A Simple and Free Tool To Get Google Reviews for Business

A Simple and Free Tool to Get Google Reviews for your Business

I will start by telling you that I have made many mistakes concerning my reviews.

Review Mistakes I Have Made:

1. Asking my clients to review me on my site using a review plugin

2. Asking my clients to review me on a 3rd party sites like Linkedin and Mosaic Hub

You can see I have many positive reviews on this page that do not show up on local searches

3. Not asking my clients for reviews…. this is the worst of all.

There are only 3 sites that I should focus on getting my reviews (a 4th for Real Estate Agents)

1. Google Local

2. Yelp

3. Facebook

4. Zillow

When I search for local businesses these are the only reviews that I see that propagate on the first page of Google.  Although, Facebook reviews do not populate on the search engines they can prove useful for people on Facebook… which is almost everyone.

Why Worry About Reviews?

If you still need to be convinced that getting online reviews is important you can do a simple Google search to get some feedback from the pros.  Here are some reasons why it is important.

• Social Proof
  • Trust is so important today.  Anyone can put on a good show online or using their marketing… but we do not trust that.  We need to hear it from real people that have experienced the same thing we are going through.
• Local SEO Ranking Factors
  • Having real people give your business 4 or 5 stars is a great signal to Google that your a legitimate business worth giving new leads to.

If you want customers to find you on Google, look good on Google.

Google Review Tool

Whitespark has created a simple and free tool to get Google Reviews for your business.  Thank you @Whitespark !

Previously I had written that the easiest way to get Google Reveiws was to send your clients a direct link to your review box.

There is a problem with this method… Your customers need to be logged in to Google for it work.  This seems to be a bigger problem than I assumed it would be.

If you are interested in learning how to create a link to directly to your Google Reviews the directions are at the end of the post.

Rather than sending a lengthy email and confusing directions on how to give me a review.  Whitespark has created a tool that creates printable easy to follow instructions for how to leave a Google review, on both desktop and mobile.

You Can Create Your instructions by just:

• Visiting Review Handout Generator by Whitespark and creating a free account
• Decide whether you want the desktop or the mobile version, or both.
• Enter your business information as it entered on Google.  (If your business is not on Google Maps yet… STOP and put your real estate business on Google Maps!)
• Generate your instructions to a .PDF

SAMPLE GOOGLE REVIEW INSTRUCTION SHEETS:

>> TheMadronaGroup-Review-Handout

>> TheMadronaGroup-Review-Handout-Mobile

Reviews Best Practice

Visit the Review Handout Generator tool and create .PDF instructions for Desktop and Mobile.

During your initial consultation or listing or buying appointment give your client a handout.

Explain that you will be giving them 5 star service.  If at any point through the transaction that they feel like you are not providing 5 star service to please let you know so that you can make corrections immediately.  That once the transaction is completed you need them to follow the directions on that sheet to give you a 5 star rating.  That your business depends on your clients receiving world class service and sharing that with others.

Let them know if they are at a desktop they can you use the Desktop Instructions and link to your instruction sheet.

If they are on mobile they can use those instructions and link to your instruction sheet.

As soon as you have completed the transaction follow up with your client and remind them about the review process you had discussed when you first met.

Send them another link to the instructions.

Creating A Link Directly To Your Google Review Section

1. Go to Google Places API.

2. Enter your business information in the “Enter a location” field at the top of the map.

3. Click your business name in the list that appears.

4. Your Place ID will appear on the map, beneath your business name.

5. Add the Place ID to the end of following URL to create the direct link:  <place_id>

6. Using the Place ID from the example above the direct link would be:  https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJD-0QZ9QGkFQRIid_1QVBXMw

7. Send this link to your past, current and future clients

Other Review Alternatives

If you are interested in getting more reviews in more locations you can try a tool to assist you.  A great review tool specifically for real estate agents is Real Satisfied.

Once you have created your account, profile, office settings, and which reviews you would like to encourage.  You can send a survey invitation to your clients.

The survey invitation will look something like this:

If your clients give you a 5 star rating they will be directed to add the review to your enabled review platforms.

We send out an email with a direct link to each of the review sites that we would like a review from that reads something like this: