id, tempus sed ipsum. Donec pulvinar ultrices diam ut ornare. Aenean ut ipsum vitae nisl consectetur vestibulum et vitae urna.

Numbered Lists

1. This is a list item 1
2. This is a list item 2
3. This is a list item 3

Bullet Lists

• This is a list item 1
• This is a list item 2

Link

Link to Google

Block Quote

dictum turpis sodales ut. Morbi malesuada, nibh vel rhoncus vehicula, ante enim imperdiet sapien, eu laoreet eros sem et arcu. Fusce accumsan dictum nisl, eget venenatis ipsum mattis sit amet. Quisque orci quam, pretium sagittis euismod et, iaculis et lacus. Ut imperdiet erat nec diam pretium consequat. Curabitur rutrum adipiscing nulla, interdum suscipit urna condimentum ultricies. Donec volutpat felis et neque aliquam nec egestas lacus hendrerit. Phasellus imperdiet diam ut orci pharetra in fringilla est molestie.

All is not lost.  City Web Consulting can help turn your reputation around!

Learn More