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In this article:\nIs selling online right for your business?\nHow to start selling online\nUpdate your customers\nBest practices for selling online\nSetting up an online store can help maximize profits and customer reach. In this guide, we’ll walk you through some of the best e-commerce solutions for your business and what best practices you should be keeping as you get set up. \nIs selling online right for your business?\nYour business doesn’t have to be a retail store to benefit from selling online. Even service industry businesses can often reap the rewards of online sales. \nIf you don’t have physical products to sell, as a service business, you can still market and sell your services, and even schedule appointments online. \nThink about what your business can offer and sell online and consider whether the potential cashflow you’ll receive from it will outweigh the costs to get it started. \nHow to set up an e-commerce store\nSetting up an e-commerce store and selling online take a lot more than just uploading your products to a website. There are several aspects of online sales that you need to consider as you move into this sales venue. \nWhat will you be selling?\nAre you going to offer all of your products online? Or are there a specific few that are popular that you want to focus on?\nConsider what you can viably sell online and what items will bring you the most profits. It’s important to try to keep costs to a minimum so only sell items that are easy and quick to fulfill orders on or that bring in good profits. \nDropshipping or selling from your inventory\nYou’ll need to determine if you’ll keep your store stocked up (if you’re in retail) or if you’ll ship directly from your manufacturer. Some businesses may not have the option to do the latter, but it’s something to think about. \nIf you have a physical location, you may have a large enough inventory on-hand right now to start selling products that you have in-store, in which case you’ll need to determine how best to ship your products from your store (see below for more info). \nfemale business owner shipping and warehousing\n\nWith dropshipping, you can have products shipped directly from the manufacturer, so if this is an option for you, it might be a good one to take since it takes less people to fulfill the order. \nE-commerce website builders and platforms\nIf you’ve never sold online before, you’re going to need to find a platform that will allow you to do so. \nIf you have your own website that your customers regularly visit, then you might consider one of the following options which you can integrate into your current website:\nEcwid is a subscription-based ecommerce platform that can integrate seamlessly with most content management systems. You just set up your account and online store and have your web developer drop the code into your website. If you only have 10 products or less, you can use their free plan. \nShopify works similarly where you’ll need to create an account, upload your products, and then you can integrate them onto your website. Their lowest plan starts at $29/month for unlimited products. \nIf you don’t have a website or you prefer to sell through third-party platforms, you might look into Amazon or Etsy, depending on the type of items you sell. \nShipping and order fulfillment\nThe point of having an online store is to maximize profits and increase customer reach. Most of your orders will likely be shipped directly to your customer’s home or mailbox. You’ll need to determine how you will fulfill those orders. \nMany businesses offer free shipping to encourage customers to make more online purchases. If you choose this route, just make sure that you are still making a profit and that shipping costs aren’t going to pull you under. Raise the prices of your products to cover the cost of shipping if needed. \nChoose the shipping service that you will use to get your orders to your customers: USPS, FedEX, UPS. \nGo deeper: \nComplete guide to fulfilling and shipping orders for your online store\nTest your store to make sure everything works\nBefore launching your online store and advertising it, make sure everything works like it should so you aren’t missing orders.\nLearn more: \nHow to set up an eCommerce store for your small business\nInform your customers that you are selling online\nCustomer communication is critical, so make sure you inform them of any changes you make to your business—including selling online. \nCreate a bold call-to-action on the home page of your website that links to your online store or products. \nShare the news on your \nsocial media channels\n and \nonline business listings\n, and create \nonline advertising\n that targets new customers who are looking to shop online. \nBest practices for selling online\nKeep these best practices in mind as you are setting up your online store. They will help draw in more customers and convert more sales. \nOnline promotions\nCreate enticing promotions like BOGO deals and free shipping that encourage customers to spend more in one transaction. \nQuality photos\nTake appealing photos of your products. Spend a little time to make your photos look