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In this article:\nMost businesses don’t claim their listings on popular review sites\nThey’re missing out on opportunities to attract and engage customers\nClaiming your business listings is free and surprisingly simple\nSomeone posted an online review about your business. Now what?\nAs we explained in other articles, we highly recommend responding to every review—positive, neutral, and negative. You can’t do that unless you first claim your \nonline business listings\n on popular review sites like Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.\nYou also can’t control how your business information appears if you don’t claim your listings, and worse yet—what if someone else claims your page? Plus, your listings will still exist whether or not you claim them. It just makes sense to claim what’s yours.\nman leaving online review on laptop for claim your business listings\nPlus, research shows that businesses that claim their listings on multiple online business reviews sites make more money!\nThe bad news about online review sites: \nOnly 33% of of all Yelp listings and 44% of Google listings have been claimed, and only 23% of businesses keep their listings on these sites current. \nThe good news about online review sites: \nClaiming your listings is free and easy. Claiming your listings already puts you ahead of most local businesses who ignore their online presence.\nLet’s walk through some of the basics for claiming your listings. \n1. Start with the claiming your listings on the biggest online review sites\nBefore claiming a page on every review site under the sun, it’s good to prioritize. For most local businesses, it’s most important to \nclaim your business on Google\n and \nYelp\n. It’s not hard to see why:\nGoogle:\nNearly half of Google’s 3.5 billion daily searches are local.\nThe search engine serves 2 billion active search devices every month.\nAbout 20% of Google searches are related to location (e.g. Google Maps). \nYelp:\nNearly 180 million people access Yelp reviews on desktop or mobile. \nCustomers have posted a whopping 163 million reviews on Yelp. \nIt’s not just for restaurants: People use Yelp to shop for products, find professional services, search for a salon nearby, and much more. \nStart by claiming your pages on these two behemoths. From there, \nclaim your business on Facebook\n, which ranks #3 nationally for local business traffic, and then move on to industry-specific sites like \nTripAdvisor\n (hospitality), and \nOpenTable\n (restaurants). \n2. Claim your business listings\nReady to claim your listings? It’s always free, but every site has its own unique process. Below, we’ve listed our step-by-step guides for claiming your pages on some of the major sites:\nGoogle My Business\nYelp\nFacebook\nTripAdvisor\nOpenTable\nFoursquare\nRefer to our \nfree business listings\n article for many more!

Start here to claim your free business listings on review sites like Google and Yelp

