Are you encouraging your satisfied customers to write reviews about you on the big review sites?

If not, why not?

It doesn’t cost you anything, and if you are able to become distinguished with lots of positive reviews, that review site will turn into a valuable lead funnel.

Cultivating positive reviews also serves as a good defense measure against a negative review attack, whether it is legitimate or not... because it makes such an attack less damaging.

And guess what else? The voice recognition REVOLUTION probably is not far off. As voice activated assistants on smartphones, like the Apple iPhone’s “Siri” and Google’s upcoming “Majel” evolve and become more widespread, people are going to ask their phone things like: 

• “Hook me up with a good electrician in Springfield.”
• “I’m hungry and I want a good steak sandwich. Where should I go?”
• “Help me find somebody to fix my garage door.”
• “I need somebody to walk my dog. Who do you recommend?”

These new voice assistants will comb through Google and Yelp and perhaps other sources and provide recommendations based upon GPS coordinates or IP location and REPUTATION. It's not just going to be smartphones either... Just wait until the Apple television comes out, and the next generation iPad, and other devices. People will be talking with their computers and the computers will be speaking back with information.

If you want these voice assistants to recommend you in the near future, (and if you want to get free marketing right now) then now is the time to begin boosting-up your online reputation. NOW IS THE THE TIME TO MAKE YOUR MOVE, so that you can get a big lead on your competitors.

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There are so many businesses that are not taking advantage of review sites, but this will change soon. The pioneers are already exploiting these sites and creating more business for themselves as a result. As other players begin to realize that they have been losing business because they didn’t know they could attract customers this way, they will begin serious review accumulation efforts.

Finally, when the next group — the slow starters — realize what has been going on, they will get serious about cultivating positive reviews, but it probably will be too late. Because their competitors will have solidly built-up a mountain of positive reviews. They will be entrenched as the most popular, the most well-liked, and the perceived safest merchants to do business with. And these merchants will occupy the top ranked positions. They will be the most visible to consumers who are doing their internet research. And they will be among the first choices that voice assistants recommend.

People are less likely to randomly choose a service provider in the yellow pages now. Instead, they turn to review sites to get the consensus viewpoint of the crowd for all sorts of things, because they want the best their money can buy. If you are not showing up as the top service provider on review sites, it's probably costing you opportunity.

There is a simple way to increase your visibility on review sites, and it involves simply asking your satisfied customers for positive reviews. Outrival offers "Viral Loop Trigger Cards" to make the task of asking easier and to increase the chances that a customer will follow-through and post a positive review.

"Viral loops" are out there waiting to be activated by you! On the review sites; on Facebook too. And it's cheap marketing.

When you successfully inspire a customer to post a positive review or to "like" and then "share" you, it creates more visibility for your business that attracts new business to you. When those new customers show up, you encourage them to post a positive review about you too, or to like you. This creates additional visibility that draws in additional new customers: viral loops.

It's not difficult or expensive to develop these viral loops. Click below to learn more.