professional. Not sure you can do this on your own? There are likely plenty of local photographers looking for work right now that can help you. \nRead our helpful guides:\nDo-it-yourself photography guide for small business\nTop 3 ways to get (and use) professional quality photos for your business\nProduct names and descriptions\nCreate well-written product names and descriptions. Keep the names simple and descriptive of what the product actually is. Add any additional and essential details (color, size, weight, etc.) in the description of the product. \nAutomate as many processes as possible\nSuper-small businesses typically have limited time and resources, so it's important to find ways to be as efficient as possible. Your e-commerce platform should be able to do a lot of this for you, like automatically creating packing slips and determining sales tax. \nSet up online newsletters\nAs you are creating your e-commerce platform, add an online newsletter/email campaign to your website and social media platforms to allow customers to stay up to date on new deals and changes that your business may be facing right now. \nRead more: \nBest practices for small business email marketing\n

How to get your business started selling online

In this article:\nWhy add business to Apple Maps\nHow to add and claim your business on Apple Maps\nWhat to do next\nWhen it comes to navigation apps, Google Maps definitely takes the cake in terms of usage, with 72% of the market while Apple Maps only takes 11%.\nHowever, that 11% is still equal to more than 23 million monthly users, so Apple Maps is still an important platform to be thinking about when adding your business to various online directories. \nWhy add your business to Apple Maps\nAs you can see, many people are using Apple Maps to navigate from place to place. That means they are likely using it to find their way to new businesses that they want to try out too. (Hint: that’s you!)\nIn order to reach the most customers for your business, you should be adding your business to multiple online directories and map services. The more directories you are listed on, the better opportunity you have to reach more people. \nBeyond people finding your business on Apple Maps directly, adding your business to multiple online directories (Apple Maps included) can help your business rank better in local searches on Google, Bing, and other search engines. \nGo deeper: \n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\nHow to list and verify your business with Apple Maps\nLet’s get started. \nStep 1: Log into Apple Maps Connect\nThe first thing you need to do to add your business to Apple Maps (or check to see if it is there) is sign into Apple Maps Connect. \nGo to \nmapsconnect.apple.com\n and sign in with your Apple ID. If you don’t have an Apple ID, create one. \n(Image)\n\n
If you need to create an Apple ID, you will be redirected to appleid.apple.com. Click “Create Your Apple ID” and follow the steps to set this up. \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Choose your language and agree to terms\nOnce you’re signed into Apple Maps Connect, you’ll be prompted to select a language. Choose the most relevant language for your business, and click “Done.” \n(Image)\n\nThen you’ll be directed to a window to agree to Apple’s term before proceeding. Check “I have read and agree to these terms of use” and click “Agree.”\nStep 3: Find your business\nNext, search for your business to see if it already exists on Apple Maps. Type your business name and address into the fields provided and click “Search.”\n(Image)\n\nClick on your business if you see it. Once you click on your business, look to the bottom of your screen and click “Claim this place.” Proceed to Step 4.\n(Image)\n\nIf you don’t see your business listed when you search for it, click “Add new place” and then continue to Step 4 of this guide. \n(Image)\n\nStep 4: Add and/or claim your business on Apple Maps\nWhether you are clicking to claim your business or clicked “Add new place,” the next steps will be the same. \nYou’ll be provided with a few options to add or update your information: \nBusiness name (make sure this is accurate)\nPlace status (open or not)\nCategories\nPhone number\nWhether or not you accept Apple Pay\nComplete this form and click “Next.”\n(Image)\n\nTo finish claim your listing, you will be prompted to have Apple call your business to verify your phone number. Click “Call me now” and they will place an automated call to your business with a code. \n(Image)\n\nEnter the code you received and click “Done.”\n(Image)\n\nCongratulations, you have now claimed your business on Apple Maps!\nWhat to do next\nNow that your business is listed on Apple Maps, you’ve just increased your opportunities to gain more customers and improve your brand awareness. \nBut you shouldn’t stop there.\nWe have some guides that will help you further improve your online visibility:\n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\nIt’s important to add your business to multiple online directory sites and navigational apps to improve your opportunity to rank well in the search engines, as well as to show up on every channel that customers use to find new businesses. 


