Your business wants to grow its online reputation and visibility: but you don’t want to spend (and possibly waste) a small fortune doing it.

Think you’re unique in wanting this? Well, it may come as no surprise to you that 90% of small to medium sized businesses are exactly the same. The good news for you is that approximately 75% of small to medium sized businesses continue to do absolutely nothing about it; which means that standing out from your competition through online reviews is much easier than you think.

Online reviews for you are crucial if you want to stand out.

If word-of-mouth is important to you and what you do, don’t be one of the 75%. Here are 6 reasons why your business needs online reviews and how they will make a difference to your business:

1. More Sales

Silly question but would you like more sales? For the majority of businesses, this is the no-brainer reason why online reviews are so important. You can increase sales for your business by giving customers the ‘why’ needed to get in touch, book that appointment, start that journey and buy from you. Customers are far more likely to choose a service already recommended by others.

2. Understanding What You Could Be Doing Better

Online reviews tell you when you are doing a good job, what you’re not doing so well and how you could be improving your service. When your business handles this area properly, in other words, it comes to you early enough to be able to address it. When you have a feedback solution in place; you understand and get to deal with the real issues, which in turn helps your business get better.

3. Improving your Google Rankings

Online reviews do more for your business than building a stronger relationship between you and your customers; they improve your website ranking and raise your game on search engines like Google, Bing and more. The more unique content about your business online, the more important a search engine consider you to be. The reward for your business will be appearing higher organically in the search results.

4. Higher Keyword Content

Online reviews help your website to have a steady influx of relevant keywords that help your business have a more prominent online presence for customers due to the fact that many of the keywords included in online reviews will resonate with the customers looking for the type of product or service you provide.

5. Create Customer Loyalty

Your customers don’t have to leave a review about you, so when they do: feel proud; your service has motivated them enough to take time out for you. Build on this, as you’ve just created a certain loyalty to your business and unless you give them a reason to go elsewhere, they’ll keep coming back to you. You’ll also find that if you provide additional services these are the customers that are more likely to buy because the already trust and know you.

6. Let Customers Do Your Marketing for You

A handful of positive online business reviews are worth a great deal and can offer your business benefits that a simple marketing campaign can’t. They are like micro marketing campaigns that keep working long after the online review has been posted, giving a constant positive image to potential customers and creating a continual brand awareness that benefits the business for the short term and for the long term.