Could this be the easiest way to be found in Google?

Getting your business listed near the top of a Google search is a very tricky task indeed. Big businesses find it hard enough, but for small businesses that don't have the time or money to put into SEO (search engine optimisation), it can be almost impossible.

There are lots of factors that determine how websites are sorted - and Google doesn't let us in on all their secrets. However, some businesses are finding that there is a relatively easy (and legitimate) way to get found on Google.

In general, Google favours the most relevant content from the most credible websites. So you need your business on websites that are well optimised for search engines, alongside words that people are searching for. One easy way to achieve this is by getting people talking (writing) about your business on a popular website. In case you haven't guessed, one good example of this is http://www.womow.com.au/.


Why are ratings so effective?

There are a couple of reasons. One is that on a review website like WOMOW, it's easy for your business name to be mentioned several times. Another is that the developers behind WOMOW have structured the web pages so that the content is easily spidered by Google. But it's also true that you could achieve these benefits from other types of websites.

The real reason that a site like WOMOW helps you get found on Google is because it's real people describing your business, in real people's language.

When people search for businesses, they use terms that you're unlikely to find on most business websites. But these are the exact same words that your customers use to describe your business. For example, the website for Mike's Sports Physiotherapy might say something like "We provide professional physiotherapy services and treat all kinds of sports problems. We offer thorough assessment and treatment which can include stretching and strengthening programs." On the other hand, one of his customers might write "I hurt my shoulder playing tennis and decided to see a physio. Turns out my injury was quite easy to treat and only took 2 sessions. I was nervous at first but Mike was extremely gentle - I'd recommend him to anyone in the Eastern suburbs."

If a potential customer was searching on Google, they might type "gentle physio for tennis injury in eastern suburbs". Mike's website would fail dismally but his listing on WOMOW would have a great chance of being one of the top results. This is an extremely powerful (and free) way to substantially improve your positioning on Google.

Surprisingly, it can be extremely difficult for a business owner to know just how their potential customers are searching on the web. One case in point was a dog trainer. He had a great website but when one of his customers rated him on WOMOW and referred to him as the "dog whisperer", his web traffic soared.


So how do you make the most of this rating phenomenon?

1. Get lots of customers to rate you on WOMOW.com.au
   Literally all you need to do is get into the habit of asking every customer to rate you. Not everyone will, but if your customers are happy with your service, they're usually more than happy to do this for you. (By joining WOMOW's Happy Customers Program, you can get flyers which you can give to customers make it easy for you to tell them how to rate your business).


2. Make sure your business is listed correctly
   Check that your address, phone number and especially website and email address details are included an accurate. To do this, you just claim your business listing (there's no cost).


3. Include extra information about your business
   Upgrade to an Optimised Listing and you can include a description for your business that helps you get found on Google. Here you can list the brands you supply, the areas you service, the products or services you provide, whatever it is you think people will be searching for on Google.
   
4. Keep the ratings coming
   Because Google values fresh information, it gives priority to pages that are frequently updated with new content so it's important to develop a way of requesting ratings from customers systematically. Aside from handing out flyers, you could also enclose a request (or flyers) with invoices, send recent customers an email asking them to rate you, or display a sign that explains how you rely on customer referrals and ask them to rate you that way.

Start this week and watch as your web traffic grows over the next few months. As they say, it may not happen over night, but it will happen!

Use Business Awards to Generate Word-of-Mouth

A great way to get people knowing and talking about your business is to enter (and preferably win) business awards. When you start looking, there are quite a few of these around - some general, others more industry specific.

As I see it, the main benefits are;

• Media Attention - Businesses that win awards have something to tell the press. Often the award organisers have their own highly polished PR department that will help promote their award, as well as the businesses that achieve some success. The best thing about this is that media coverage leads tends to lead to more media coverage.
  


• Exposure to Key Influencers - In my experience, the businesses and people entering awards are often decision-makers and important influencers in their industry and community. While it might not seem like a huge number of people you're physically getting in front of, they're the 'movers and shakers' of our society. (In a previous business we owned, winning an award put us on the radar of the company that ended up acquiring us several years later.)
  