How to add your business to Apple Maps

In this article:\nWhy use Facebook advertising\nCreate a Facebook account for your business\nHow to set up Facebook Ads Manager for your small business\nHow to create your first ad campaign\nSocial media is a prominent source of entertainment and information in this digital age, and Facebook is king. It’s no wonder there is so much emphasis to get your business on Facebook and start advertising there. \nIn this guide, we’ll walk you through how to set up Facebook Ads Manager for your small business, and even get you started with your first ad campaign! \nWhy use Facebook advertising for your small business\nFacebook advertising holds three main purposes or goals for the businesses that use it:\nBrand awareness \nIncreased consideration\nIncreased conversions\nWith enhanced targeting capabilities and low costs, advertising your business on Facebook can help you with each of these goals.\nImportant note: If you want to advertise your business on Instagram, you’ll need to have a Facebook Ads Manager because it is integrated with this platform. \nCreate a Facebook account for your business\nBefore you can start advertising your small business on Facebook, you’ll need to set up a Facebook business page. Whether you choose to advertise your business on Facebook or not, this is still an important step for any business’s marketing strategy. \nCheck out our guide: \nHow to create and claim your Facebook business page\nHow to set up Facebook Ads Manager for your small business\nLet’s get started. \nStep 1: Set up your Business Manager account\nFacebook Ads Manager is a feature of Facebook’s Business Manager, so you’ll first need to set up an account there. \nGo to \nbusiness.facebook.com\n and sign in to your Facebook account. Once you’re signed in, click “Create Business.” \n(Image)\n\nA modal will then pop up where you’ll need to enter your Business Name, Your Name, and Your Business Email. Click “Next.”\n\n\nNext, enter your business details:\nCountry\nStreet address\nCity\nState\nZip\nBusiness phone number\nWebsite\nBusiness use\nClick “Submit.”\n(Image)\n\nNow, confirm your email address and your Business Manager account will be set up. \n(Image)\n\nIt can sometimes take a little time to receive this email, so if you don’t have it right away, don’t worry. You can still continue setting up your account. \nStep 2: Add an ad account to your Business Manager\nNow that your Business Manager is set up, you can add an ad account. After you confirm your email or click “Done” on the pop-up, you’ll be brought to your Business Manager dashboard. Click “Add Ad Account.”\n(Image)\n\nYou’ll then be brought to a pop-up modal with three options: add an ad account you own, request access to an ad account, or create an ad account. \nWe’re going to show you how to create a new ad account, so select “Create Ad Account.”\n(Image)\n\nGive your ad account a name (your business name works best here), select your time zone, and select your currency. Click “Next.”\n(Image)\n\nNext, select who your ad account will be used for–your business or another business. This will likely be your business unless you are a marketing agency setting this up for a customer. Click “Create.”\n(Image)\n\nThe next window you are brought to will prompt you to add yourself to the ad account so you have full access to it. Click the circle by your name, click the toggle option next to “Manage Ad Account,” and click “Assign.”\n(Image)\n\nNice work! You’ll see the following message and your ad account is official.\n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Add a payment method to your ad account\nBefore you can start creating Facebook and Instagram ads, you’ll need to add a payment method to your Ads Manager account. \nYou can select “Payment Methods” in the window that pops up after you finish creating your ad account or follow the next steps. \nFrom your Business Manager dashboard, click “Ad Account Settings” on the left menu bar. If you don’t see this option yet, refresh your page. It may take a minute to appear since you just created your Ad Account. \n(Image)\n\nGo to “Payment Settings.”\n(Image)\n\nClick “Add Payment Method.”\n(Image)\n\nEnter the payment method of your choice. You have the option to add a credit or debit card, your Paypal information, your bank account, or a Facebook Ad coupon. Click “Continue.”\n(Image)\n\nThis last step of setting up your ad account is optional, but super handy if you have a max budget that you can spend on Facebook ads. You can set a spending limit for your Facebook ads, so as soon as your ads reach that limit, they will shut off. This is good if you forget to put an end date on your ads or if you have someone else managing them for you. \nYou can always update or remove this limit when you run another ad campaign as well. \nClick “Set Your Account Spending Limit.” Then type in the amount that you want to set it to and click “Set Limit.”\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nYour Ads Manager Account is officially set up!