Google My Business is one of the most flexible and powerful tools a business owner has. It puts your business on Google’s radar. It opens you up to a potential customer base numbering a billion.
It is a platform for marketing your brand. When potential customers search for a keyword such as “fashion store” or “book shop”, Google will return some results of nearby businesses that fit those keywords.
Ranking at the top of Google’s search engine results is extremely important. The top 3 results get more than half of all clicks. Typically, people find what they are looking for in those results and ignore the rest.
To build engagement, you must get into those coveted positions. Don’t worry, we are going to share the secrets of how to do this with you!
Breaking Into the Top 3 with Local Business Reviews
Local business reviews are one of the best ways to do this.
Let’s back up a little bit. Google wants its users to go to the best result. The top results will be brands or businesses that Google thinks are popular and well-liked.
In Google My Business, your brand can be reviewed by others. The Google business reviews are used by the search engine to guess how popular your business is. The more you get reviews on Google, the better your placement.
That means if you get a lot of (hopefully) positive reviews, your brand could potentially be number one on the search results!
Let’s talk about how you can get more awesome reviews.
How to Get Reviews on Google
It is quite easy to get reviews on Google. All you need to do is link your customers to the page where they can leave the review. A lot of companies don’t know how to find this special link and end up just asking people to ‘Leave me a Google review’. And the people are like ‘where do I do that?’
When someone clicks on your special link, they will be taken directly to the Google Business Review page for your brand. They can write their review and rate it out of 5 stars.
If your business is an online one, then there is nothing to worry about. Simply add this link to a “Leave a Review” button on your website or page! We have more ideas for you as well. Keep reading.
But what about a physical business? We will explain how to link to review now.
Step 1: Get Your Special Link
The first step is to log into the Google My Business Console.
There are a lot of options in here. The one we are looking for is the ‘Get More Reviews’ panel. Click on the ‘Get Link’ button to bring up a panel, where a short URL will be displayed.
Even a short URL is a huge pain to type out, especially on a phone. Just typing out “https://www-“ is pretty complicated. Ninety-nine percent of customers will not bother go to through all that trouble.
One solution is to use a QR code.
Step 2: Make a QR Code
Your next question is almost certainly, “How do I get a QR code for my business?” Don’t worry, it is quite easy.
You have seen them before, right? A QR code is basically a type of barcode. It uses the different dots on the screen to encode some text. It could easily store the URL of your review instead.
Here is an awesome QR Code Generator you can use. Add your special url link to your review page and it will create a QR code specific for you.
Anyone who has a phone can read the QR code. They can simply launch a QR Code Reader app – something everyone had nowadays – and open the link. Some modern phones don’t even need an app for this. The normal phone camera gives you the link when you aim it at the code.
That’s it! The simple solution to the complicated problem of how to link to review.
Step 3: Brand it and Make it Pretty
Do you want your brand to be represented by an ugly black box? Didn’t think so. It’s important to make it branded and aesthetically pleasing.
There are plenty of graphic design tools on the internet, such as Canva. No prior knowledge of graphic design is needed to use them. Canva is simple, yet you can use it for stunning design and illustrations thanks to templates and stock photos.
Explore these tools. Make a flashy and attention-grabbing signboard that you could leave by the counter or on poster around your business.
Step 4: Spread it Around!
Your QR code does not have to be restricted to a poster or signboard. The beauty of this QR code is that it can go nearly anywhere.
A QR code for business reviews can be as small as 2 or 3 cm squared. This can be printed on a receipt or shopping bag. It can be printed on the back of a business card or postcard.
It can be placed anywhere you have a flat space. Though we don’t recommend plastering the walls and ceiling in QR codes!
Leave your Mark with QR Codes
Marketing your brand is a very important part of running a business. And the best way to market is to simply be more visible. Google is your best friend here, but you also have to put in some effort to make Google recognize you.
That’s why we stress the importance of business reviews. Studies have shown that people will trust a business with a lot of reviews over one with fewer reviews, even if the latter has a higher average rating.
Remember, someone who really enjoyed your products or services will be likely to leave a review. Someone who is ambivalent or did not like it all that much won’t bother. Chances are, unless you mess up badly, you will get mostly positive reviews.
That is where a QR code for business reviews come in. You now know how to utilize them. Go forth and collect those reviews, and don’t forget to check out our other articles on successfully promoting your brand!
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