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Solo's blog provides the resources that microbusinesses, solopreneurs, freelancers, and other super-small businesses need to start, operate, and grow.

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In this article:\n11 local resources for small businesses in the Miami area\nMost communities have several free and low-cost resources to help keep the local economy flowing. Take advantage of the opportunities near you, and help grow your business, hire employees, get ideas about marketing, or network! \nWe’ve gathered local business resources that you can find to help your Miami business. Look through these to determine which options could viably help your business grow and become a staple in your community. \nWe’ve split this article into five categories to help you find the resources that best suit your business needs:\nComprehensive resources\nBusiness courses and advisors\nFinancial aid\nChambers of commerce\nHiring and recruitment resources\nComprehensive resources for businesses in Miami\nThese comprehensive business resources can help you get your business started, assist with funding, provide marketing advice, and help you find additional training to give your business every opportunity to succeed. \nSmall Business Administration (SBA)\nThe SBA is a national government organization that provides assistance to businesses such as free and low-cost business counseling, helping secure funding, assistance with government contracts, and setting up your business plan. \nMiami has its own SBA branch for local entrepreneurs to find the assistance they need to achieve their dreams. \nContact the Miami SBA:\nMiami District Office
51 SW 1st Avenue Suite 201
Miami, FL 33130\nPhone: (305) 536-5521
Email: SouthFlorida_DO@sba.gov 
Website: \nhttps://www.sba.gov/offices/district/fl/miami\nMiami-Dade Beacon Council\nThis is the official economic development organization for Miami-Dade county. Community leaders make up a volunteer board for the organization, and experienced professionals help run its various programs. \nEntrepreneurs, startups, and established businesses can find solutions to help their companies thrive with resources like:\nLocal business assistance offices\nAccess to market research\nNetworking opportunities\nRecruitment resources\nAnd more\nFull contact information:\nMiami-Dade Beacon Council
80 SW 8th Street, Suite 2400
Miami, FL 33130\nPhone: (305) 579-1300
Website: \nhttps://www.beaconcouncil.com/\nBusiness courses and advisors in Miami\nThrough these resources, you can find additional training and advice for you and your team. Experienced professionals are available in just about every industry. You just need to know where to look. Check these out. \nSCORE\nSCORE is a national organization that provides free mentoring and workshops to business owners and entrepreneurs. Miami-Dade’s chapter of SCORE has over 100 business professionals ready and excited to help your business succeed. \nFind local workshops and events to help you gain that additional edge for your business and take advantage of the plethora of online resources this organization has available to you. \nReach out:\nMiami-Dade SCORE
2000 Ponce De Leon Blvd, #600
Miami, FL 33134\nPhone: (786) 425-9119
Email: admin0029@scorevolunteer.org
Website: \nhttps://miamidade.score.org/\nMiami Dade College Small Business Education Program\nMiami Dade College runs a small business education program that is open to new and existing business owners. They offer free workshops that include technical seminars, individual coaching sessions and networking events with agencies. \nThis is a great program to help you take your business skills to the next level and improve your business overall. \nInterested in participating? Contact Miami Dade College:\nMiami Dade College
300 NE 2nd Ave
Miami, FL 33132\nPhone: (305) 237-3822
Email: smallbusinessprogram@mdc.edu