\nStep 4: Create an ad\nYour ad account isn’t complete without getting a new ad set up. There are tons of ways to configure your ads, so we won’t walk you through every option in this guide, but we’ll give you some of the basics to get started. \nGo to your Business Manager dashboard and click “Create Ad.”\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nFirst, select the goal for this new ad campaign. \n(Image)\n\nName your campaign and click “Continue.”\n(Image)\n\nThen you’ll be taken to create your “Ad Set.” This is your ad audience, placements, and budget. Here you’ll need to complete the following steps:\nName your Ad Set\nChoose where you want to drive traffic to (website, app, or Messenger)\nCreate your audience (click “Create New” to change your audience’s location, age, gender, and detailed targeting information) and save it\nChoose your placements (Automatic Placements is recommended)\nSet your daily budget and schedule\nClick “Continue.”\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nOkay, now your audience and budget are set, so it’s time to create your ad. \nName your ad and choose the Facebook page that it is associated with (this will be your business Facebook page). \n(Image)\n\nNext, you can create an ad by using media from your Facebook page, uploading new content, or using an existing post on your Facebook page. \n(Image)\n\nMake sure to add the following items to your ad:\nPrimary text (tell people what your ad is about)\nHeadline\nDescription (any additional details)\nLink to your website or a Facebook Event\nChoose your Call to Action\n(Image)\n\nClick “Confirm” and watch as your ad starts getting traffic and engagement!

How to set up Facebook Ads Manager for your small business

In this article:\nWhy use Citysearch\nHow to create and claim your Citysearch business listing\nWhat to do next\nCitysearch is all about helping consumers find local businesses within their city or neighborhood–that’s you!\nCitysearch is run by a company called CityGrid, which pulls its information from ExpressUpdate’s database, so you can add your listing there to get found by more customers in your city. We’ll show you how!\nWhy add your business to Citysearch\nYou should continue to add your business to as many reputable online directories as possible. These listings you create (also called citations) will help improve your online visibility not only across these various platforms, but in the search engine results too. \nBeyond the search engine ranking benefits, Citysearch has some pretty cool features. They strive to bring customers and businesses together with fun things like voting on favorite businesses and granting award badges to the top businesses. \nCitysearch also has capabilities to advertise on its platform and offer customer deals to entice more people to click on your listing and find your business. \nRead on to learn how to get started. \nHow to create and claim your Citysearch business profile\nLet’s get your business added to Citysearch. \nStep 1: Check to see if your business is on Citysearch through ExpressUpdate\nOne someone counterintuitive thing about Citysearch is that you can’t add your business directly to its site. They pull all of their information from ExpressUpdate, so that’s where we’re going to start. \nGo to \nExpressUpdate.com\n and search to see if your business is in their database. Type in your business name, phone number, or address. Make sure to try a couple of different searches just in case they don’t have all of your information or they have old information. \n(Image)\n\nIf you’ve found your business, click “Claim Now” and proceed to Step 3 to verify your business. \n(Image)\n\nIf your business didn’t show up in any of your searches, click “Add it now” on the search results page and proceed to Step 2. \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Add your business to Citysearch through ExpressUpdate\nAfter clicking “Add it now” you’ll be brought to \nthis submission form\n to add your business information on ExpressUpdate. \nAdd the following information to the form:\nBusiness name\nFull address (street, city, state, postal code)\nBusiness phone number\nBusiness category\nYour affiliation to the business\nA phone number to contact you\nClick “Submit.”\n(Image)\n\nYou will then be prompted to create an account to continue the process of verifying your business listing. Add your email address and click “Continue.”\n(Image)\n\nGo to your email and follow the instructions you received to finish setting up your business profile.\n(Image)\n\nThe email you receive will direct you to Data Axle to finish setting up your login account. \n(Image)\n\nAdd your first and last name and set a new password. Click “Continue,” and you will be directed to a new page on ExpressUpdate to claim your listing. Proceed to Step 3. \n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Claim your listing on ExpressUpdate to claim it on Citysearch\nWhether your business already existed on ExpressUpdate or you added it just now and went through the signup process, you’ll be redirected to this same page to claim your listing. \nYour business phone number will be displayed, and all you have to do is click “Yes, Call Me Now.”