As mobile devices become more and more prevalent, getting good rankings in Google Places is getting more and more important for offline businesses. When a user pulls out an iPhone and does a search on Google Maps for a business of your type, you want yours to appear in #1.

The more reviews you have, the more likely you are to rank higher. Having more positive reviews will also make it more likely that someone who sees your listing actually chooses to visit your place of business.

So how do you improve your Google Places reviews?

Add Details & Photos to Your Place

A critical first step is to fill out your business’ profile as completely as possible. Put your times of operation, your phone number, your company website, your address and any other relevant information. Make sure your business is categorized in the right category.

Add as many high quality photos as you can. Upload your menu if it’s applicable.

Doing all of this will help you increase your rankings as well as get more people through the door. It’ll also help you garner more reviews as you get more Google-savvy users to your business.

Ask Employees, Friends and Family

One easy way to get more reviews is to simply ask for them from the people who you know.

Make sure that when you ask them to do a review, they’re actually providing real reviews based on their personal experience. Never encourage fake reviews.

For example, if you run a restaurant, chances are all your family members and friends have already visited your restaurant. All you need to do is ask them to share their best experiences on Google Places’ reviews.

This alone can net you a dozen or more reviews, quickly propelling you to the top of the Google Places algorithm.

Incentivize Reviewers

Another way to get an abundant amount of reviews to your Google Place listing is to incentivize people to leave reviews.

For example, if you run a restaurant, you can run a one month promotion where anyone who leaves a review on Google Places gets a free order of spring rolls. The review can be positive or negative, all they need to do is leave a review.

Put a sign up in your establishment letting people know about this special offer. Ask them to print out their review next time and bring it with them.

This tactic can also net you a whole lot of reviews.

On the Spot Reviews

Finally, you can ask people to do the reviews right then and there. Again, it really helps if you can incentivize the review process. For example, give users a free appetizer or glass of wine.

All you need to do is have an iPad or small laptop on hand. Whenever a user would like to leave a review, give them the iPad or laptop and have them leave the review right on the spot.

Each of these tactics alone can help you garner a whole slew of reviews. Most of your competition will only have a handful of reviews, so any of these tactics alone can help propel you to the top of the listings.

Reputation management service is like insurance. You want to have one before things happen. Learn how a good online reputation management service can safeguard your online reputation.

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Author Bio: Reputation management service is like insurance. You want to have one before things happen. Learn how a good online reputation management service can safeguard your online reputation.

Category: Internet
Keywords: online reputation management, google places, reputation management, orm