Website: \nhttps://www.mdc.edu/smallbusinessoperations/\n\nFinancial assistance for Miami area businesses\nThroughout the Miami area, you can find several organizations that are dedicated to helping small businesses secure the funding they need to get started and grow. Start with some of these programs to see if they will work for you. \nEnterprise Florida\nEnterprise Florida partners with other organizations to help business owners and small companies find financing options. They have a wide network of non-profit, state, and federal resources available to help small business owners secure the capital they need to grow their companies. \nReach out today:\nMiami – International Trade & Development
201 Alhambra Circle, Suite 610
Coral Gables, FL 33134\nPhone: (305) 808-3660
Website: \nhttps://www.enterpriseflorida.com/small-business/\nMom and Pop Small Business Grant\nThe Mom and Pop Small Business Grant program provides opportunities for small business owners to access funding for equipment, advertising, supplies, liability insurance, security, and to make small renovations. \nRequirements of this grant program include:\nBusiness must be located in the specified county commission district (see the website for more information on this)\nCannot be part of a national chain\nMust have a physical address\nMust be a for-profit business\nHome-based businesses are eligible\nContact the Miami-Dade County Office of Management and Budget for more information on this program:\nOffice of Management and Budget
Stephen P. Clark Center
111 NW 1st Street 22nd Floor
Miami, Florida 33128\nPhone: (305) 375-5143
Website: \nwww.miamidade.gov\nSPS Business Loans\nSPS is an organization that helps businesses find funding when they don’t qualify for traditional bank financing. They understand that not everyone has the collateral necessary for traditional loans and want to help local business owners find success. \nContact SPS to learn more:\nSPS Business Loans
845 NE 79 Street
Miami, FL 33138\nPhone: 1 (888) 984-5969
Website: \nhttps://www.spsbusinessloans.com/\n\nMiami chambers of commerce\nChambers of commerce organize networks of local businesses to help business owners connect and gain more opportunities for growth. Generally, a chamber of commerce will provide marketing resources, financial assistance, advising, and other services to its members. \nGo deeper: \nChamber of commerce basics: what they do and why you should join\nGreater Miami Chamber of Commerce\n1601 Biscayne Boulevard
Ballroom Level
Miami, FL 33132\nPhone: (305) 350-7700
Website: \nhttps://www.miamichamber.com/\nMiami-Dade Chamber of Commerce\n100 South Biscayne Blvd, STE 300
Miami, Florida 33131\nPhone: (305) 751-8648
Email: m-dcc@m-dcc.org
Website: \nhttps://m-dcc.org/\nMiami Beach Chamber of Commerce\n1920 Meridian Ave – 3rd floor
Miami Beach, FL 33139\nPhone: (305) 674-1300
Email: info@miamibeachchamber.com
Website: \nhttps://www.miamibeachchamber.com/\nNorth Miami Chamber \n13100 West Dixie Highway
North Miami, FL 33161\nPhone: (305) 891-7811
Email: info@northmiamichamber.com
Website: \nhttps://www.northmiamichamber.com/\nHiring and recruitment resources in the Miami metro area\nYou can find several recruitment agencies and websites specific to the Miami area. Here are a couple of great places to get started. \nCity of Miami\nThe City of Miami provides some great employment resources on their website. The one that your business should utilize when looking for new employees is the job listings with the Opportunity Center. \nContact the Opportunity Center to list your available jobs:\nPhone: (305) 416-1007
Email: wporro@miamigov.com
Website: \nwww.miamigov.com\nCareerXChange\nCareerXChange is a staffing agency in Florida that helps connect business owners with qualified candidates looking for new job opportunities. \nGet in contact:\nMiami Office
10689 North Kendall Drive, Suite 209
Miami, FL 33176\nPhone: (305) 595-3800
Website: \nwww.careerxchange.com\n\n


