Episode Details

Today I'm talking with Mike Blumenthal, an expert in online reputation creation & management as well as search optimization and online presence building. Three years ago, only about 50% of Americans were potentially willing to leave a review about their experience with a business. In the past three years, that number has gone up to 65%. With two-thirds of customers and clients potentially ready to review your business, you can no longer get by with assuming a customer with a lukewarm experience won't leave a review for the whole world to see. In our conversation today, he uses his expertise to offer a huge amount of actionable advice. If you have a business with any sort of an online presence, you need to hear this episode!

Find Out More About Mike Here:

Blumenthal's Mike Blumenthal's blog @mblumenthal on Twitter Mike Blumenthal on LinkedIn Mike Blumenthal on Get Five Stars

• [01:14] - Mike suggests starting off by talking not about reputation management, but rather reputation development.
• [03:30] - We learn what a Net Promoter Score is, and why it's a valuable number to keep track of.
• [05:24] - Mike touches on why most small businesses don't like Yelp, then explains that many reviews are now showing up on Google anyway.
• [07:29] - If Yelp is ranking #2 for your company game in Google, that makes its contents more important, right?
• [08:57] - In general, Mike suggests just leaving sites like Ripoff Report alone and ignoring them.
• [09:34] - Stephan steps in to explain a bit about how Google features various sites. Mike then defines rich snippets.
• [11:15] - Mike explains more about the use of rich snippets and other review-related items on your own site.
• [13:04] - Are you allowed to take reviews you find elsewhere (like from Yelp) and put them on your website?
• [14:40] - We hear about Mike's suggestions on the process of getting reviews on your own site. He then offers advice for what to do if you already have testimonials.
• [19:39] - The term for paying for fake reviews is "astroturfing."
• [21:22] - Mike discusses how to correct Knowledge Panel information about their business.
• [25:38] - Can Moz Local fix things in existing listings, or is it only for new listings?
• [26:37] - Mike strongly recommends hiring a consultant to write your Wikipedia content instead of doing it yourself.
• [27:27] - We move on to Facebook, with Stephan and Mike talking about its increasing popularity as a review site.
• [30:35] - Mike offers advice for how to get Yelp reviews if you need to manage a currently negative Yelp profile. He and Stephan also discuss the importance of having Yelp friends.
• [33:27] - Should we pay attention to sites like YP.com and Superpages? [35:44] - Mike discusses Glassdoor and how to use it to your advantage.
• [38:43] - Stephan recommends a previous Marketing Speak episode with Kenton Hutcherson if you want to lear