The Power of Reviews for SEO: MORE Reviews & Testimonials to Get MORE Clients!

Reviews and testimonials are statements that a customer or client has made about you or your business. They have similarities and differences.

Testimonials are positive statements the client has given you and you have posted on your website or other marketing materials.

Reviews may be positive, neutral or negative and are written by someone about you, your services or your business. Typically, reviews are posted on directories or review sites. A review may be written by anyone, even someone who hasn’t worked with you. A person might even post a review about how you handled a phone call.

What’s important is to think about two things:
a) The search engines who read it
b) The people who read it

Obviously, you first care about your visitors, after all, it’s them that will make the decision to purchase. But you also need to know reviews are tracked by the search engines.

Table of Contents

I.    ABOUT REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS    1
A.    WHAT ARE REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS?    1
B.    SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) OF REVIEWS & TESTIMONIALS    1
1.    Online Reviews    2
2.    Online Testimonials    2
C.    THE BENEFITS OF CUSTOMER REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS    4
D.    HOW REVIEW SITES INCREASE SEO PAGE RANKING    5
E.    WHY ARE REVIEWS IMPORTANT FOR SEO?    6
II.    THE WRITING OF REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS    7
A.    WHAT ARE THE BEST REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS FOR YOUR BUSINESS VENTURE?    7
1.    Honesty is the Best Policy    7
2.    Balance is Key    8
3.    Show and Tell    8
B.    HOW TO GET MORE CLIENTS TO WRITE REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS    8
1.    How To Get Testimonials For Your Website    9
2.    Requesting A Testimonial    10
3.    Securing More Reviews From Customers    10
4.    Ask Questions to Help Clients Know What To Write    10
C.    GET PERMISSION    11
1.    Testimonial Request Form    12
2.    Testimonial Request Form    13
III.    HOW TO BENEFIT FROM AUDIO AND VIDEO TESTIMONIALS    14
A.    VIDEO TESTIMONIALS BUILD TRUST    14
B.    IT ACTS AS A VISUAL FAQ    14
C.    VIDEO TESTIMONIALS WORK WELL WITH SOCIAL MEDIA    15
D.    WHERE TO POST AUDIO AND VIDEO TESTIMONIALS    15
IV.    REVIEWS ON SPECIFIC SITES    15
A.    GOOGLE PLACES REVIEWS    15
1.    Getting More Reviews on Google Places    15
2.    How to View and Add Google Places Reviews    17
3.    How to Publically Respond to Google Places Reviews    19
B.    GOOGLE PLUS ONE (+1) AND FACEBOOK LIKES    19
C.    TESTIMONIALS ON YOUR WEBSITE AND SALES PAGES    19
V.    IN SUMMARY    21
A.    REASONS WHY TESTIMONIALS AND REVIEWS ARE IMPORTANT FOR YOUR BUSINESS    21
B.    HOW REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS CAN WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS:    21
C.    PRACTICE NOW!    22
VI.    WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?    23