\n(Image)\n\nYou will then receive an automated phone call from ExpressUpdate. They will display a 4-digit code on your screen which you will need to enter into the keypad on your phone. \n(Image)\n\nAfter that, you will be redirected to your business dashboard. Your business status will be “Pending” until ExpressUpdate approves your claim after a few days, but you now have a verified listing!\n(Image)\n\nImportant note: It can take 1-2 months for Citysearch to pull your data from ExpressUpdate, so don’t expect immediate results on citysearch.com. Be patient and know that you’ve done the work to get it there. SEO takes time!\nYou’ve finished the steps to add your business to Citysearch, now what?\nNow that you’ve added your business to ExpressUpdate (and Citysearch through their database), you might be wondering where to go next. Here are a couple of great next steps to continue improving your online visibility. \nCheck out these \n15 free tips for better local search rankings\nAdd your business to more directories with this guide: \n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\n\n

How to add your business to Citysearch and claim your listing

In this article, learn: \nWhy repairing your online business reputation can be difficult and expensive\nHow small businesses can fix their business online reputation\nHow to flag reviews for removal\nHow to remove Google search results\nHow to improve small business SEO by creating content\nIf you’re reading this post, there’s a strong likelihood that you have suffered some setbacks because of a less-than-stellar online business reputation. The first thing you need to understand is you’re not alone. The harsh reality of our increasingly digital world is you have very little control over what people say about you or your business online. And the importance of a business’s online reputation is growing, even for small, local shops and one-person businesses.\nWhile local business used to rely solely on friendly service, a good product, and positive word of mouth to attract new customers, the new forum for that conversation is online. 97% of people read online reviews for local businesses, and the majority of people trust those reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family. \nEven if customers are sitting in a business's parking lot or standing on the sidewalk outside the front door, they will likely check their mobile device for “social proof” that there are no huge problems with the business before deciding to enter and buy.\nOnline review sites favor the reviewer, not the business\nFor a small business owner suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous customer reviews or other negative content online, this digital realm can feel a little like the Twilight Zone.\nOnline review sites like Yelp, Google My Business, Facebook, and TripAdvisor clearly value the input of individual reviewers and most make it extremely difficult or even impossible for business owners to remove potentially damaging reviews, unless they meet certain criteria, which we’ll outline later.\nIn fact, Google has stated that its priority is accurately delivering the search results people are looking for, whether or not those results are necessarily factual.\nThis could be viewed as somewhat of a “mob mentality” or “power to the people” approach, but since these companies make hundreds of millions or even multiple billions of dollars annually with their current policies, there’s very little chance of them changing anytime in the foreseeable future.\nRepairing your business online reputation can be difficult and expensive\nThere are several companies that may dedicate a team of SEO experts and/or content specialists to your online presence in the hopes of both improving your standing in search engine results as well as “burying” or hiding any negative content.\nThese approaches can be somewhat effective, depending on how bad your online reputation is to begin with, and—this is key—how much money you have to spend. Experts and specialists usually don’t work for free, and for the purposes of this article we are talking about the online reputation of small, local businesses who are working on very slim margins.\nSo, since it’s the rare exception for a small business to have the resources to dedicate to hire a team of reputation repair experts, let’s focus on the more cost-effective, realistic approach that small business owners can take to move the needle in the right direction.\nHow can small businesses fix a bad online reputation?\nThe first step in repairing a bad online reputation is to clarify and identify the actual source of the damaging content. When small businesses talk about repairing their online business reputation, they almost always mean “reviews.” Some businesses face attacks in other venues, however, so we’ll touch briefly on some steps you can take to remove other types of damaging online content.\nIf your business suffers a bad online reputation due to negative publicity, news stories, criminal or legal action, bloggers posting damaging—but factual—content about you, etc., then you may be in a position where you need to hire one of the professional reputation repair firms mentioned above.