Tag Archives: Review Sites

What’s New for October 3, 2013 – Fake Online Reviews & Studies Galore

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Study: 15% of US Adults Do Not Use the Internet

15% of Americans age 18 or older do not use the Internet, and 9% said they don’t use it in their homes, according to a report released by Pew Research Center. Those that do not use the internet cited reasons like: lack of interest, cost, lack of internet access, too busy, or feel that the internet is a waste of time. More than 40% of respondents above the age of 65 do not use the Internet, while just 2% in the 18-29 age range don’t use it.

Internet Adoption Since 1995

The truly staggering statistic is that less than 20 years ago (an eternity in tech advancement terms), 85% of people did not use the Internet. The chart below shows the rate of internet adoption among American adults since 1995.

Study: Facebook Logins Still #1, But Google+ Is Gaining

Janrain has released a study on social login usage and the results showed that Facebook is still the leading social login service with a 46% usage rate. Google+ is gaining and now claims 34% of the social logins, a solid second-place showing.

Social Login Trends

Fake Online Reviews Cost 19 Firms Large Fines in New York

The importance of online reviews has led to the growth of firms that charge to write glowing reviews on sites like Yelp and Google+. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced agreements with 19 of the bogus review companies to stop the practice and pay $350,000 in fines. Reportedly, the California Attorney General’s office is looking into similar issues in that state.

Gartner estimates that by 2014, some 15 percent of online reviews will be fake. The Federal Trade Commission released new guidelines in March trying to address all the new ways consumers get information about purchases. Under the guidelines, if someone is compensated for writing a review of a business, they must disclose the relationship. Yelp and other review sites work diligently to sniff out fake reviews (i.e. the person in Houston reviewing a carpet cleaning firm in San Diego), but the rewards in online placement and conversion for some businesses tempt them to try and outsmart the system.

Bottom Line: The following myths have been dispelled by this week’s research information:

  1. Everybody is not online.
  2. Fake reviews are not the way to build placement and conversion overnight.
  3. Google+ may catch up to Facebook yet. Time will tell.

Who knew?

Eric Van Cleave is a Partner in Zenergy Works, a Santa Rosa, California based Website Development, SEO and Online Marketing Firm.

Critical Review Sites for Small Businesses

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In a study in 2012, BrightLocal found  that 72% of survey respondents state they trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations, and 52% said that positive reviews make it more likely that they will shop in or use a business. Here are the top review sites and a list of “secondary” review sites that webmasters should be looking at periodically for their business. The top review sites require attention at least weekly, and the remaining sites should be reviewed monthly.

review sites

Google+ is the rating arm of the largest search engine and is particularly important because of its ties to Google + Places in the search results. Reviews are important, and can be difficult to obtain because a customer must have a Google Account to post a review. Positive reviews and strong placement in the places search can be the most powerful online asset of a small business.

Yelp received more than 1 million new reviews in January 2013. That is a busy review site. Yelp allows a business owner to interact with reviewers. It is important to respond to poor reviews and ask for a chance to resolve the issue with the customer.  Also, encourage positive reviews to drown out the negative opinions.

Facebook Business Pages have a recommendation section where customers can leave reviews that business owners can monitor. Reviews, along with likes, comments and other interactions, are expected to increase a business page’s ranking when the new Graph Search feature is launched to the public. This platform will become more important as the Graph Search usage increases, which is likely to happen, especially with mobile users.

Foursquare is a location-based social network based on reviews.Businesses can monitor these user reviews by claiming their establishment on Foursquare, and can post updates, offer specials and track response with analytics. Foursquare is popular amongst the 18-34 demographic and is designed to be mobile-friendly.

Secondary review sources include the Better Business Bureau (watch for negative reviews and how to respond to them), Yahoo Local (Marissa Mayer will no doubt bring positive change here), Merchant Circle, Local.com, InsiderPages, and Angie’s List (be sure to fill out the free business information page) are also important.

Bottom Line: Online reviews continue to grow in importance, and a long history of a number of positive reviews will help a local business more and more as the generation that has never known anything but immediate mobile access to information continues to grow in economic prominence

Eric Van Cleave is a Partner in Zenergy Works, A Santa Rosa, California based Website Design, Local SEO Services and Online Marketing Firm.

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