A one star review can often be seen as a huge black mark on your reputation. Everyone else likes me, what is wrong with this person? This really is an opportunity to own what this person says and examine what really happened. It could be situational, as in this person had a bad day, or maybe you do really have a problem you need to address. Examine this problem as a larger part of the business to determine the root of it and see how it fits in. You might find that “big problem” to the review that may be something your regulars are just overlooking.

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t try to tell your side of the story, this can make a business look defensive
• Do not ignore the bad review, you may look uncaring
• As a business you can’t make everyone happy so the occasional negative review is to be expected

“Fall on the sword. Readers of reviews want to see a business owner who is trying to make his customers happy, even those who are in the wrong and those who are unreasonable.”

Read more: http://www.rentalmanagementmag.com/Art/tabid/232/ArticleId/29616

Google is starting to enter the professional and local services market in a new way, and this is going to have profound implications for people who provide such services. While Google has long provided advertisements for services, its new Local Service Ads platform take the company’s involvement to a new level. This is more of an Uber-style model, where Google will serve as a clearinghouse to directly connect customers with businesses. However, the way that it does so will be opaque, so it will be allowed to manipulate prices. This could result in major price pressure and lower wages for professionals.

Key Takeaways:

• Google is looking to privatize most industries allowing more subcontractors to exist like uber drivers
• The services would be cheaper and everyone would make more but cutting out business owners
• The author pointed out that while we prefer this contract it kills central businesses and business owners

“Google has gotten pretty good at squeezing most of the profit out of every industry it touches via Adwords, Google Shopping, etc. And Google’s Local Service Ads look pretty much like more of the same.”

Read more: http://www.localseoguide.com/local-businesses-ready-goober/

While 33% of your internet traffic comes from searches you need a way to keep people coming back. One of the first ways is to decrease your load time. There are many other approaches to improving your Plumber SEO ranking. 14 of these are covered in the article in QuickSprout and are summarised in the video below. They are all applicable to a plumbing business who wants to get ahead SEO.

Key Takeaways:

• Improve your load speed. It’s one of the top reasons a user won’t stay
• Add more relevant content and graphics to your pages to engage your readers
• Make sure you’re mobile friendly you ensure they are able to visit easily.

“The reason why other [plumbing] websites are ranking higher than you on Google is because they are making a conscious effort to improve their SEO”

Read more: https://www.quicksprout.com/2018/02/05/the-top-14-ways-to-improve-your-seo-ranking/

Every business owner wants the opportunity to not only reach more customers but to impress them. When you show more, you can say more. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then surely your video is worth at least that. Your video has now gone viral or could go viral. Might this bring you more customers? No matter what type of business you own you should consider uploading your videos. Now how do you get started? It’s very easy, follow the instructions mentioned here and you can have your video posted in no time.

Key Takeaways:

• Google has added the option for business owners to add videos to their Google My Business
• Countless studies have shown that videos receive more likes, shares, and clicks than traditional online marketing practices
• The ability of a video to go “viral” just magnifies the importance of video marketing.

“educating customers about your product or service is empowering them to make the right choices”

Read more: http://blog.staylisted.com/7-reasons-to-upload-videos-to-google-my-business