\nWhat kinds of content can be removed?\nAccording to Google, they will will remove results that contain:\nNational identification numbers such as U.S. Social Security Numbers\nBank account numbers\nCredit card numbers\nImages of signatures\nNude or sexually explicit images that were uploaded or shared without your consent\nConfidential, personal medical records of private people\nTo request such personal information to be removed, \ncontact Google here\n.\nTwo problems with trying to remove content from search results\nThe first is, even if you get Google to remove damaging content from search results, the actual content still exists on the web and can be found on other search engines, or if people visit the website where the content is hosted.\nThe second problem is, if the negative content doesn’t fit into one of the above categories, and is factual, there is no motivation for a news outlet or a blogger to remove it—quite the contrary. If people are searching for that content, the website that is hosting it benefits from that traffic, and the more the better. If you consult Google about removing such content, they will tell you to \ncontact the webmaster\n.\nHowever, if the story or content is outdated, no longer relevant, you may have some success contacting the webmaster and asking for it to be removed. You can also ask Google to remove results that direct searchers to content that has been removed (by a webmaster).\nIf the negative content \nisn’t\n factual and you can prove it is defamatory or libelous, you may choose to take legal action to have it removed. Again, bring money. Lawyers aren’t cheap. What’s worse, legal action almost always just draws more attention to the problem. (To request that Google remove content for legal reasons, \nclick here\n.)\nIf the negative content is pervasive and you can’t afford to hire a team of experts, the best you may be able to do is move on to the steps outlined below.\nHow to remove bad reviews\nStep one in all online review site engagement is to \nclaim your business listings\n on \nGoogle\n, \nYelp\n, Facebook, \nTripAdvisor\n, and all other applicable sites (such as OpenTable for restaurants). Click the links for detailed, step-by-step articles on that process.\nOnce you have claimed your pages, you can start responding to reviews and flagging any appropriate ones for removal.\nYelp and other review sites have similar policies regarding removing reviews, so we’ll focus on Yelp for this example. You can flag Yelp reviews for removal if they contain:\nSpam\nHarassment\nThreats of violence\nConflicts of interest\nIrrelevant content\nFalse/fake reviews\nPromotional material\nPrivate information\nTo report a Yelp review, click the three dots beside the content and select “report review.”\nHowever, there’s a harsh reality to this online world we live in: if a review appears to be from one of your actual customers, even if it’s what you consider “mean” or “inaccurate” or “unfair,” chances are, it’s there for good, unless you can resolve the problem and convince the reviewer to remove it. And even if they refuse, the best approach here is to respond appropriately to the public review and work to bet more positive ones.\nPlus, research shows that negative online business reviews aren’t necessarily as harmful as you might think. \nHow to respond to negative reviews\nWhen considering \nhow to reply to negative reviews\n, use the R.E.S.T. model: \nRespond quickly: A single bad review can cost your business 30 customers (especially if left unanswered). Replying in a timely fashion shows you take feedback seriously.\nEliminate emotion: Even if you’re being attacked unjustly, stay calm. Be the grown-up. Your reply is an advertisement to prospective customers, who will see that you are reasonable and civil.  \nSay you’re sorry: Apologizing goes a long way toward meliorating bad feelings. Even if you know you didn’t do anything wrong, even if you’re sure the review is fake or malicious, saying, “Sorry you had a bad experience!” can go a long way towards taking the reviewer’s guard down and helping potential customers see you in a more positive light.\nTake it offline: Don’t air your grievances or continue discussions online. Try to take the conversation private. Provide your contact information or direct them to your website and ask them to contact you to resolve the issue. \nIf a customer has brought up a legitimate problem that you have addressed, you should state in your public reply that the problem is now fixed as well as whatever other measures you’ve taken to make sure the problem doesn’t recur.\nYou might offer dissatisfied customers discounts, refunds, or other promotions to bring them back to shop with you—but do this privately. Be careful not to go overboard or make these offers public, or you’ll just be known for handing out free stuff in exchange for a bad review, which obviously is not a precedent you want to establish.