In this episode, Daniel Parscale talks with Maggie Bluhm about setting up your online local business listing and discusses the important things to remember when responding to negative reviews.
Read the transcript:
Today we’re going to talk about local listings and reputation management. There’s a whole bunch of great stuff to cover. And my guest Maggie Bluhm is an expert in that field.
Hi Maggie. How are you doing today?
I’m doing well, Dan. And how are you?
I’m good. Thank you.
So we– You and I were going to talk today a little bit about online reputation management, and local listings, and all the stuff that goes with that. And I’m really glad to have you on this show today because you’re focusing on a lot of that right now. You’ve got a project going on that.
Correct, yeah. Yeah, so I’m a digital specialist, and within our team for our clients we previously were managing all their local listings. And for any of you who know, they’re tedious, and they take up a lot of time. And they’re– among a lot of the different platforms, it’s not the easiest way to navigate around things. So we’ve gone the route of investing in a automated tool so that all of our location data will be dispersed among hundreds of different online directories. And so this is going to cut back on the management time for our team, and it will also increase the value added to all firm members, or clients.
I know from personal experience that managing these can be way more than tedious. I mean, I’ve spent hours and days previously claiming multiple Yelp accounts, for instance, as an example of that kind of platform. So– and speaking of that, maybe we should start off by asking you to maybe– we might can like come up with a list of some of the big ones that people would know, so they know exactly what domain names we’re talking about. So Yelp is one of them, right?
Right. Yeah. So some of the main ones are, there’s Google, Bing, Yelp, Facebook, Yellow Pages, Manta. Yeah. I would say those are probably the biggest ones out there. And like, to touch on what you’re saying for Yelp– so there are three main data aggregators where all of these online directories are pretty much feeding off of the information that they’re dispersing out. For example, Google releases their data from these three different data aggregators. And so they’re all feeding amongst one another. And so even if maybe a listing hasn’t been created on Yelp, the search engines are kind of, as I mentioned, just kind of eating off of this data, and creating this listing because it’s relevant. And even if the company hasn’t gone through and actually cleaned it themselves, it’s still living out there for people, if they are searching on any type of search engine.
So a lot the time, people will think it doesn’t exist on the internet unless I’ve put it there, or somebody’s put it there. But it sounds like what you’re saying is that these things are generated by themselves just by– they’re on somebody’s web page, for instance. And these aggregators are compiling that information, and using– and that is generating these places on the internet, these– on Yelp, for instance. It just says, boom. There’s this place. It’s, you kn ow, Uncle Joe’s Pizza Shack, or something like that. It exists because it’s on some web page.
Right. Exactly. So for instance, say there’s a little mom and pop restaurant down the street, and they might not be in the know that having a local listing is important. So even if they don’t go in create it themselves, in might still live there. And then say they learned that this is important, and they might go and say Google for their restaurant, or Google their address, and they might see, oh, this listing exists. Maybe even on Yellow Pages, or Yelp, or Google. But yet they need to go in themselves and claim the listing, and verify it, in order to have management control over the listing itself.
So we’ve got this mom and pop shop that’s down the street. And they’ve discovered on Google today that they’ve got this local listing. And they’re just like, oh my gosh, it appeared on Yelp, and it’s blank. There’s no pictures. There’s nothing on there. It just says that we exist. So it kind of falls on them the to take control of that, right? Because they own it as part of their business, but they don’t, in quotations, own it just yet, because they haven’t done anything with it yet
Right. Exactly. So within these different online directory sites– Yelp, we’ll stick with that example.
They can go in and create an account for themselves, and then they can go through and verify that this listing exists, and that it’s their own, so that they can manage it, and add photos, and continue to update the phone number, or address, or anything like that. So they’ll go through this process, and it varies based off the different platforms. But for Yelp, yeah. You’ll get a verification code, and then once you get that all squared away, then you’ll be able to take full reign of that listing.
Right. And when you own it, you get to update that stuff that you were talking about.
Mhm.
Yeah. The NAP. That’s just the name, address, and phone stuff. Which it’s important to make sure that’s consistent everywhere across the web for SEO purposes.
Exactly. Yeah. So when you are going through and creating these local listings, and even having the consistency throughout your website, that is probably the biggest thing that is weighted within these local listings. It can be something as minuscule as making sure that avenue is spelt out, instead of being abbreviated. I was kind of thinking it’s kind of like if you have a nickname and say people call you Dan, or Danny, or Daniel, whatever– and it’s kind of the same way for if you title your restaurant a different way. So maybe it’s mom and pop’s pizza, or mom and pop’s period. You know?
