Monthly Digest: October 2018

This is our first 'Monthly digest'. There are now so many articles on this blog that we have decided to introduce a monthly summary; this will include 'News' and 'Perennials', 'perennials' being a 'top ten' of the most important articles.

News

Google announced yesterday that they are 'sunsetting' (their words!) Google+. This will impact few outside the world of tech, where the added privacy was valued by users, and it leaves this sector of the social media field clear for Facebook.

This month's articles...

Which business is going to be first to be fined for flouting the CMA rules on reviews? - if your business is hand picking customers to write reviews it might just be in the firing line. 

Is your Google score hurting your business? The answer, if that score falls short of 4.8 out of 5, is 'almost certainly'. If your business scores less than 4.5 the answer is 'certainly', as it is failing the Google Filter (see article below).

Two out of three UK businesses are breaking the law - if you have any doubts whatsoever read this article.

Google or Trustpilot? There is sometimes a marked disparity between a business's image on Google and that image as portrayed by a reviews site - which is correct?

Estate agents only: If your'e paying Rightmove you should at least look good when your potential fee earners arrive on your website.


Perennials...

Those new to the world of reviews - and review management - would be well advised to read as many of the following as possible. They are responsible for saving many businesses endless heartache over the years.

• The single biggest focus for us here at HelpHound is 'results' - enabling our clients to prosper - see the impact of professional review management on a client here.

• Are you complying with the law? Read this - the CMA's letter to businesses and our analysis.
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• Case histories are always illuminating. Here's one for an estate agency and here's another for a heating engineer.

• And the opinions of our own clients? - see what some say here.

• Independent reviews sites are everywhere you look - good for online retail but potentially disastrous for professional service businesses. If you are considering one read this first.

There are only two ways to look this good on Google (assuming you run a great business in the first place) - only invite 'happy' customers to write a review (which breaks the law) or adopt moderated review management 

• Moderation - and why it is vitally important for every service business that engages with reviews.

• Deflection - and how it has become an epidemic. This is all about the increasing trend for unhappy customers of businesses that have a reviews site to voice their opinions on Google.

• The Google Reviews Filter - it now takes businesses that score less than 4.5 out of search altogether.

And finally...

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