In this article:\nHow to claim and create your Bing business listing (2 ways)\nWhat you should do next\nBing currently holds around 3% of the market share for search engines, which may not seem like a lot. But when you consider the billions of people that do internet searches every day, that means that Bing still gets hundreds of millions of searches daily.\nDon’t limit the opportunities for your business by leaving your Bing listing unclaimed. Follow the simple steps below to get your business added to and claimed on Bing. \nHow to create and claim your Bing Places business listing\nLet’s get to it!\nStep 1: Log in to Bing\nThe first thing you need to do is create a Bing account, or sign in with your Google account (we recommend the latter as it will speed up the process). \nLogging in with Google will allow you to important any existing Google My Business listings that you own directly onto Bing without going through their verification process. Pretty sweet, right?\nGo to bingplaces.com to sign in or sign up. \n(Image)\n\nSign in with Google, if you are able to, otherwise, select one of the other options for signing in: Facebook, Microsoft, Work Account, or create one. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you get signed in, Bing will prompt you to finish setting up your profile, feel free to finish this by adding your phone number and email or just click save and move on. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you click save on your profile information, Bing will take you to a screen that allows you to import your business from Google or claim and add your business manually. Follow the steps below for each of these options. \nStep 2 (Option 1): Import your Google My Business listing to Bing\nIf you don’t own a Google My Business listing, or don’t have a Google account, then skip this step and go to Step 2 (Option 2). \nIf you do own your business’s Google My Business listing, this is the faster way of claiming your business listing on Bing. Click “Import from Google My Business Now.” \n(Image)\n\nA new window will then pop up from Bing and prompt you to continue to Google My Business. This window shows what you should do once you get to Google. \n(Image)\n\nMake sure you select the Google account that is associated with your Google My Business listing. \n(Image)\n\nClick “Allow” on the next screen to grant Bing access to your Google My Business listing. \n(Image)\n\nYou’ll then be brought back to Bing and prompted to “Continue.”\n(Image)\n\nBing will then show you that your business has successfully been imported into their directory. Your listing may show “Not verified” because Bing places each listing under review before publishing them. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you click “Go to dashboard” there will be a little sliding bar that shows you when your listing will be published. \n(Image)\n\nIn your dashboard, be sure to “Sync with Google My Business” so that whenever you update your Google list, your Bing listing will automatically get those updates too. \n(Image)\n\nYour Bing business listing is now done! Just wait for the review process to complete and your Bing listing will go live. \nStep 2 (Option 2): Manually claim or add a new Bing Places account for your business\nIf you don’t own your Google My Business listing or have access to the Google account that does, then select “Claim or add your business manually.”\n(Image)\n\nNext, fill out the information in the form provided: business type, country, and phone number OR business name and location. \n(Image)\n\nBing will do a search for your business in their directory. If it is in their directory, you’ll see your business listed and be given the option to claim your listing. If your business has ever had a name change or other information change, it may be outdated, so look for the best match and click “Claim and edit details.” \nIf you do see your business, we urge you to claim and edit it so you don’t create duplicate listings. \nIf none of the businesses displayed are yours, then click “My business is not listed in the search results.”\n(Image)\n\nBoth options will redirect you to the same form, but if you select a pre-existing business listing, then the information will already be filled out for you. So make edits to the existing information or add your new business information to your Bing listing. \nFirst, add your business name, phone number, and address (make sure these are the same that you use across all your online listings). \nIf you have a website, be sure to add that here too. \n(Image)\n\nNext, select the best category segment and category for your business. You can add multiple categories, and once you have these added, you will need to select a primary category. \nAdd your business description and click “Next.”\n(Image)\n\nNext, you will need to indicate whether or not Bing should show your address to customers. If you have a physical storefront where customers can come in to see you, then you should select “Yes.” This will help you show up better in Bing’s search results. \nIf you have a service area business where you go to your customer and are using a satellite office or employee’s home for your address, you should select “No” to hide the address. \n(Image)\n\nThen you will need to enter contact information for your business. This will have an email address option, so make sure you enter an email that customers can reach you with. \nYou can also enter information for the following social accounts:\nFacebook\nTwitter\nYelp\nTripAdvisor\n(Image)\n\nThen be sure to add plenty of photos to your Bing listing. Photos of your location, logo, and branding will be helpful for customers to recognize and find you. If you sell products or serve food, images of those would also be great to include here. \n(Image)\n\nNext, add your hours so customers will know when you are open and available. \n(Image)\n\nThe last section of your listing is for menus and pricing. If your business is a restaurant, be sure to include a link to your menu and online ordering if applicable. \nOnce that is done, click “Submit” to complete your Bing listing. Proceed to Step 3 to verify your listing.\n \n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Verify your business listing on Bing Places\nBing provides four options for verifying businesses in their directory: phone verification (by text or phone call), email, and mail. Phone verification will only be an option for your business if it was already listed on Bing and your address didn’t change. \nEmail will only be an option if you have are updating an existing listing and have an email on the domain of the listing’s website. For example, support@solo.co. \nProceed through each option to see how you can verify your business listing on Bing. \n1. Phone call\nWith this option, Bing will place an automated call to the phone number on your listing. They will provide a code that you will need to enter once you click “Verify now” and receive the call. \n(Image)\n\n2. SMS/text\nYou’ll only be able to do this option if you have the ability to receive text messages for your office line. Click “Verify now” to receive a text message to verify your Bing listing. \n(Image)\n\n3. Email\nEnter in an email address you have access to that is on your website’s domain. Then click “Verify now” to get an email to verify your Bing listing. \n(Image)\n\n4. Mail\nIf you are unable to complete any of the previous methods for verification, you’ll need to have Bing send you a piece of mail with a verification code. This can take 5-6 business days to reach you. \nBing will send the code by mail to the address you listed, so make sure you can receive mail at your address before doing this. \nWhen you receive the code, just log back into your Bing Places account and enter it on your business listing to finish your verification. \n(Image)\n\nFinished claiming your Bing business listing? Here’s what you should do next\nNow that your listing is complete on Bing, there’s a lot more that you can do to improve your online visibility. But don’t get intimidated—we have a couple of great guides with some free tips to help you improve your local search engine rankings. \nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\n\n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\n\n

