For small and mid-size businesses with a dependable customer base, a reasonable advertising budget and an urge to enhance online reputation, review sites are a great help. By asking your loyal customers to write reviews, your business can get the exposure you are looking for without spending much investment of time or money.
But if you’re a social worker, therapist or a self-employed professional, then review sites cannot help your reputation. That’s because the Ethical Code of Conduct may specifically debar you from soliciting testimonials. Even if clients favor you and claim they are happy with your services, just asking them to write a review violates laid down code of contact.
Even if clients write a favorable review about you online, those same ethics might forbid you from responding. So if review sites are a taboo, what can you do to build a robust online reputation?
You can focus on Google instead. It takes no more than 10 minutes to sign up for Google My Business. The information you need to furnish are – your physical address, consulting hours, your phone number, your website address, etc.
By completing the above data, your practice will show up in most places. When consumers run searches for professionals in your area, your practice will appear on maps and at the top of search listings. It’s a quick and effortless way to get a high ranking mention.
Make it a habit to write blogs. This can be another effective way to acquire space for your practice in search engine results. Well-researched and well-written articles are tempting for search engines and interestingly, each entry is tracked back to your name and the name of your practice.
Of course, you may have to invest time to write a well-researched blog -but it would suffice if you write two blogs per week. In fact, experts opine that writing just two or three blogs each week is a more effective technique –rather than every day. Fewer blogs will allow you to write more efficient, more comprehensive blogs.
As a therapist, you will probably be expected to do constant research. In that case, you can get your results published in reputable journals that relate to your field. It is worthwhile to brush up your skills and publish articles with greater clarity as well as authority.
By publishing in leading medical journals, you can demonstrate your expertise, obtain free publicity for your practice and create something you can share and promote.