Best local business resources in the Miami area

In this article:\nWhy get listed on MerchantCircle\nHow to create and claim MerchantCircle business listings\nWhat you should do next\nMerchantCircle is a network of people dedicated to connecting busy consumers with top-quality local merchants. \nMerchantCircle wants to help small businesses like yours improve their online visibility, so they give you everything you need to do just that. That’s why we want to show you how to add your business to their platform. \nWhy should I add my business to MerchantCircle?\nMerchantCircle is the perfect platform for connecting with new, local consumers, and it also helps improve your local search rankings. The more online directories you can list your business on, the better chance you have to rank high in the local search results. \nCheck this out: \n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\nSome other cool features and benefits that MerchantCircle can offer your business include:\nOnline advertising on their platform\nOnline reputation management services\nTop-rated customer support\nRead on to learn how to add your business to MerchantCircle.\nHow to create and claim your business account on MerchantCircle\nLet’s get started. \nStep 1: Create a MerchantCircle account\nIn order to add a business to or claim a business on MerchantCircle, you need to sign up for an account. \nGo to \nmerchantcircle.com\n and click “Sign up.”\n(Image)\n\nOn the next screen, fill out the form with the following information:\nFirst and last name\nEmail address\nPassword\nPassword confirmation\nZip code\nBusiness name\nBusiness phone number\nBe sure that the “I’m a merchant” box is checked at the top of the form, check the reCaptcha (“I’m not a robot”), and click “Create my account.”\n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Add or update your business on MerchantCircle and claim it\nWhen you add in your business name and phone number in the signup form, it allows MerchantCircle to check their database to see if your business is already there. If it is, it will show up on the following screen once you click “Create my account.”\nYou’ll be brought to a page that has your business listed. Click “Claim this business.”\n(Image)\n\nIf you don’t see your business listed, click “Add your business to MerchantCircle.”\n(Image)\n\nNo matter which option you choose, you will then be brought to the same form. If your business was already on MerchantCircle, some of your business information will be filled out for you. Just complete the form and click “Next.”\nIf your business wasn’t listed on MerchantCircle, and you clicked “Add your business…” then your form will be blank. Fill out all of your information and click “Next.”\nMake sure to include all of the following information in the form:\nBusiness name\nAddress\nPhone number\nBusiness category\nBusiness description\nBusiness website\nAccepted payment types\n(Image)\n\nYou will then be brought to a page to select the plan you would like to be on for your MerchantCircle account. To avoid paying any fees, select “Try It Free.”\n(Image)\n\nNext, MerchantCircle will prompt you to purchase “Hero Ads.” Feel free to skip this or click “Next” to stick with the free listing. \n(Image)\n\nOn the next screen, MerchantCircle will direct you to verify your email. Do this to gain full access to your business listing. \nCheck your email (this often comes into the spam/junk folder) and click “Verify your account.” \n(Image)\n\nNow you have a verified MerchantCircle account!\nYou added your business to MerchantCircle… what’s next?\nOnce you’ve added your business to this online directory, there’s still a lot more you can do to improve your online visibility and improve your opportunities to get more customers. \nAdding your business to this directory is one small piece of improving your local SEO (search engine optimization), and we have some other great resources to help you improve this even further. \nCheck out our guides:\n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\n\nHow to get more reviews\n\n