How to create and claim your Bing business listing

How to respond to bad reviews [with examples]

In this article:\nWhy your small business should be listed on Manta\nHow to add your business to Manta\nWhat you should do next\nManta is one of the largest online resources for small businesses. You should definitely keep this free listing site on your digital marketing checklist. \nManta’s directory gets millions of visitors each month, all searching for local services. Because of this, Manta is constantly working to improve its platform to better serve you and your customers. \nWhy get your business listed on Manta?\nIf we’ve said it once, we’ll say it again–you should list your business across several different online directories. That is a major benefit of using Manta, because it’s a free directory that is so easy to add your business to. \nAdding your business to several online directories helps send trust signals to the search engines as they verify your info across multiple authoritative sites, which helps you to rank higher in the local search results. \nBeyond that, Manta has some pretty cool capabilities for you to take advantage of:\nFree listings scan that allows you to check your NAP consistency across several directories (more on this later)\nDrive more customer traffic to your website\nPromote your small business\nConnect with other small businesses and share insights\nHow to add and claim your business listing on Manta\nLet’s get your business added to Manta. \nStep 1: Check to see if your business is on Manta and if it isn’t, add it\nOn every directory you add your business to, it’s important to check if there is already a listing for your business. Sometimes a previous owner or another employee may have created one, or the directory may have pulled data from another source. \nEither way, always check. \nGo to \nmanta.com\n and type in your business name and city. \n(Image)\n\nOn the next screen, if you see your business, click “Do you own this business?” That will automatically begin the claiming process. \n(Image)\n\nIf you don’t see your business in this list, click “Add Business” at the top of your screen. \nFill out the form on the next page, including the following information:\nCompany name\nCompany address\nWebsite\nPhone number\nClick “Add My Company.” \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Update your business information on Manta. \nWhether you added your company just now or it already had a listing, you will then be brought to your business page and shown a screen that asks you to check your business information. Click “Yes” if your information is correct or “Edit Info” to edit your business information. \n(Image)\n\nNext, select a photo for your banner photo, or choose to upload your own later. These are usually pulled from your website if Manta has access to it. \n(Image)\n\nThen, add or check your website to make sure it is correct. Click “Yes, list this as my website” or “No, I don’t have a website.”\n(Image)\n\nThen, update your business hours and click “Yes, use these.”\n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Sign up for Manta\nAfter you’ve completed filling out your business information on Manta, you’ll be prompted to sign up so you can save your updates and publish your company. \nYou can connect with Facebook, Google, or register with your email. \n(Image)\n\nOptional Step: Check your online directory listings\nManta has a cool tool (very similar to Yext) that allows you to check several of your business’s directory listings across multiple sites. It will tell you if your business name, address, and phone number (or NAP info) are all consistent across these sites. \nNAP consistency is super important, as it helps Google and other search engines verify your information across multiple authoritative sources in order to rank you higher on their platforms. \nCheck your listings and make notes of those that have errors so you can fix them later. Or you can pay Manta to fix them for you by clicking “Fix All Errors.” They charge $99/month to update and maintain your listings on more than 70 online directories. \nIf you’re not interested in that right now, simply click “Not right now” and you will be redirected to the dashboard for your company profile. That’s all! \n(Image)\n\nOkay, you’ve claimed your business on Manta. What’s next?\nNow that you’ve completed your Manta business profile, there’s a lot more you can do to enhance your online visibility. \nCheck out these two guides for some great next steps:\nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\n\n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\n
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How to create and claim your free business listing on Manta

