The fact that your business’ reputation is vital to its survival and ongoing success is indisputable. Indeed, this has always been the case, but in our modern world, it’s more pivotal to sales and public standing than ever before. That’s because the internet has acted as a spotlight – one that’s very much focused on brands and how they behave.
For businesses, this means your reputation is something that must be carefully managed, with a continual eye to how your actions and overall customer service reflects on your company. It’s essential that everything you do – be it upgarding page content, optimizing SEO, speeding up page load time or simply removing images from google search to feel more visually appealing videos – every interaction you’re involved in paints your brand in an eminently positive light.
But does it really matter as much as you’ve been told?
Is business reputation management non-negotiable?
The answer is ‘yes’. In our modern-day society, the internet is our constant companion. We’re never placed in a position where we have to take a stab in the dark; if we want to know something, we simply type it into Google or perform a brief background check via social media.
This means that consumers are more clued up than they’ve ever been before. It’s now common practice to sound out a business out before you buy, so what the internet has to say about a company is crucially important.
In fact, there is an argument that your online persona is the biggest determiner of success, both in terms of what you put out there and with regard to what others say about you. Certainly, if an individual searches for a business and finds only bad things written, you can almost guarantee that they’re not going to buy from it.
This is why online reputation management matters so much. While it’s often handled by the professionals, there are also lots of businesses that take care of this themselves. The aim is simple: to minimize the amount of negative material that exists online and generate positive content in its place.
That’s because a well-managed online persona paints your business in the best possible light. It indicates, in an entirely organic way, that your enterprise is not only trustworthy and reputable but a safe bet for those who are looking to spend money.
Certainly, the statistics back this up, with 75 percent of businesses claiming that online comments, forum posts, reviews, and press content play an essential role in determining their traffic, sales, and financial health.
The benefits of a positive reputation online
With regard to peoples’ perception of your business online, much of this is shaped by Google. Controlling around 92 percent of all web traffic, the search engine leviathan is the most trusted resource for those conducting digital research.
This means the information which comes up when people type your name into Google can have a real impact on the overall performance of your business, with many company owners claiming to be worried about attracting negative coverage.
Certainly, these fears are not unfounded, with damaging content liable to cost you a significant amount of money. The impact of reviews alone is incalculable, with 93 percent of online purchasers claiming that these influence their buying decisions.
We’ll use the online casino industry to illustrate our point. Within the sector, competition is extensive, with thousands of different providers to choose from. Clearly, it would be impossible for consumers to research each of these individually, which is why an entire online industry has sprung up in response.
This new industry is that of comparison sites, which consumers use as a reference point in their decision-making. Heavily relied upon in the casino industry, sites like 777casino have been created to provide honest and unbiased casino reviews. As their stated purpose is to help players choose the right provider, it is an especially trustworthy example of a comparison site.
Their influence on the wider industry is incalculable, with 85 percent of consumers claiming to trust reviews such as these as much as they do personal recommendations. In addition, a phenomenal 90 percent admit to reading such feedback before they’ll even consider buying from a business.
More interestingly still, perhaps, research has shown that the majority of consumers are willing to pay around 15 percent more for a product or service if it comes complete with positive recommendations.
Given the many statistics to indicate the importance of a business’ online reputation, this is something that it’s undoubtedly time to start taking seriously, and for those looking for further resources, there’s some great information available on the internet at sites such as this one.
Isn’t it time you started taking notice and proactively managing your own reputation?