  
• More Web Links - I'm no Search Engine Optimisation expert (I leave this aspect to others I work with), but I know that when you have more links pointing to your website your Page Rank increases and you'll be more likely to show up higher in Google's search results. The more popular the website that links to you, the more impact this has. By entering awards, you're business will often be listed on the awards organiser's website (hopefully with a link to your site). And if you get media attention from the awards, this can also give you more links.



• Birds-Eye View - Probably the most important benefit of all is that the process of entering awards causes you to reflect and think deeply about the current state of your business. The entry requirements are usually all-encompassing and force you to address every aspect of your business - including the more strategic elements (like your vision, culture, exit strategies, etc) that are easy to neglect on a day-to-day basis. Yes, we all intend to devote some time to long-term thinking, but for most of us, this only happens when we have an awards deadline to work towards!

On the downside, entering awards can be fairly involved and really needs dedicated chunks of time to be done properly. We think it's worth it though and have entered several awards with WOMOW.com.au and our previous business (Invizage Technology).

One business award currently seeking entries is Anthill's Cool Company Awards. We've got our entry in so why not give it a go? In their words...

Is your company a step ahead of the rest? An organisation of rule-making and rule-breaking leaders? To put it simply, is your company 'cool' in 2008? Applications are now open!
Click here to nominate.

10 Ways to get Customers Referring Your Business

Most businesses know that the best way to get new customers is through word-of-mouth recommendations. Most of us base a lot of decisions on recommendations because we tend to believe someone who is not trying to sell to us. (Think about the last few purchasing decisions you made – whether it’s choosing a restaurant, a tradesperson, or a hairdresser, most of us rely on word-of-mouth to some extent.)

But the tricky part about word-of-mouth, is that it’s largely out of your hands. However, there are several things you can do to encourage your customers to recommend you to others.

1. Make sure customers are happy with your service
   This is literally as simple as asking them what they thought of your service. For some businesses it might mean making it policy to ask how the customer’s meal was, or calling a few days after a service has been completed to make sure everything is ok. If there was any problem, this gives you the opportunity to find out about it.
   
   
2. Ask them to rate you on the web
   For some businesses this sounds scary but if your customers are happy with you, all you need to do is ask if they’d mind posting a rating on the web for your business. Most people love to feel needed and if they’re happy with your service and you’ve developed some level of rapport with them, they’ll be more than happy to help you out. Misty’s Diner has been doing this for several months and at the time of writing has 120 customer ratings in WOMOW.
   
   Obviously we suggest you use WOMOW.com.au but the key is to have your customer ratings in a public forum run by an objective third party. That’s what makes them believable!
   
   
3. Ask for personal referrals
   At first glance this can look desperate, but all it means is letting your customers know that your business is built on word-of-mouth and if they know anyone that would be interested in your product/service, to point them in your direction. Later, when they’re having dinner with friends, hopefully they’ll remember this simple prompt and it’s amazing how often a referral will come about.
   
   
4. Let them know some inside secrets
   Give customers something interesting to say to other people. It doesn’t have to be particularly ground-breaking stuff either. It could be something about yourself and why you got into this business, the types of clients you deal with, something about a major project you’re working on, really anything that gives them the opportunity to tell someone else something they don’t already know.
   
   Imagine the difference between saying:-
   “I know a great plumber who might be able to help you out with that”
   and:-
   “I know a great plumber who specialises in grey water solutions. He was just telling me about a job he just finished where…”
   
   
5. Keep in contact
   Your customers could be in a position to give you a recommendation at any time, but if they haven’t heard from you in years its not likely they’ll remember you. The key is to stay in touch through personal phone calls, mailouts, newsletters, emails, lunches, whatever it takes to make sure that when the opportunity arises and a friend asks “do you know a good accountant around here?”, your name will be the first they mention.
   
   One way to achieve this and combine with point 2 above is to email your clients saying that you’d like their feedback. Let them know that you’re using a website to collect feedback and would really appreciate it if they could rate you (if you want to use WOMOW just include a link to your WOMOW page).
   