In this article:\nWhen is the ideal time to reply to customer reviews?\nShould you wait to respond, even if you have time now?\nPotential problems with replying immediately\nHow to reply to negative reviews\n5 time-saving tips for replying to online reviews\nOver the past few years, online review sites like Yelp, Google My Business, and TripAdvisor have become the de facto customer service platforms for many small businesses.\nToday’s customers, particularly millennials, are often reluctant to call you or speak to you about a problem in person, and choose instead to leave both positive and negative feedback on these popular online platforms instead (as well as via traditional social media).\n \n\nSo, should you respond to these online reviews immediately? The short answer is, yes, you should respond as soon as you possibly can. Let’s look at some potential issues.\nWill my business seem desperate if I respond immediately to reviews?\nUnfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), in the postmodern, tech-saturated world we live in, this is a real concern. Try Googling “how long should I wait to reply to his/her text” and see how many results come up. (Hint: it’s over THREE BILLION).\nNow, we understand that replying to an online review for your business isn’t quite the same as replying to a text from your crush, but there are some similarities.\nIn the case of online feedback, you have nothing to gain by playing hard-to-get with customers. You definitely want to be the needy, supportive one in this relationship, and show customers that you’re there for them immediately whenever they want you.\nHowever, today’s customers are also somewhat fickle. Not only do up to 80% of \nsatisfied\n customers never come back to purchase again from the business that satisfied them, customer engagement studies have shown that people expect a nearly instant response when they reach out online.\nIf they don’t get it, bad things happen.\nHarvard study shows companies that respond within the hour are 60 times more successful than those that wait 24 hours\nA Harvard study on online sales leads found that companies that attempted to reach potential customers within the hour of being contacted were almost 7 times as likely to get results as those that waited even one hour—and more than \n60 times\n more successful than companies that waited just 24 hours.\nOf course, a study on sales leads is not the same as the issue of responding to online reviews. However, the principle is similar. \nWhen customers reach out to you online with either a positive or a negative review, you have a narrow window to show them you care about what they think, and resolve any possible concerns or issues they bring to your attention.\nimage of man with paper bag on head with negative and positive reviews behind\nOne report states that 52% of customers expect you to reply to their online comments and messages within 7 days.\nWe would stress that your window for building real customer loyalty is a lot shorter than that. In simple terms, we recommend that you reply to online reviews as soon as possible, and definitely within a couple of days, max.\nWhy you should respond to online reviews ASAP\nWhen you reply to a positive review quickly and genuinely, you show your customers (and everyone else who is reading your reviews) that you value their feedback, that your customers are important to you, and that you are a responsive, responsible business owner.\nWhen you \nreply to a negative review\n immediately, express concern, and offer to fix the problem offline, you again show customers and review readers that you take any complaints seriously and are committed to resolving any issues that may arise.\nAnother reason you should respond to negative reviews as soon as possible is so potential customers can see both sides of the story before they make a rash decision based on a negative review.