Positive Google reviews can buy you big points with potential customers and with Google’s search engine. If you’re looking for a quick, easy, free way to push your business ahead online, this is the way to go. Here’s how to retrieve your review link to share with your customers:

1. List your business on Google Businesses.

You may already be listed here, so go to this link, click “start now,” and search for your business. Follow the steps to list your business. If you’re already listed, move on to Step #2.

2. Find your Google Places ID.

Do a search for your business on this page. Once you find it, you will see an ID below your business name, like so:

3. Create Your Review Link

You’ll want to add your ID to the end of this url: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=

It will look something like this: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJz96MGayWOxARDR4l_Kruxcw

Be sure to test out the link to make sure it works. However, don’t give yourself a review. That’s just weird.

4. Send That Link to Your Customers

Now you can send this link to all your favorite customers, lovingly requesting a review. You may feel apprehensive about asking customers for such a favor and might not know what to say. Here’s a link to some ideas for what you could say in the email: https://www.thumbtack.com/blog/snag-more-reviews-with-these-3-templates/

5. Add The Link to Your Website

If you have a “Reviews” page, this would be a perfectly appropriate place to add a button that says “Leave a Review.”

6. Thank Your Customers

Be sure to share your gratitude!

As more people turn away from phonebooks and flock to the internet, your online reviews become increasingly important. If people are passionate about the services you offer, give them the opportunity to shout it to the world!

What does your email address say about you and your business? Maybe you’ve been doing business, getting by with the personal email address you created in 2003 (I’m looking at you, banjoguy04@hotmail.com). If that’s the case and your business is successful, good for you!

Maybe your business is growing. You’re in the process of rebranding, creating a fresh, more professional statement. You’re hiring more employees and investing in advertising too. As you think about the new look and tone of your business, consider setting up business email addresses. Your business email will help promote your brand to your customers. It also reminds them where to go to reach your website. These two things alone help a lot with credibility.

 

Defined.

A business email address replaces @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, or whatever else you’re using, with your very own domain name. So, if you own the site coolestbusinessever.com, your business address could be hello@coolestbusinessever.com.

There are several ways to set up your email, but I prefer to use Google.

 

Two Options Using Google.

Google provides a great tool called GSuite. This gives you a custom business email with all the benefits of Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive, and plenty of storage. At only $5 per account, it's a great deal. It's also fairly easy to set up.

If you're working on a tight budget, there's another option: Create an email account with your domain provider and connect it to your personal Gmail through POP and SMTP. This allows you to send and receive emails in your Gmail inbox using your business address. The biggest drawback to this method is that your incoming emails are not updated in real time. They are “fetched” periodically: every five minutes to two hours, depending on how often your use your business email. This option can be tricky to set up if you haven't done it before.

 

Links.

Below are a couple of links that can help you set your business email up in either of these two ways:

https://gsuite.google.com/setup       https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-collect-mail-from-other-pop-accounts-in-gmail-1172076

For those running small businesses, you may do just fine using a personal address or Gmail.com address. However, for large or growing businesses, business email addresses will help you gain credibility with your customers. Contact your IT guy or website manager to get started setting up professional email addresses for your business.