\nIf you suspect the review is fake or malicious, but it doesn’t meet the review site’s criteria for removal, you can gain back some credibility by simply stating something like, “We have no record of this transaction. We take our customers seriously and we are sorry if we didn’t meet your expectations. Please contact us to resolve this issue.” \nEven if a review is very harsh or unfair, treating all feedback with professionalism will go farther toward improving your online reputation than arguing, insulting, or ignoring. \nUse negative reviews to improve your business\nAlthough it sometimes might feel like it, getting a negative review isn’t the end of the world. In fact, studies show that people don’t trust businesses if they have NO negative reviews. Like Cindy Crawford’s mole, it’s the slight imperfection that makes it perfect. However, if \nall you get\n is negative reviews, there’s probably something very wrong with your staff, product, services, or facilities. \nSee what you can learn from the reviews. Lots of big companies pay millions of dollars to know what their customers think. Online reviews give you useful insights into your customers, all for free. So have an open mind. Often times, reviewers are actually trying to give you helpful feedback to improve your business. Listen to them. Consider ways you can improve.\nStart to fix your business online reputation by getting more reviews\nThe best way to minimize the impact of negative reviews is to get a lot more positive reviews. Studies show 73% of consumers feel reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant. So if you can start getting more good reviews from your happiest customers, the negative reviews will fade into the background.\nRead our detailed article on \nhow to get more reviews\n to learn the proper way, then simply ask. Don’t bribe or threaten, don’t ask for good reviews, and never try to buy good reviews. Simply tell your customers you value their feedback and put up official signage for Yelp, Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor, etc. \nGood, recent reviews have more impact than old, negative reviews.\nImprove your online business reputation by producing positive content\nIf your main concern isn’t negative reviews, but rather negative content posted elsewhere online, things get more complicated. \nFor small businesses with few resources and little knowledge of SEO, linkbuilding, improving rankings in local search, or similar techniques (best left to those with experience), the easiest way to start minimizing the impact of negative online content is to counter it with positive content. \nOne way that is approachable to most small business owners is to add positive content to your company website or start a blog. If you can produce high-quality, regular, relevant content, Google and other search engines will begin to put those results up higher and push the negative ones down. This is basically what may of the “reputation repair” companies do, only they have dedicated teams of writers and content producers working on your situation (that’s why they are so expensive).\nIf you have good writing skills or know someone who does, you may also consider writing an article for an online industry publication, or a guest post for a blog you find relevant, or content for a local news outlet’s Op/Ed page, but if you choose to go this route, make sure it’s not simply a “one and done” thing. For search engines to take your content seriously you need to produce more than just one piece of content. This can take a lot of effort, but over time your content can attract the attention and validation of more powerful sites who might link to it, which will improve its rankings in search results and push any negative content down.\nStart today and improve your reputation\nThe bottom line is there are no shortcuts or easy answers to dealing with a negative online business reputation, but there are definitely ways to start improving right now. Any movement toward the positive will be well worth it. \nA Cornell study found, for example, that a one-star increase in your star rating can increase revenue by 39%. And another study found that a half-star improvement in Yelp’s rating makes it 30 to 49 percent more likely that a restaurant will sell out seats during peak hours. \nSo get started today undertaking the steps outlined above. \nSources:\n
\nhttps://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/\n
\nhttps://searchengineland.com/88-consumers-trust-online-reviews-much-personal-recommendations-195803\n
\nhttp://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=chrreports\n
\nhttps://www.reviewtrackers.com/blog/restaurant-review-sites/\n

How to fix your online business reputation