\nDon’t ignore bad reviews… use them as opportunities\nBy the way, don’t freak out when you get a bad review. Everyone, and we mean \neveryone\n, gets bad reviews occasionally. \nSome people are just jerks that can’t ever be satisfied, but some bad reviews may surface legitimate concerns that, if you’re smart, you’ll take to heart and use as an opportunity to improve your business and build customer loyalty. Lots of companies pay millions to get legitimate customer feedback, and a negative review basically does that for you for free.\nWhen you respond to a bad review, it gives you a chance to resolve a customer's concern and possibly win them back. And even if that customer isn't satisfied, other potential customers will see that you take complaints seriously and that may earn you their business.\nnametag with problem solver to resolve customer negative review concerns\n\nIf you aren’t responsive to customers, the review platform may punish you\nAnother issue is that review platforms expect businesses to be responsive to customers’ messages and reviews. \nFor example, Yelp will actually turn off some features of their platform for business owners who are not sufficiently responsive to messages, such as the ability for customers to request quotes, schedule appointments, and send messages.\nSo there’s yet another reason why you should make responding promptly to customers online a top priority.\nWhat if I don’t have time to reply immediately to reviews?\nThe reality is, your current and potential customers who choose to engage with your business online expect the same level of responsiveness from you in this virtual conversation as they would if they called or visited you in person.\nThis can create a real logistical problem for hyper-busy small business owners.\nHere are 5 tips that can help you respond more effectively to online reviews, even when you’re super-busy.\n1. Use reputation management software \nA good reputation management solution can save you tons of time by gathering all your online reviews from all the different platforms in one place for easy management. For busy small business owners, this can be a lifesaver. \n2. Forward any email alerts to your mobile device\nIf you use reputation monitoring software or Google Alerts that send emails when you get new reviews, be sure to forward those emails to your mobile device and set your preferences to notify you immediately with attention-getting “badges,” “banners,” and “alerts” (on Apple devices) that don’t disappear until you address them/resolve the alert.\nSince responding to reviews promptly is paramount, you should make this a top business priority.\n3. Establish FAQs and include them on your website and review profiles\nThere will always be lazy customers who ask questions even though you include them clearly in your FAQs, but a robust and well-vetted FAQ list can save a lot of headaches if people are mostly asking the same questions or bringing them up in reviews.\nAlso, including everything you should on your \nonline business listings\n can cut down on this type of query. \nRead more: \nThe top 5 things every small business should include in their Google listing\n4. Take a time management skills course\nIf you are constantly feeling swamped and overwhelmed, you may benefit from expert help. Consider taking a time management course, or reading or listening to self-help books on the subject. \nThere may be significant ways for you to be more efficient in your daily routine, which could leave you more time to reply to your reviews and improve customer loyalty.\n5. Hire more help \nIf you’ve done everything you can think of and are actually having trouble managing all your customer reviews or responding to queries, that’s actually a very good problem to have. \nHowever, if you have that many reviews, it likely means you’re doing well and can afford to hire someone or delegate part of this important task. \nSources:\n
\nhttps://hbr.org/2011/03/the-short-life-of-online-sales-leads\n
\nhttps://www.inc.com/tommy-mello/harvard-study-says-this-is-how-long-you-should-wait-to-respond-to-a-customer.html\n
\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymyler/2016/06/08/acquiring-new-customers-is-important-but-retaining-them-accelerates-profitable-growth/#6ffaeaa26671\n