   
6. Dare to be different
   Another way to ensure your customers remember you is to be different in some way. There’s any number of ways you could do this but some businesses I’ve come across that do this use things like bright uniforms, posting a quote of the day, asking customers to pay what they think is a fair price instead of using a price list, use dramatic packaging, provide a mobile service (instead of in an office), or serve each customer a fresh muffin on arrival. Really this is marketing 101 in terms of setting yourself apart from your competitors, but think of it not just as a way of being better, but as a way of being remembered and talked about.
   
   
7. Let everyone know about your ratings
   When people are checking out your website or in the midst of the sales process, let them know what your other customers say about you by showing them customer ratings or testimonials. These could be printed out in your office, a link to you WOMOW listing from your website, or included in your written quotes (eg “See what customers are saying about us here www.womow.com.au/biz/xxxx”)
   
   
8. Thank people for their recommendations
   When you do get a recommendation, make sure you thank the person and let them know how much it means to you. This could mean phoning the customer that just sent their colleague to visit you, sending a box of chocolates or bottle of wine. When you get ratings on WOMOW, you can post a comment on their rating thanking them for their rating and for using your service – they’ll be more inclined to give you more recommendations, plus for everyone else reading, it looks like you really care. And unless the rating is anonymous, you can send them a private email too with a personalised thank-you.
   
   
9. Above all, provide great service
   This underpins everything else, but I can’t let it go unmentioned. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the mechanics of the business and forget about the customer experience. Be a customer for a day and put yourself in their shoes. What’s it like to phone your company, walk into the waiting room, email you, visit your website for the first time? Is there anything you could be doing better? Are there any basics that you’re missing? Once you get a few ratings, you’ll soon know what aspects of your business customers value the most.
   
   
10. Go one step extra
    If it’s at all possible, make it a policy to do something extra that customers wouldn’t expect. Call the next day to see how everything is working out, remember their order from their last visit (or set up a system that does), give them a coffee / wine / mineral water / chocolate on arrival, set up a TV with relevant DVD’s in your waiting room, offer a free fitting service, write to them and offer a free maintenance check, give them a free air-fragrance with your service, or allow them to keep something else associated with your business.
    
    I know of one car dealership that provides a lifetime of free carwashing to anyone that buys a car from them. Not only does this provide a great talking point, it ensures the customer remembers them next time they’re looking to buy a new car.
    
    If there’s something you can do to really wow your customers, they’ll be so grateful, they’ll look for opportunities to even the score. As they say, the difference between extraordinary and ordinary is the “extra”!

Once you start regularly implementing just some of these ideas, the referrals will start flooding in. It’s a great way to do business!

Word-of-Mouth Goes Online

Ever wondered how some people seem to find all the best businesses? Word-of-mouth has always been a sure-fire way to find great businesses and avoid the worst. In fact, word-of-mouth is often said to be the oldest and most effective form of marketing. But recently a new website has begun revolutionising the way word-of-mouth works in Australia. It’s called WOMOW.com.au and it stands for Word Of Mouth On the Web.

WOMOW.com.au is somewhat like a business directory (excepting that it’s written by users, all businesses are rated, and businesses don’t pay to be included), and similar to a web forum (except that it’s more structured so that information can easily be retrieved by others). The result is a unique tool that’s already changing the way that thousands of people find and choose businesses – and it may end up having a dramatic impact on the business landscape.

Just imagine, you’re looking for a mechanic that won’t rip you off, or a hairdresser you can trust to give you a great new look, or you need to organise a funky dinner venue for a bunch of friends… what you want is a recommendation. Jump onto www.womow.com.au and search. There you’ll find businesses that have been rated by real customers – many with lengthy descriptions that give you a really good idea about the business.