If there’s that consistency in the search engines, they’re going to get confused, and create these different search engine– or, excuse me, local listings for the different places. So having all the information is very crucial for the credibility of all the different local listings.
That’s a great example. I’ve had a couple of instances this week on going through things. Maybe more than a couple. But where I’ve run into just, one earlier today was something I almost missed where there was like an errant comma. And they had like separated out the address from the suite with a comma on their web page, but then I got to the original– I think it was their Google page. And it just was missing that comma. I was like, that probably needs to get– I mean, it seems really small. But consistency is such an important factor.
Right. Exactly.
So we end up with stuff like that, is one of the factors. And then you can also do things like list your business hours, for instance, if you’re selling pizza or whatever. And we really do talk a lot about restaurants here so I’m going to stick with pizza today.
Yeah, we must be hungry.
I’m always hungry. But your hours are important. you. Can have a biography. You can have pictures of people. I use Yelp the most for pictures, especially if I’m going to restaurants.
Yeah. I would say, definitely for platforms such as Yelp, that updating the photos is probably one of the most heavily weighted things. I mean. I know that when you go on look for food, that aside from reviews, that photos is one thing I can draw a customer into your door. You know, if you see, oh wow, that food looks awesome. Or even the environment within the restaurant itself. That can be something that draws people into– even if they’re not going directly to the website, but just even having that local listing created, and having it optimized with those photos, that can bring in many customers a day.
Totally. You know, we– there are so many different things we could talk about with this. But we’ve already touched on two really important ones. Which is, one is we talk about consistency and information that is non-visual, I guess you could say. And then we’re talking about something that’s just experiential. So like you have an element here that’s advertising in a couple of different ways, not just making your name, and hear what you sell, and when you sell it, available. But like this is how clean we are, and this is how nice our stuff looks, and how much you want it, and why you come in.
And that really gets people to decide– Yeah, like, I’m going to make a decision based off of this. Right?
Mhm.
Which is important. It goes farther than just increasing search rankings. One thing that’s coming to mind with all this then, too, is that let’s say a person decides to come into your pizza shop, or whatever. And they have an experience, right? So they can leave a review after that, too. And that’s one of the better known, and more important, I would argue, aspects of these kinds of things. Right?
Yep. Exactly. Reviews, as I mentioned, aside from photos, are probably second most important part when you are optimizing your local listing page. They’re among– whether it’s Google or Yelp, those are probably the most important and popular ones where people are consciously searching for the reviews. That’s something that will, of course, influence whether someone comes in, or doesn’t come into your restaurant, or whichever your business is.
Not only will people actually read about your experience, but they’ll see that you left five stars, or you left one star. And I think that factors into the search rankings that you get, too. Right? So even before a person can go to the Yelp page, they can sometimes see that on the side of their search results. Right?
Yep. Definitely. So– and especially on Bing. Bing in Yelp are partnered, I suppose you could say, So if you are using the Bing search engine, then across the top it’ll pull the Yelp reviews, and that’s the local listing that it weights most heavily. But yeah, so when search engine that’s not always defined what there weighting for when they’re saying what’s most prevalent, or what listing will show up at the top. They kind of are unclear about that. But they do say based off different speculations that depending on how good you’re reviews are, that it may show up higher than others.
But even if you don’t have the greatest reviews, sometimes it can be healthy to receive those reviews. But it’s just important that as a business, you’re monitoring those reviews, and responding back to those that may not have been the four or five star that you were hoping for. But sometimes it just enhances the credibility that you care about the user experience, or customer experience, when they come into your business. And you’re always looking to improve.
Totally. That’s kind of the center tenet of social media and marketing, right? Is like being able to interact with people who had already been into your store. But do it in a place that’s visible so that other people who have not been in there yet can see it.
Right. Exactly. And the reviews even now, I mean, before– just as technology is evolving and before it was word of mouth. You know, people would call their friend and ask, oh, what’s good? Back now with smart phones these days, and being able to have it right in the– at tip of your fingers, you can just go through and do any sort of search with– whether it is the Yelp app itself, or through Google, you can just go, and look, and find whatever you’re looking for, and do the research that way.
Yeah. So, I mean, it pretty much the rule of thumb should be, if you can fill something out on any of these pages, you should. Like, you want to get to 100% completion all these things, so that you know that it’s going to weight the best. And you’re going provide the best customer experience from that platform.
