Just about every day I’m asked what I think of Yelp and the other online review sites and here’s my reply…”some are great, some aren’t”.

Want to know which ones are and aren’t? Of course you do.

But first, let me explain why you want to use reviews on your site and then I will share with you how to get reviews that actually add to your authority and credibility without using some of the online services currently being pushed.

Reviews (or testimonials as I like to call them) are the best way to show potential customers why they can trust you and eventually buy from you. A testimonial whether written or in video form will show the reader/viewer why you are the #1 choice for what you are looking for. People want to do business with someone they can relate to and a review is the best way for others to learn first hand about you.

So if a potential customer sees a review and they recognize the people giving the review they are more inclined to listen to what their friend said and buy from you.

Here’s a review I received about my book “Share:27 Ways To Boost Your Social Media Experience, Build Trust and Attract Followers“…

“Rob Anspach demonstrates a key principle of social media marketing in the design of the book itself – the use of illustrations, photos, and screen captures. 90% of the information that comes to the human brain is visual. Anspach brilliantly leverages this to create an easy-to-read, easy-to-follow manual about social media marketing.

What’s really great about “Share” is how each of the 27 strategies can “stand alone” and the reader can read that chapter, log right into their favorite social site, implement that strategy, and get results.

Buy and read this book and you immediately start to claim the power of social media as a business marketing tool!” – Adam Hommey, Founder – Help My Website Sell (Las Vegas NV)

Notice how I share the person’s full name, city and state? Did you notice I also shared Adam’s picture?

Adding the full name (first and last name), city, state and a picture you are adding credibility to your review and telling all that read it that the reviewer is a real person.

Many times I see reviews that just list a few words like “Good job” and the person’s first name and maybe an initial for the last name such as “Chris Z”. No picture, no last name, no city or state which equals absolutely zero credibility.

Facebook, Yelp and Yahoo are notorious for allowing non-customers to leave poor reviews about your listing. I find these sites awful for continuing the practice by letting people just randomly post anything about your product or service or by not removing posts that are just completely aggressive or lack any credibility whatsoever.

Facebook reviews are in my opinion the worst…you can review any business regardless if you’ve done business with them or not. And if your competitors are jealous they can have their employees trash your account just by clicking on the one star review button. Yelp isn’t any better…sadly, people have left nasty comments that never used the service they reviewed or were vindictive in their comments due to someone they knew being wronged by the business.

Yes, bad reviews hurt…when they are legitimate in nature.

Sadly a 5-star perfect rating can be swiftly taken down to a 2-star. My recommendation is to turn off the review section of your Facebook page and direct them to actually leave reviews on either the page itself as a proper post or on another website that accepts legitimate screened reviews.

Angie’s List although a paid membership site is actually a great place to leave reviews. You are getting actual people who have used your services. Amazon can also be a good place to direct people if you are selling products through them. I have found Google+ to be a great place to get reviews as well.

Okay, you have these wonderful reviews…now what?

Share them!

Yep, share those reviews everywhere! You can screen shot them then share them on your website, social networks and even your offline marketing…share them.

Oh, and when you get a negative review from an actual customer…don’t argue with the person leaving the person…thank them. “Thank you for sharing your review…I see we missed the mark in pleasing you…call our office so we can make it right”

Ask for reviews…share those reviews…but most importantly be vigilant where you tell people to leave those reviews. If you have lots of poor ratings on a certain online site then don’t have a link to that site on your website or have that feature available on your Facebook page.