How to create and claim your MerchantCircle business listing

A step-by-step guide on:\nHow to create a Yelp account\nHow to claim your business on Yelp\nHow to verify your Yelp business account\nIn this post we will take you step-by-step through the process of claiming your business’s Yelp listing. \nIf you want to improve your business’s online presence, the first step is to \nclaim your business listings\n on all the relevant sites like Google, Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. to begin owning your online reputation and responding to reviews.\nPlus, research shows that businesses that claim their listings on multiple online business reviews sites make 58% more money. Yet less than 1 in 4 local businesses secure and update their online review listings.\nHow to claim your business on Yelp\nStep 1) Search for your business\nStart by going to the Yelp page for business owners: \nbiz.yelp.com\n.\nyelp business owner login screen\n\nOnce there, type in your street address and business name then click Get Started.\nStep 2) Select your Yelp business listing\nStart typing the name of your business in the search field provided.\nyelp login business screen\n\nWhen your business appears, click the Claim this Business button to claim your business on Yelp.\nNote: \nIf your business listing does not appear\n in the dropdown list below, then you will need to add it yourself. For more instructions, scroll down to the “How to add a new Yelp business listing” section.\nStep 3) Create a free Yelp business account\nEnter any existing email address you own (ex: @hotmail.com, @yahoo.com, @businessname.com) to create your free Yelp Business account.\nyelp login for business screen\n\nPlease note: The email address you provide when creating your Yelp account will NOT be visible to your customers. List the best recovery email in the event you forget your login password.\nHow to add a new Yelp business listing\nStep 1) Add your business listing\nyelp business owner login screen\n\nIf your business doesn’t show up in Yelp’s business listings, that means you’ll need to add it yourself.\nIf you \nhave\n a Yelp Business account: Click Log In\nIf you \ndo not\n have a Yelp Business account: Click Add your business to Yelp at the bottom of the search field\nStep 2) Enter your business information\nOnce you’ve logged into a Yelp Business account, you’ll be able to enter all of your business information on this screen:\nadd a business to yelp screen\n\nDouble check to make sure you’ve entered your information accurately and click Add Business. \nNote: The email address you provide when adding your business on Yelp will NOT be visible to your customers. Provide the best recovery email address in the event you forget your login password.\nStep 3) Confirm your email address\nClick the Confirm email address button to receive your confirmation email.\nyelp business owner confirm email screen\n\nStep 4) Check your email inbox\nCheck your email inbox for a Yelp New Business message and click on the link provided within the email to log into your Yelp Business account. This will automatically claim your business on Yelp. \nBut claiming your Yelp listing is only the first step. You’ll next want to verify your business to take full advantage of Yelp’s features.\nHow to verify your Yelp business account\nYelp requires that you verify your Business listing to claim, manage, and update any of the listing information.\nStep 1: Verify your business phone number via phone call or text\nyelp business owner confirm verify phone number screen\n\nPlease note: Do not start this verification process if you are not at the business location at the time you request the verification phone call and/or if your business number cannot receive text messages. \nWork-around: If you ask Yelp to call your place of business, ask an employee in advance to pick up the Yelp verification phone call once you send the request, then have your employee call you back with the verification code.\nyelp business owner login confirm verification code screen\n\nEnter the verification code provided from the Yelp phone call or text message and click Continue.\nStep 2: Upload your photo\nIn order for you to reply to customer reviews, Yelp requires business owners to upload a profile picture.\nyelp login business owner account settings screen\n\nOn the top menu, click Account Settings.\nyelp business login add photo screen\n\nIn the Account Information section, click Add photo.\nyelp business owner login add photo upload screen\n\nYelp then gives you a “Right” and “Wrong” example of a photo to upload. Click on Add Photo to select a picture you have already saved to your device (computer, phone, iCloud account, etc.).\nOnce your photo has been uploaded and saved to your Yelp Business profile, please give Yelp 24 hours to review and approve your photo. \nTo check the progress of this status, log into your account and try to respond to a review. Before you are able to type a response, Yelp will notify you if additional information is required to respond to your customer review.\nSee our additional guides: \n\nHow to claim your Google my Business listing\n\n\nHow to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor\n\n