Right. Exactly. And as a kind of touched on before, just the importance of having these reviews, or– and having the listing filled out. Say if you are looking for this restaurant, and you see that it only has maybe five reviews, yet they all are four reviews. And then you might be shopping around, and weighting the difference between this other restaurant that has maybe 50 different views, and they have three and a half stars. You might be more inclined to go to this other place, even though they may not have as good as reviews. But they have a higher volume that it just kind of increases that incredibility, and makes you think that because they have more reviews that it’s a better place, and maybe you should go there.
So this kind of opens up the big problem that everybody’s done this before worries about. They’re like, well, first of all, I have to get a ton of reviews then, obviously. And who doesn’t want to do that, because it’s so much fun. But also, they have to all be like 150%. And they all have to be five stars, and everything has to be good. But then occasionally, somebody slips in and they went to mom and pop’s pizza place, and they’re like, I thought that the tile on the walls was awful, and it’s one star. Or the bathroom was– Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t like that toilet paper, or something. So they give it a low ranking, justified or not. And it affects things. And you can’t really–
Well, can you do anything about it? I mean, what are your options at that point, when somebody comes in complaining?
You know, at this point, I think if you do you get a negative review, I think it’s healthy to keep those there, and to respond back to them. I think that it shows that you truly do care about your customers that do come in, and that you value their experience that they have, and how you are looking to improve, based off the feedback that they’re giving. So say they did have a bad experience, and they didn’t like the title, or anything such as that. You kind of have to just take it to that one-on-one personal response, and make sure that you are creating that relationship with them, even though it is on a social platform. But you want to make sure that they see that you see their value, and that you are taking it straight to heart, and that you are looking to improve, or– and want them to come back.
So you can ask them if there’s anything that you could do today, you know, regain their trust, or want them to come back and visit you in the restaurant. Or maybe you give them a coupon, or something to come back. Or you know, just anything to make sure that you’re cultivating that relationship with them. And the worst thing that you could do is probably not to respond. Because say if you are leaving that negative review, and that’s going to– you’ll take that, and you’ll remember that. And you might tell your friends.
So that’s one portion of it. And then the second one is if someone is going onto your listing, and seeing that you’re not responding to those negative reviews, they’re going to be like, eh, well, do they really care about their customers? Or maybe we really shouldn’t go there if they’re not keeping up with it, or responding back.
So this kind of opens up the big problem that everybody’s done this before worries about. They’re like, well, first of all, I have to get a ton of reviews then, obviously. And who doesn’t want to do that, because it’s so much fun. But also, they have to all be like 150%. And they all have to be five stars, and everything has to be good. But then occasionally, somebody slips in and they went to mom and pop’s pizza place, and they’re like, I thought that the tile on the walls was awful, and it’s one star. Or the bathroom was– Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t like that toilet paper, or something. So they give it a low ranking, justified or not. And it affects things. And you can’t really–
Well, can you do anything about it? I mean, what are your options at that point, when somebody comes in complaining?
You know, at this point, I think if you do you get a negative review, I think it’s healthy to keep those there, and to respond back to them. I think that it shows that you truly do care about your customers that do come in, and that you value their experience that they have, and how you are looking to improve, based off the feedback that they’re giving. So say they did have a bad experience, and they didn’t like the title, or anything such as that. You kind of have to just take it to that one-on-one personal response, and make sure that you are creating that relationship with them, even though it is on a social platform. But you want to make sure that they see that you see their value, and that you are taking it straight to heart, and that you are looking to improve, or– and want them to come back.
So you can ask them if there’s anything that you could do today, you know, regain their trust, or want them to come back and visit you in the restaurant. Or maybe you give them a coupon, or something to come back. Or you know, just anything to make sure that you’re cultivating that relationship with them. And the worst thing that you could do is probably not to respond. Because say if you are leaving that negative review, and that’s going to– you’ll take that, and you’ll remember that. And you might tell your friends.
So that’s one portion of it. And then the second one is if someone is going onto your listing, and seeing that you’re not responding to those negative reviews, they’re going to be like, eh, well, do they really care about their customers? Or maybe we really shouldn’t go there if they’re not keeping up with it, or responding back.
Actually, I was just reading something the other day about how a brand was using their Facebook page to basically get people to post their good experiences about their brand. And people did. And all that the brand had to do was say, thanks, I’m really glad you did that. We hope to see you again, or something like that. And people would click like, or they would– I mean, they get excited about that because it’s an engagement process. So you can do that kind of thing.
