{"id":281,"date":"2017-01-12T21:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T21:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/?p=281"},"modified":"2019-02-22T21:10:06","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T21:10:06","slug":"how-online-reviews-can-help-you-gain-new-business-in-2017-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/how-online-reviews-can-help-you-gain-new-business-in-2017-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Online Reviews Can Help You Gain New Business in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You may think that online reviews are something that can\u2019t replace word-of-mouth&#8230; Yes, word-of-mouth will always have its place in real estate, however, the traditional word-of-mouth is now almost entirely&nbsp;online.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have an online review management strategy in 2017, your business will fall&nbsp;behind. Let\u2019s take a look at the reasons as to why Online Reviews in Real Estate are becoming a priority:<\/p>\n<h2>1) Online Reviews Add Credibility to your Services<\/h2>\n<p>Firstly, we\u2019re not saying you aren\u2019t already credible through word-of-mouth, but why not verify what people say (and bring it online for everyone to see) by utilizing online services that are third-party, independent and verifiable?<\/p>\n<p>Reviews help clients do their research on you, and they will do their research.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/online-reputation-management-stats\/?utm_source=content-nurture-mofu&amp;utm_medium=email-3&amp;utm_content=50-shocking-stats-blog&amp;utm_campaign=content-nurture-mofu-10-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> In fact, 85% of customers use the Internet to research before making a purchase.<\/a> The differentiator is when they read what others have said about you on an unbiased platform, they are sold on your service even before they have met you.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, there are tons of fake testimonials and biased review sites out there, but the overwhelming majority of today\u2019s consumers are intelligent enough to tell the difference between those and the legitimate and credible client-submitted review platforms.<\/p>\n<h2>2) Reviews Connect You to Your Customers (&amp;&nbsp;Showcases Your Customer Service Skills)<\/h2>\n<p>What better way to instantly connect to your clients (and prospective clients) than being able to connect to them publicly? This way, you are showcasing your excellent customer service and communication. You are verifying that you are open, willing to communicate, and make your clients happy.<\/p>\n<p>Even if it is responding to a negative review, you are telling potential clients how well you respond to adversity and are able to turn a negative into a positive. In a lot of cases, this is a huge differentiator when it comes to choosing an agent. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inman.com\/2015\/08\/05\/the-hidden-opportunities-in-negative-online-reviews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">It\u2019s almost more important than having all positive reviews.&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>3) Increases Your Online Visibility<\/h2>\n<p>Even if you have no idea what SEO even means (it\u2019s Search Engine Optimization by the way), being online and having those reviews allows for a greater chance that consumers are going to be able to find you. Not only find you, but to also see those reviews and give them a greater idea of who you really are (which is a reputable agent, with fantastic customer service skills, of course).<\/p>\n<p><em>Side note<\/em> \u2013 RankMyAgent\u2019s Google SEO is greatly optimized to allow your reviews to be seen first. Check this out:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/media\/2017\/01\/RMAseo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22590\" src=\"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/media\/2017\/01\/RMAseo.png\" alt=\"attachment1484685253\" width=\"1111\" height=\"553\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This screenshot was taken on page <strong>one<\/strong> of Google &#8211; why is that important? This is because 94% of people<em> only look at the first page<\/em> of Google results.<\/p>\n<h2>4) Online Reviews Help You Take Control of Your Online Reputation, Before It Takes Control of You<\/h2>\n<p>The truth is, people are going to talk about you no matter what. It\u2019s then up to you to take control of how it\u2019s seen. Do you let it be and hope for the best? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yotpo.com\/blog\/how-to-harness-the-positive-power-of-negative-reviews\/\">Don&#8217;t let us be the first ones to tell you that that\u2019s not always the best idea.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>So it&#8217;s&nbsp;critical to start building your online review management strategy.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/online-reputation-management-stats\/?utm_source=content-nurture-mofu&amp;utm_medium=email-3&amp;utm_content=50-shocking-stats-blog&amp;utm_campaign=content-nurture-mofu-10-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">83% of buyers no longer trust advertising, but most trust recommendations from users online.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>You will always get a negative review but how you choose to respond and take control of it, dictates how people will view you as an agent. Evidently choosing not to respond won\u2019t show potential clients how well you can cruise through adversity\u2026 food for thought.<\/p>\n<h2>5) The Future is Now<\/h2>\n<p>Millennials are now the up-and-coming market you need to think about \u2013 and fast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdwallet.com\/blog\/mortgages\/millennials-and-homebuying\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as&nbsp;Millennials are expected to form 20 million new households by 2025<\/a>. Many&nbsp;search online for, well, pretty much everything and especially purchases. From which restaurant to eat at, to finding doctors, online reviews are going to be a key-determining factor in bringing in new business.<\/p>\n<p>As well as being active on social media, having an online reviews portal is going to lead to a greater transparency for these consumers. Trustworthiness = &nbsp;more business, simple as that.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/three-steps-kick-start-positive-online-reputation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">So now is the time to start building your Online Review Strategy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>RankMyAgent is an online real estate platform that connects Real Estate Professionals and brokers to consumers by using the power of reviews to get them recognized, generate leads, and build their online reputation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You may think that online reviews are something that can\u2019t replace word-of-mouth&#8230; Yes, word-of-mouth will always have its place in real estate, however, the traditional word-of-mouth is now almost entirely&nbsp;online. If you don\u2019t have an online review management strategy in 2017, your business will fall&nbsp;behind. Let\u2019s take a look at the reasons as to why Online Reviews in Real Estate are becoming a priority: 1) Online Reviews Add Credibility to your Services Firstly, we\u2019re not saying you aren\u2019t already credible through word-of-mouth, but why not verify what people say (and bring it online for everyone to see) by utilizing online [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[66,95,97,82,7,16,94,9,96,10],"class_list":["post-281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-centre","tag-build-your-online-tribe","tag-build-your-real-estate-business","tag-online-real-estate-business","tag-online-review-strategy","tag-online-reviews","tag-online-reviews-for-real-estate","tag-online-strategy","tag-rankmyagent","tag-real-estate-business","tag-real-estate-reviews","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/agent-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}