Say you’re looking for a mechanic…

About Town Mobile Mechanics (Melbourne) by Jablue
“It might seem as I'm generous in my praise in that I've rated Rob & About Town in the highest category for all criteria - but that was honestly my experience. My car had been broken down for some time & after chatting to Rob he agreed to come to my home on that day to diagnose the problem. He arrived on time, found the problem (starter motor) very quickly, and had a replacement fitted for an agreed price. I was able to pay by bank transfer, and he even checked a problem my sister was having with her ignition while I was on the computer. Couldn't be happier !!!!”

Or a cleaner…

Theema Cleaning (Greensborough) by MelissaL
“Have used Theema Cleaning twice for a spring clean at my house including windows. When it comes to window cleaning they really know their stuff in terms of different types of glass and what products to use. They use environmentally friendly cleaning products and have a great team that come in and get the job done in record time. I also used Theema for cleaning the blinds at my office and they did a fantastic job at short notice for this as well. Would highly recommend.”

Or maybe a physiotherapist…

Rating for Coburg Physiotherapy by krees
“I have a chronic back injury, and I've been to many physiotherapists before, but none have fixed me like these guys. They are never late with appointments, are open later than other places, so you don't need to leave work early, and is a great experience. Compared to other physiotherapy centres, they are also quite reasonable priced, and also cover work cover and pensioners.”

Traditional directories let you find businesses, but how do you know if they’re any good? The businesses that pay the most are always the most prominent, but you know nothing about their service (other than they’re paying a lot for advertising). WOMOW co-founder, Fiona Adler, believes that “good businesses deserve to be rewarded for their efforts and WOMOW helps them by amplify their word-of-mouth reputation”. Product reviews are everywhere on the Internet so it’s about time we had an equivalent resource for finding out about local services. And what if businesses provide poor service? Adler says, “people need to know about that too!” In fact, WOMOW.com.au does more than help people find great businesses, it gives consumers recourse in the event that they’re treated poorly - in effect, giving more power to consumers.

But the real strength in WOMOW is that it provides an incentive for businesses to treat customers well. “Give people a great experience and they’ll thank you with a positive rating on WOMOW – and before you know it, more people will start trying your business, giving you more opportunities to show what great service you can provide.”

And it already seems to be working for some businesses...

Misty Singer from Misty’s Diner in Prahran says that "In one night alone, new customers from WOMOW accounted for almost a third of our revenue! It gives me goosebumps when I read some of the great things our customers are saying about us." (You can see the actual ratings here - www.womow.com.au/biz/Mistys-1950s-Diner-Prahran)

And hairdresser Lee Davies from Salon Lavan claims that “Business is booming – in the last 2 months, we’re been getting several new clients a week – just because customers are writing nice things about us on WOMOW.” (You can see Salon Lavan’s ratings here – www.womow.com.au/biz/Salon-Lavan-Elsternwick.)

WOMOW.com.au has been up and running for less than a year but already has more ratings for all kinds of businesses than any other site in Australia. In fact, users have already entered over 16,000 ratings and traffic is growing at around 25-30% each month! There’s a real sense of community coming through too. People are realising that by spending a couple of minutes submitting a rating and sharing their experiences, they can contribute to their community by helping their neighbours get great service and supporting the customer-focussed businesses in their area.

With more and more people turning to WOMOW to rate their favourite and least favourite businesses, we could be seeing the beginnings of a people’s movement for better customer service. And that’s got to be good for everyone – except the dodgy operators that is!

Check it out at www.womow.com.au.

Key Facts about WOMOW

• WOMOW.com.au went live in July 2007 after winning three out of four categories in the Melbourne Universities Entrepreneurship Challenge in April 2007.
• As of June 2008, WOMOW’s users have entered over 16,000 customer ratings with a new rating currently being submitted every 6 minutes. WOMOW already has more ratings for all types of businesses than any other website in Australia.
• Traffic is strong and growing at 25-30% per month.
• WOMOW began in Melbourne but now operates throughout Australia with localised ratings for each major centre.
• WOMOW covers all types of businesses – eg: tradespeople, hairdressers, gyms, doctors, physiotherapists, child-care centres, restaurants, activities, cleaners, vets, dentists, mechanics, accountants, computer repairs, wedding services, beauticians, and lots more (basically anything you’d like a recommendation for)