5 Tips to Make Online Reviews Work for You
Opinions matter — be it a review of a local restaurant, a heated debate on a national issue, or a recommendation about your real estate business.
Companies grow and improve when these criticisms are taken constructively. For real estate company owners who invest a lot on marketing, it is important to step back and review the effectiveness of their marketing methods. Here are tips to making online real estate reviews work to your advantage.
- Know where to start.
There are a lot of websites and online databases where clients can rate your business, but here are three places you can start.- Zillow and Trulia is specific on real estate buying and selling. Real Estate professionals can be searched through their former clients' ratings.
- Yelp is helpful for location-based reviews.
- LinkedIn allows recommendation highlights from particular clients.
- Don't be shy to ask.
Seeking recommendations and comments from valued clients can do wonders for your business.- If your clients are comfortable with it, ask if you can film them in a video testimonial. Then, you can post this video on your company's YouTube channel or showcase it in your website.
- Turn the negative into positive.
According to a study by social commerce company, Reeve, consumers trust reviews more when they contain both good and bad comments. If you've come across a bad review, respond in a positive manner.- Acknowledge the client's concern.
- Apologize for any inconvenience.
- End with a word of gratitude and a solid solution to the issue.
- Be the local expert.
- Look into serving your local neighborhood and ask them to post reviews about your company. That way, you can set up a solid foundation before branching out to bigger ventures.
- Dedicate some space on your local real estate blog where clients and visitors can easily give you a ranking through radio buttons, a star gauge or a bar meter. Contact us at [email protected] if you're interested in adding this to your blog.
- Put everything in one place.
- Having a dedicated Testimonials page on your agent website and a form where your client can send in reviews is also a great advantage.
- You may then add social buttons that link to other reviews on this same page.
