Member Article

How to Build Your Reputation Online

What successful businesses are doing to boost their reputations on the web. What does a great reputation do for your business?

It means…

• Word-of-mouth advertising. Customers do your selling for you.
• Shorter time-to-sale. With higher conversion rates at the initial transaction.
• More repeat business. Existing customers are big readers of reviews.
• Smarter service delivery. Customers tell you about problems before shouting.

…and much more.

Here’s how to use social proof to build a reputation that really counts

YOR REPUTATION KEEPS YOU HONEST.

Being held responsible for the business makes you conscientious.

If people are saying positive things about you, it means you’ve got something to lose. Because reputations take effort to build. And more effort to maintain. And that’s good. Because doing so gives you an edge over your competitors. An edge you’ll value and want to nurture. Customers know this.

Businesses which display their review community ratings on checkout pages have reported animprovement in sales conversion rate of 58%

Building profile pages on review communities Google respects as authoritative doesn’t just show your customers that you’re open to their feedback: it’s also great for organic and paid search.

What are reviews worth to your business? Cambridge mathematician William Hartston has developed a formula… watch our animation and try it yourself!

YOUR REPUTATION MAKES YOU SOLID.

Be accountable for your website and customer experience, not just your products or services.

Your site says what you are; reviews show who you are. The best reviews are opinions freely offered, from real people. The business person can’t control them and won’t always like them. By responding to reviews in the right way, you’ll show that you are confident enough to open up a two way dialogue: which will go a long way to build trust.

When your audience agrees what you’re all about, it makes you a better bet in the minds of all those prospective customers out there.

68% of people around the world trust consumer opinions posted online, according to Nielsen.

YOUR REPUTATION IS AN APPRECIATING ASSET.

£911 billion – that’s what ‘Reputation Dividend’ estimates the combined value of reputations across the FTSE350 to be worth.

Here’s the big one: your reputation is like a high-interest savings bond. Boosting it isn’t a cost, but an investment in the value of your business.

If social proof shows that you answer customer queries, solve issues or are just available for consumers to chat – your reputation will grow even in the event of service failure. Because positive impressions often stem from a problem well solved. And satisfied customers will pass on that positivity to their friends.

According to the Reputation Dividend study, the value of corporate reputations has doubled in the past four years.

Things to think about:

• Social proof is essential for building a good reputation, which is invaluable for any business. By choosing an independent, open platform you give the prospect the opportunity to find information they can trust.
• Reviews are also the perfect KPI against which your company can judge its performance. They are an invaluable way of confirming or contradicting what you believe to be true about your level of customer service and the quality of your products or services.
• Review platforms make managing your online reputation easy. They do this by allowing your customer to voice their opinions and you to respond to their feedback – whether they’re praising your wonderful customer service or pointing out what could be better.

You can’t afford to neglect reviews for one more minute. Download the eGuide: The Power of Online Reviews: A Business Owner’s Guide

Please follow this link to download the eGuide: http://bit.ly/TrustpilotBusiness

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Peter Muhlmann .