In this article:\nBest features for your pet services business site\nWhat you should include on your pet business website\nAs you dive into the process of building your pet services website, there’s a little bit of planning that you should do first. Before starting any website, you should have a plan for your content, the basic layout, and any features that you want on your website. \nIf you already have a website, have a look at the content and features/functionality below and consider how you can improve your site.\nThroughout this article, we’ll share the best features that your pet services website should have and provide some examples of great websites that can help give your creative inspiration. \nBest features and content for an effective pet services website\nWith all the many different pet services out there (grooming, veterinary medicine, pet care, pet stores, etc.) the features of one pet service website to another may vary a lot. We’ll go over the best features that any of these pet services should have on their website. \nWell-written content\nProfessional-quality photos\nCall-to-action\nContact information\nBrand representation\nWell-written content\nEvery website needs to have well-written content. This is the foundation for helping you show up well in search engines. But it also needs to be helpful for your clients and written in a way that they can easily understand and get a feel for your business. \nA few tips for writing good content:\nWrite the way that you would talk to a client or customer. Keep it natural and friendly\nKeep your sentences and paragraphs short and easy to consume\nBreak up long pages of text with headings, images, and bulleted lists\nTypes of content that you should include on your pet services website:\nAbout us page—share your story, how you got started, and any other information to help build trust with your clients\nServices—what services do you offer? Share what clients can expect from these services and your experience with them\nContact us page\nThese are the very least that you should include on your website, but to take it the extra mile, keep a regular blog or share additional resources that can help your clients. \nThis is a great way to leverage any of \nyour business’s social media\n content, “pet profiles,” how-to instructional posts, or similar content.\nGo deeper: \nThe do’s and don’ts of writing an effective small business blog\nProfessional-quality photos\nThe photos on your website can make or break it for you. For a pet services business, people expect to see photos of the pets you serve, your facility, and/or your products. \nPhotos are a great way to send trust signals to your customers. You can show them how their pets will be treated in your care. \nMake sure any photos you use are professional-quality. This doesn’t mean you need to hire a photographer (though if you can swing it, that’s not a bad route). You can take your own photos on a camera or phone. With the right composition and lighting, you can get great pictures for your website the DIY way. \nCheck out this guide: \nTop 3 ways to get (and use) professional photos for your small business\n \nA clear call-to-action\nA call-to-action is going to help your website achieve its entire purpose: to get you more customers. Make sure that you have a call-to-action that is always present. This can be “schedule appointment” or “contact us,” or “call now” button in the header of your website or a relevant CTA on each page of your site. \nContact information\nBeyond just having a contact page with your phone number and address, you should have multiple ways for your customers to get in contact with you. Sometimes customers have preliminary questions that they don’t want to pick up the phone for. \nAdditional avenues for contact that you can consider:\nContact form or email address\nFacebook Messenger\nOnline chat\nBrand representation\nYour brand should be well-represented throughout your website. This means that it should be easy to tell the website belongs to your business if someone has been in your facility before. \nSome ways to do this:\nIncorporate your logo and elements from it throughout the site\nUse the fonts and colors from your logo (but keep it simple)\nAdd photos of your facility and staff \nHow to build your pet services website\nThere are many different ways to build a website, but for truly small, one-person businesses, we prefer a DIY website builder. \nA DIY website builder is a platform like Squarespace or Wix that allows you to start from a prebuilt template (or from a blank slate if you really wanted to) and build your site without needing to know how to code. \nHere is a few guides to help with your decision:\n\nHow to build your own business website (step-by-step walkthrough)\n \nTake the next step to improve your online visibility\nCreating a website for your pet services business is a great first step to helping your business show up online, but there’s a little more to it than that. \nThe next step that we encourage businesses to take is claiming all of their \nonline business listings\n and work to get regular reviews on their \nGoogle My Business\n, \nYelp\n, and \nTripAdvisor\n profiles. Online reviews help convert new customers to your business because this is often the first place they look when they are shopping for a new service. 

127 articles found in “Online presence”

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How to fix your online business reputation

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