Choosing the Best Platforms for Customer Reviews

Reviews play a big part in making sure you get hired by your prospects that search for a “notary near me.” 

Reviews are “social proof” that demonstrate that you’re a real business, and there’s less risk in hiring you because others already have. 

Plus, search engines use positive commentary, like reviews, to help them decide which profiles to highlight on their coveted “first page” of search results. 

So, the question often is, which platforms are better for customer reviews? 

Sometimes you don’t have any control over this. A customer that is compelled to give a review will simply post on whatever platform they want to. Nothing wrong with that!

All reviews are good reviews (even the bad reviews, if you respond correctly).

But, if you’re a smart small business person (which you are), and you’ve implemented a review-getting strategy, you’ll likely be able to guide some of your customers to the platform that serves you best.

Here are My Top Four Platforms For Customer Reviews:

Google Business Profile (GBP)

Google Business Profile is free to use and is considered the gold-standard in hyper local SEO right now. If you’re a small business (like a mobile notary) this profile is essential. Reviews are easy for most consumers to leave, although it does require a Google account to leave a review. 

Yelp

Yelp is a consumer favorite in many industries. Yelp has solid search “authority” and often businesses with a Yelp profile rank well in search results. That said, while consumers love Yelp, many small businesses do not. My advice is to use only the free version of Yelp because it’s a powerful business directory with massive search engine rank authority. But, you do not need to pay for any type of advertising with them. Once you start paying for ads and/or a premium profile, you’re beholden to Yelp forever, and they don’t always play nice. 

Bing Places for Business

Bless their heart, Bing is trying to compete with Google for search engine market share, but at 8.8% market share versus Google's 84%, there’s a long way to go. Still, don't let your free Bing business listing go to waste. These reviews matter too! 

Gotary

Gotary is close to my heart, so I had to include it. Originally created as a directory of the world’s best notaries, reserved for Notary Business Builder members, we’ve expanded to include Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agents, and more. This is the perfect no-nonsense review platform because there is no login required, and no special account requirement to give or receive reviews. Plus, you get to approve the review before it posts to your public profile.  

Have a Backup Plan (or Two)

Regardless of the primary platform you choose for your customer reviews, have a back up platform too. 

If you’re wondering which platform should be first, it’s Google Business Profile. That’s hands down, the most powerful platform. Google rules the world of hyper-local searches. But they also require a Google account and not everyone has or wants one of those. So have an alternative ready. 

This is where your Facebook business page,a listing with the BBB, Gotary, or even Yelp can come in handy. Worst case scenario, if you have a customer with none of these options available, just have them say something nice about you in an email, text, voicemail, or video. I’ll show you to showcase those reviews in a different blog. 

I led a powerful review-getting workshop in NBB recently and you can have FREE access to the first three sessions at the link below. I walk you through the process and get into some knitty-gritty detail on getting more reviews for your small business. 

Get the FREE Review Course Here