How to claim your Yelp business listing

In this article:\nWhy small businesses should consider Google Maps advertising\nHow does local business advertising on Google Maps work?\nHow much does it cost to advertise on Google Maps?\nPlacing local ads on Google Maps is a relatively recent phenomenon, but the reason for its explosion in popularity is clear. \nGoogle Maps is SIX TIMES more popular than other navigation apps. Mobile \n“near me” searches\n are the new normal, with 200% growth over recent years. Location-related searches have grown 50 percent faster than overall mobile searches overall over the past year.\nWhy does this matter? Because three out of four people who use their smartphone to search for businesses or services nearby visit a store within a day. So Google Maps advertising can be a great way to attract local customers to your business.\nHow does local business advertising on Google Maps work?\nWhen you search for local businesses with queries like “tire shops near me” or “mexican restaurants in [city]” (whether in the standard Google engine or in Google Maps), the search engine serves up the top results along with a map of the local area. \nWhere your business ranks in these search results depends on a variety of factors, including: your star rating, the number and quality of your reviews, your customer engagement, your “normal” website’s performance on Google, and whether you’ve optimized your Google My Business profile for \nlocal SEO\n.\nHowever, if you choose to pay for local business advertising on Google Maps, your store will often appear as one of 2 or 3 (maximum) featured results at the top of those local listings. \nIn our testing, for typical small businesses, you will likely be the only ad displayed at the top of that small list of featured choices. \nDesktop/primary Google search engine results will display like this:\ngoogle maps advertising 1\n\nSearches within Google Maps specifically will display like this: \ngoogle maps advertising 2\nSince studies show that the vast majority of shoppers click on the first business listed in search results, it may be worth it to invest some of your marketing budget to advertise on Google Maps and drive more traffic to your store or your website.\nHow do I set up Google Maps advertising for my business?\nThe first thing you need to do is \nclaim your Google business listing\n. (Click for our easy how-to article.) This may sound like an obvious step, but surprisingly, a recent report showed that only 44% of Google business listings had been claimed. \nAfter you’ve claimed your listing, you should optimize your profile by adding \nthe top 5 things every small business should include in their Google business listing\n. \nNext, \nset up a Google Ads account\n for your business. Then, you can \nenable location extensions for your Google Ads account\n. This will tell Google that you want your ads to be featured in local searches. \nFinally, \noptimize your keywords\n, set up what locations and areas you want to target, and \nbid by location\n.\nIt’s important to \nlearn the difference between “call extensions” and “location extensions.”\n For most small businesses, we recommend you use location extensions primarily. \nIn addition to being more visible on the world’s most-used mapping app and attracting local customers looking for what you offer, you can use your Google Maps ads to test different keyword strategies and click-through techniques with minimal effort.\nThe next thing you need to be aware of is, it’s not going to be free. Let’s talk about potential costs.\nHow much does it cost to advertise on Google Maps?\nThe cost for serving up local ads on Google Maps is based on your budget, your preferences, your local market, the level of competition, and multiple other factors (most of which Google will not divulge). So we can only speculate about what it will cost for you. \nGoogle Maps ads’ Cost Per Click (CPC) is also figured differently depending on how your customers click through from your Google Maps ad, whether it be “Get location detail” clicks, “get directions” clicks, mobile “click-to-call,” or website clicks. \ngoogle maps advertising 3\n\nHowever, Google’s own tutorials show examples with CPCs of $4 or more, so we can assume that is a real possibility. Luckily, you can easily set daily maximums to limit the total potential cost. \nFor example, you can set a $100/day limit (or whatever you want) so if you get a ton of clicks, you won’t exceed your planned marketing budget. Once you hit your limit, Google Maps will stop displaying your ad until the next day or whenever you have set your max spending to reset. \nThis is important because at a theoretical CPC of $4, if you get 500 clicks you’ll be spending $2000 a day.\nRemember these are just \nclicks\n, not \nsales\n. But if you have a high-converting website you want to drive customers to, or if you simply want to boost your visibility and brand recognition with local customers, this type of advertising could be well worth it for you.\nAnother advantage of Google Maps advertising is that they make it very easy to set up a profile, modify displayed content, and track results, even if you don’t know very much about marketing.\nConsider adding your local product inventory to Google Maps\nIn addition to allowing you to customize your ad content and make your map “pin” stand out against your competitors (at additional cost), Google also lets you link your in-stock inventory to Google ads. \nThis means customers searching for specific items in stock can get shown that info as part of your featured advertisement. For pharmacies, shoe stores, or other local retail shops, this can be very useful. \nClick to read Google’s how-to on \nlinking your local inventory\n.\nSources:\n
\nhttps://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/06/01/google-maps-local-search-ads\n
\nhttps://themanifest.com/app-development/popularity-google-maps-trends-navigation-apps-2018\n
\nhttps://themanifest.com/app-development/how-advertise-google-maps\n
\nhttp://info.brandmuscle.com/StateofLocalMarketing2017_Download-Report.html\n

