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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Online Reviews
By bryan | December 7, 2007
Good or bad there is an epidemic sweeping the net “online reviews”. The credibility is non-existent, business owners can log in thru a personal email account and leave bogus reviews or even malicious reviews about their competition. I read a very interesting article about the effect of reviews on a local florist industry. I also have many of my clients who have both good and bad reviews floating around the net.
Negative reviews have been a problem for lot of local businesses. Companies like City Search and RipOffReportoffer the public the ability to grade service and product expierience’s. While this is a feeble attempt to provide a due diligence service, the by-product is a outbreak of bogus reviews and unethical negative marketing. These companies have spent millions of dollars to generate traffic and rank for these reviews, some reviews rank higher than the company they talk about.
Now, there is some good in all this review bashing. Companies like Angieslist and the BBB Online, provide credible reviews of local business. Many online business directories offer some sort of review process, just make sure that there is a credibility protocol in place to validate the review.
In conclusion, don’t believe everything you read. When you search for local services and products do not allow your purchasing to be swayed by some high ranking review service with some elementary star grading system.
Topics: Industry Secrets | 3 Comments »
January 16th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
[...] Feed This to The Dogs So much Online Marketing; So little Internet AdvertisingThe Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Online Reviews [...]
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
[...] The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Online Reviews [...]
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
[...] Recently I have taken time to help local businesses manage their online reputations. There has been an slew of bad press about Good Feet store and their associates. The misconception is that there is a process and not an overnight fix. By creating a cast of a imperfect foot you only carry over the imperfections that the foot had to start. Once consumers realize the system needed to “fix” the problem the reviews of those who don’t understand the process will be alleviated. I read an article that discussed some common mistakes with conventional podiatry from the Healthy Feet Store and can only assume that this is where the masses get their ideas about custom orthotics. Finally, if you want to find out more about online reviews try The Good, The Bad The Ugly online reviews. [...]