How long should you wait before replying to an online review?

In this article:\nCreate a Facebook / Meta page \nAdd lots of photos\nGet customer reviews\nPost regular content\nBuild your following\nBoost posts and create ads\nCustomers are increasingly reaching out to businesses via their Facebook (now Meta, but who are we kidding... everyone still calls it Facebook) pages. Consumers just like to use Facebook as “social proof” before they commit to doing business with a salon they haven’t tried before. \nIf your salon isn’t on Facebook, you could be missing valuable opportunities to gain new customers. We’ll walk you through some of the main ways you can promote your hair or nail salon on Facebook. \nCreate a Facebook / Meta business page\nIn order to promote your salon on Facebook, you first need a business page to promote. Does your salon have a Facebook page already? If so, make sure that you have access to it. \nIf not, follow our step-by-step guide: \nHow to create and claim your Facebook business page\nOnce your Facebook page is set up, you can now start communicating with customers via messenger and engaging with your community. \nIn order to provide the best information for your salon, be sure to include all of the following items on your Facebook page:\nThe name of your salon (this should be the same name that is listed on your \nGoogle My Business listing\n and \nYelp listing\n)\nAddress\nPhone number\nOpen hours (including holiday hours)\nDescription of your salon\nWebsite\nEmail address\nProfile picture (use your logo to enforce your brand)\nCover photo (this can be a picture of your salon or stylists while doing their work)\nServices and prices\nAdd tons of portfolio photos to your Facebook page\nIt is vitally important for salons to add photos of their work on their Facebook page (and all of their social media accounts and review site profiles). Most customers want to see examples of what you can do for them before they ever decide to step foot in your salon. \nMake sure you show off all of your best work on your Facebook page, and be sure to include plenty of variety. Pictures of the range of hairstyles, colors, and nail art that your stylists can do will only help you to attract more customers. \nThese photos also add an extra element of trust and show customers that you really can do what you say you can do. It may be worth it to hire a professional photographer for a day and shoot a lot of pics. If that’s too much of an investment, we’re betting you have a teenage friend, niece, or nephew going through a “photography phase” whom you can bribe.\nGet reviews on your salon’s Facebook page\nOkay, so you have a page, you’ve added photos and info to it—now you need some customer recommendations. Recommendations and reviews on Facebook are very powerful. \nFor one, Facebook will let users know when their Facebook “friends” have left your page a review. And if they have, that is worth much more than the anonymous review of a stranger. \nThe more positive reviews you have on your page, the better opportunity you have to convert the customers who land on your page. \nHere are a few ways you can get some new reviews on your Facebook page:\nSimply ask for reviews. Provide excellent service and go the extra mile, then ask your customer for a review on Facebook. Happy customers don’t always think to leave a review and just need that little bit of encouragement. Remember, never ask for a positive or good review, or offer discounts or free stuff for a good review. Simply let people know that you appreciate their feedback online.\nAdd “Rate us on Facebook” signs in your salon. These can be on the checkout desk and on the front door/window. This is just another little reminder for customers that you are on Facebook and would love to hear from them. \nInclude QR codes or instructions to leave a Facebook review on your receipts. \nPost regular content\nNow that you’re on Facebook and customers are starting to engage with your page, it’s important to post some valuable content. \nThe best way to get more followers and customers from Facebook is to show off your work and provide valuable tips. \nHere are some ideas for some great content you can post to really get your followers to engage with your page:\nThe work that you do–hairstyles, haircuts, hair colors, nail art, etc.\nTips for how to do a specific hairstyle or nail technique\nHair care/nail care tips\nVideo tutorials\nEmployee features\nSpecial deals or promotions\nIncrease your Facebook following with boosted posts\nYour Facebook page isn’t going to take you very far if no one can see your posts, so it’s crucial to build up your page’s following. \nBeyond getting new reviews and posting content, one powerful way to increase your salon’s Facebook following is to boost your posts to local audiences. \nWhenever you create a post on your Facebook page, you have the ability to “boost” this post as an ad. That means that you can pay Facebook a small amount of money to share your content with specific audiences in your local community. \nWith Facebook’s targeting capabilities you can choose the age, gender, interests, and locations of your intended audience so that your ads are only shown to those who are likely to do business with you. \nThen you can select a budget and how long you want your add to run, and watch it take off!\nOnce you’ve boosted a post, you’ll likely start getting reactions on it from community members—especially if they recognize someone in your post. When people “like” your boosted posts, you can then easily invite them to “like” your page. \nThis is a great way to increase your following and spread awareness of your salon in your area. \nSet up Facebook Ads Manager\nIf you want some more customizable Facebook advertising options for your salon, you would benefit from setting up an Ads Manager account.\nFacebook Ads Manager allows you to set specific goals for your ad campaigns, like getting more conversions or spreading brand awareness. You can customize your ad copy, use videos, or add in more custom images. \nThen, similar to how you would for a boosted post, you can select your budget, duration, and target audiences for your ad.  \nLearn how to \nset up your Ads Manager\n account. 

127 articles found in “Online presence”

Start here to claim your free business listings on review sites like Google and Yelp

How to create and claim your Bing business listing

How to respond to bad reviews [with examples]

How to create and claim your free business listing on Manta

How long should you wait before replying to an online review?

6 ways to promote your hair or nail salon on Facebook

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