Google Maps advertising: an intro for local businesses

In this article:\nWhat is a file sharing app?\nHow can file sharing apps or software help your small business?\nBest file sharing apps to try\nIt doesn’t matter what industry you are in, you have likely emailed a file (or several) to an employee (if you have employees), client, or partnering company. Sharing files like forms, articles, photos, videos, and more becomes a hassle when you’re always emailing them back and forth. And some file types aren’t supported by email. \nIn this article, we’ll go over the advantages of using file sharing apps with for small businesses and list some of the best apps to start with. \nWhat is a file sharing app and why do you need one?\nA file sharing app is a cloud-based system that allows you to easily share files with your team online. You can upload most file types to your app of choice and then organize them in a way that makes it easy for your team to access the files they need. \nYou can also share links to specific files or folders with your customers if they need to review a project or presentation before it is published or presented. \nFile sharing apps were designed to make your life easier. So take advantage of that. Find these many benefits of using a file sharing app:\nConvenience of having everything you need in one place\nReduced costs—if you are storing all of your files in the cloud you don’t need as much physical space for hard copies or server space to back everything up\nSaves time to have files online and in a place where you can type a quick query to find what you need\nAdditional security for your files when you choose the right application\nTop file sharing apps for small business\nIf you’re ready to hop onboard with a file sharing app, consider with one of these solutions. You may find that you only need this on occasion and a free app might work great for you. Or you may need advanced security measures and more storage space, in which case some of these solutions offer premium upgrades for an additional cost. \nGoogle Drive\nGoogle Drive is free for anyone with a Google account. Just go to drive.google.com and log in with your free Gmail address. You’ll have access to create and edit text documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations, and you’ll be able to upload just about any files that you need to store online. \nYou’ll also be able to share files easily and set permissions for whether a person can edit, comment, or view the file that you share. \nOne caveat with the free version is that it only has 15GB of storage. If you’re only storing text documents and spreadsheets, that may work just fine for you and your team (each person can use their own account). However, if you have large file types like videos or hundreds and thousands of files that you need to store, then you may need an upgraded plan. \nWith Google One, you can expand your Google Drive storage space and receive additional benefits. \nPayment plans for Google One:\n100GB: $1.99/month or $19.99/year when paid annually\nThis includes, you guessed it, 100GB of storage, access to Google experts, option to add your family (or team) to the plan, and extra member benefits. \n200GB: $2.99/month or $29.99/year when paid annually\nThis includes 200GB of storage, everything from the first plan, and 3% back in the Google Store. \n2TB: $9.99/month or $99.99/year when paid annually\nThis includes 2TB of storage, everything from the first plan, and 10% back in the Google Store. \nIf your business uses G-Suite, you may already have access to more Google Drive storage depending on your plan. \nMicrosoft OneDrive\nAccess files and photos from any device with OneDrive. With OneDrive, you can also edit and share your files, and it will back up and protect any files that are saved in OneDrive. With Office apps you can also collaborate on documents in real-time. \nMicrosoft has several plans that include OneDrive. The first is their free plan which only includes 5GB of storage. If you need additional storage space, we suggest upgrading to the next plan. \nMicrosoft’s paid plans include:\nOneDrive 100 GB (Personal): $1.99/month\nThis plan provides 100 GB of storage on OneDrive, with no additional features. \nOneDrive for Business Plan 1: $5.00/month per user\nThis plan includes 1TB of storage for each user and requires an annual commitment. \nOneDrive for Business Plan 2: $10.00/month per user\nThis plan includes unlimited cloud storage for each user and advanced security and compliance capabilities. It also requires an annual commitment. \nIf you have either of the Microsoft 365 Business plans, you will have OneDrive available for each user on that plan, too. \nDropbox\nDropbox is great for file sharing and backing up your files in a digital space. It also offers file recovery if you accidentally delete the wrong file and version history so you can rollback to a previous version if you change your mind about an edit you made. \nYou can easily create links to files or folders to share them with other team members or customers for collaboration and review. And it’s easy to create folders and keep your files organized rather than digging through your email to find the right attachment. \nDropbox Basic is their free plan, but it only offers 2GB of storage space. You can certainly start there to test it out, but we’re willing to bet you’ll need more space than that. No worries though, you can always upgrade to a paid plan from Basic. \nDropbox business plans:\nProfessional: $19.99/month\nThis plan allows one user, provides 3TB of secure storage and a few additional highlights:\nSend up to 100GB of files with Dropbox Transfer\nMobile offline folders\nRemote account wipe\nDocument watermarking\nPriority email and chat support\nStandard: $15/user per month \nThis plan must start with at least 3 users, allows 5TB of storage per user, and include collaboration tools. Additional highlights:\nSingle admin login to manage teams\nAdmin console and audit log\nSecure encryptions\nGranular sharing permissions\nPriority email, chat, and phone support\nAdvanced: $25/user per month\nThis plan must start with at least 3 users and allows as much space as you need. Plan highlights include:\nEverything included in the Standard plan\nAdvanced admin controls\nTiered roles for admin\nSingle sign on (SSO) integration\nInvite enforcement\n