But it’s the same thing with a negative review, too. It’s not just the number of stars, it’s what you do with either side of them.
Exactly. And that’s the thing that, I think, maybe some business owners aren’t necessarily realizing the importance of it. Or being like, oh, who cares? I got this negative review. Is it really going to impact people coming through my door that much if I’m not responding? But the thing is that you have to realize just with the trend, and how technology is going in the generations, they are using all these digital marketing, and exposure, and seeing all these different things from whatever media platform it is that they’re looking at. And so you do have to take into account the importance of interacting with customers, whether it’s good or bad. And then just continuing to improve your business.
It’s funny you bring up generations, when earlier we talked about word of mouth. And I was thinking about when you said that how, I think I’ve called and texted less businesses, or even friends and family, than I’ve used an app like Yelp, or something like that. What’s another one? Urban spoon, for instance, for– to keep on food, to really connect with those kinds of things. Like, that’s where I go to first before I call.
Oh, me too. Yeah. I can even think back to when I would go through and just call, and see what their hours were. But now there’s really no point, because all these local listings is provided right there for you.
And– but if it’s not, then that just goes to show, too, like how much you can could lose out from. Because people are really searching for that.
Yeah. Because– And I can’t think of even a couple times when I’ve seen, oh, their hours are posted. OK, so I’ll go to their competitor, because they are listed or, because I know that they’re currently open.
So it just as it goes to show how important it is to really have these listings optimized, and make sure that you are paying attention to them.
So this– just to get a high level view of where we’re at then, we’ve got– first of all, having these local listings helps people to find you. Because it helps you to rank in your search engine. And there’s a whole bunch of data aggregation that goes into that. It helps you to provide information about your company. And then it helps you to basically win them over, and keep them as happy customers, too.
Exactly.
So I’ve got this local business, and I have a page that is unclaimed. And I haven’t done anything to it. I just realized that it exists. Right? So what do you actually do to claim the ownership of that? And is it something I want to do, or something I want to pay to get off my plate? Or what’s once every– I mean, talk to me about that, Maggie.
Yeah. So say if you are trying to go in and claim your listing, or even see if it’s been created, all you have to do really is going into the search engine, search your business name. And more than likely, it’ll end up popping up, and you can go into that listing. And it’ll have a little link that says, is this verified? It’ll prompt you with that question. And then so you simply can click that link. And then it’ll go through and ask you a bunch of different questions until you get to that claiming portion, or verification portion.
And it varies based off the different platforms. But that’s essentially the run through of the process. And for example, for Google it might be sending you a postcard that could show up within a couple weeks at the practice, or business, whichever. And that’s one thing that you need to communicate within your business, because it might get looked over at that they might just–
They look at this and they’re like, what is this?
Exactly. Or think it’s spam, or anything like that. And that’s pretty common if they receive a phone call verification. It might not come that day. And so that’s just something to communicate amongst all the different employees within the business that this is something that’s coming through, and it’s important. And so just say kind of shed some light onto that, so that they know that that’s coming through for cleaning, our verifying the local listing.
And once it’s verified, that’s when everything kind of goes pop, and you have access rights to the page, and you can you update your NAP. And you can put in your photographs, and you can put in your business hours and all that stuff, right?
Yes. Exactly. Once you get through the tedious verification process, that’s when you can hit the ground running, and promote the page for any sort of review, or prompt people to submit photos. And just to keep your information updated itself.
So, let’s maybe just give a quick summary of your top three things that you want listeners to take away. What’s your wish list for them to remember about this wonderful podcast?
First of all, I would say just managing and claiming those local listings. Specifically the top directories being Google and Yelp, and Bing. Those ones are the ones that you should really focus on. And second is to make sure that all the information among all these different online directories are consistent with one another, again touching on whether it’s making sure that all the phone numbers are the same, and whether it’s avenue spelled out, or abbreviated. You just want to make sure that they’re consistent upon all the different digital platforms. And thirdly, get reviews.
If they’re positive, that’s great. You did your job as a business. And if their bad reviews, don’t be afraid. Because these are just opportunities for you to reach out and let them know that you’re listening and genuinely care about their concerns. And you are looking to improve your business.
That sounds great. Maggie Bloom, thank you, again, so much for joining us on Reach today. It’s been a pleasure to have you.
Thanks for having me. It was fun!