TripAdvisor and Getting Rave Reviews

I’m a very lucky girl, I get to travel a lot and this time last year I was about to jet off to the golden, sandy beaches of Barbados.

A truly tremendous adventure was had as my friends and I sampled a little too much rum punch and dined in a whole host of restaurants – from street huts to waterside à la carte.

Every meal created a different dining experience, and a number of factors led us to choosing each dining destination.

My husband is a real TripAdvisor fanatic and as well as being a regular reviewer (he even has a senior reviewer badge now – and he’s proud as punch), he uses it to decide where to eat.

Barbados was no different – and an apartment with wifi meant he spent many an hour perusing the best bars and eateries locally.

Well, why not?

It massively determined where we went throughout the trip. One night, I fancied a Chinese but was sternly told “heck no, it’s last on TripAdvisor” and we therefore avoided it.

This just goes to show that good reviews are worth their weight in gold. 

We are in a world where people jump on the ‘net to read testimonials and to get other’s opinions from unbiased websites – and lots of our decisions are made based on what they say.

There are hundreds of review sites all around – TripAdvisor, Google Places and many industry specific sites – and all are available freely and easily to you to help you encourage people to pick up the phone and book with you over and above your competition.

It’s great Facebook material, and encouraging your team to get good reviews is a great way to build motivation within your business.

Don’t be scared to ask your customers for a review also – they’ll generally be happy to help!

It’s a great tool to see where you may be lacking and to listen to any issues your customers have – they may not feed back to you directly. So make sure you read what people say and use anything constructive to improve.

So if your business isn’t listed on TripAdvisor then get it on there now!    (My business is entered in the ‘Things To Do’ category, in case you wondered).

It’s free to add your business and it can only possibly help you in getting more clients through your door.   It’ll help your visibility, your search engine optimisation, your reputation and make you stand out from your competition.   In fact, nowadays people start to get concerned if a business isn’t listed on the site!

And of course if you manage to pick up enough ratings then you’ll be awarded a certificate of excellence to be proudly displayed in your reception.   I have one on my reception desk and it certainly gives off the right impression to my clients.

And yes, that then makes you an award winning business.   Award winning businesses attract more clients, can charge more and have better client retention rates.

So what are you waiting for?

This blog was adapted from an article I wrote for Scratch Magazine.  If you want to read the original article then you can here.