Mike Blumenthal, blumenthals.com/blog [email protected] | Twitter: @mblumenthal

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


Highest score of those links • Popularity of User Maps •


Total # of WebPage (Citations)Geo References

& Reviews

Relevance & Ranking Factors

• Within Geo-Area• Business Name • Business Category• Content• Anchor Text in Citations


Highest score of those links • Popularity of User Maps •


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?

vav

Case Study – Barbara Oliver Jewelry

vav

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



vav

vav

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


vav

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


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 ÇYelp 47 X X X X X 1061.1 ÇCitySearch 29 X X X X X X X X 1065.7 ÈYahoo Local 13 X X X X 1270 ÈInsiderPages 3 X X X X 1003.3 ÈAngie’sList

0.9 X X 981.9 ÇJudy'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

vav

Mike Blumenthal, blumenthals.com/blog [email protected] | Twitter: @mblumenthal

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