One of the best ways to solidify your business is through backlinks.  Citations is an easy way to create several backlinks.  Search engines are crawling the web, the more often they find your business online on other sites the more relevant you become.  However, make sure your information is accurate and up to date.  Reputation Arm can help manage and create your citations while removing duplicates.

Google my business is a free directory for your business.  Relevant keywords in your GMB is a great way to rank.  Choose the right primary category.  The best way to do this is by seeing what your competitors are doing.  Choosing up to 3 categories is best for a business. 

Add your service area.  Google allows you to add up to 15 service areas.  The more you add the stronger your geographical relevance.   Fill out all fields Google provides on your page.  Update the “about your business” with relevant information and keywords.

Create products and services.  If you are a service-based company you can create your services as a product.  This enhances the overall look of your listing on the local finder.  Optimize your photos and videos.  The more a user engages on your page through videos and photos the more relevant you become to Google.

Reviews has become the most relevant factor for ranking on Google and is a critical part of reputation management.  Google is looking at the number of reviews and the star rating.  However, more then helping you rank on Google, reviews let the consumer know much information about your business. 

Studies have shown that business that have over 200 reviews see an increase in sales by 30%.  While this may be hard to measure, ask yourself this question.  Would I choose to buy a pizza from a business with 39 reviews or the one with 200 plus reviews?  Having a high number of reviews will help with your conversions.  However, having a high number of negative reviews can really hurt your business.  This leads us to the next step.

Set your company culture around customer service.  Drilling into your staff the importance of customer service is nothing new to a business.  We all know that good customer service keeps our customers happy and keeps them coming back.  However, having just one negative customer experience can result in a negative review that will never leave your brand. 

Negative reviews can affect your brand and revenue adding to the stress of managing the day to day.  Don’t stress, there is a way to make it better.

Answering reviews shows Google you are an active business owner that cares, and can help you rank better.  While its not a significant factor in ranking it will help in conversions.  Studies show that consumers are more likely to visit or buy from a business that answers reviews.  Answering negative reviews allows you as a business to move any conflict off line.  It also gives you the opportunity to show you care.  This will help your brand earn the trust of other potential customers.  In some cases, engaging with the customer in a review can result in the removal of the review.

Templated review responses can help inspire your message and therefore can become useful in crafting your response.  However, using templated or generic responses over and over should be avoided.  Customers want to see real, sympathetic and unique responses.

Uploading photos, videos and posts to your Google and social pages keeps you top of mind and shows the consumer your brand is investing in their business.  Not only does it enhance brand reputation it keeps the user engaged which results in better search results for your business.