Best file sharing apps for your small business

Type “remove Google review” into your Google search bar, and the search engine will return an astronomical 4.6 BILLION results! Clearly, bad customer reviews are on the minds of local business owners and operators.\nEvery business owner dreads receiving a negative online review from a customer. It’s a justifiable fear, since close to 9 in 10 consumers trust online reviews as highly as recommendations from friends and family, and one negative review can cost your business 30 customers. So, once a customer publishes a negative review on a site like Google, Facebook, or Yelp, what can you do to fix it?\nIt’s generally very difficult to remove bad reviews from a third-party site like Yelp or Google. You need to be able to:\nShow the site managers that the review violates the site’s terms of service by being “inappropriate” — a subjective area that relies on a judgment call.\nProve it has been written by a competitor or otherwise fabricated.\nConvince the person who wrote the review to take it down.\nPursuing any of these strategies can mean a long, difficult road with uncertain outcomes. Ultimately, you don’t have complete control over whether a posted review stays or goes.\nIf you can’t remove the negative review, what’s your recourse when negative feedback pops up and hurts your business? In this case, the best defense is a good offense. Here are some proactive steps you can take to protect yourself and mitigate the damage done by a negative review:\nClaim your business listings\n \non review sites like Yelp and Google\nBy claiming your business’s listings on review sites, you empower yourself as the owner to contact the site manager to request removal of the review, and to respond to reviews directly.\nClick for our easy how-to articles:\nHow to claim your Google My Business profile\nHow to claim your business listing on Yelp\nCreate and claim your Facebook business page\nClaim your TripAdvisor listing\nGet your business listed on OpenTable\nHow to claim your Foursquare business profile\nRefer to our \nfree business listings\n article for many more!\nRespond to negative reviews\nSince it’s rare for an online review site to agree to take down a negative review, the next best thing is to acknowledge the customer’s experience by posting a response. This is an important step, since studies show 56%-70% of complaining customers will use a business again if their concern is resolved. Keep your tone empathetic and avoid getting defensive — this can actually be an opportunity to generate more sales. By engaging with customers and resolving their concerns, you can generate repeat business, which can increase revenue by 47%.\nRead our complete article on \nhow to respond to bad reviews\n for more.\nGet more positive reviews from your best customers\nGetting more online reviews is one of the most important things you can do to attract customers and increase sales. First, it helps customers find your business online because review content on business rating sites accounts for 10.3% of your local search engine ranking. Second, research from Cornell University professors found that simply encouraging online reviews can improve a business’s online ratings—with one-star gains translating to 39% more revenue—and each additional review you receive increases revenue by .49%.\nRead our article on \nhow to get more reviews\n for more.


149 articles found in “Growing your business”

Best local business resources in the Miami area

How to create and claim your MerchantCircle business listing

How to claim your Yelp business listing

Google Maps advertising: an intro for local businesses

Best file sharing apps for your small business

Can you remove negative reviews from sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp?

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