Legit Reviews or Manipulated?

A friend sent over a question last night asking if I'd ever heard of a company she saw advertised on TV that claimed it could remove negative Yelp posts off of the first page of website search results. As a business owner, I understand the appeal of being able to make negative review posts go away, but I am always wary of burying problems when you have the option of getting them out in the open, so I did some investigating.

This particular company plans to have its own review websites where the businesses that they serve can manipulate the feedback that is left so that only positive reviews are seen. Then, this company hopes to flood Google, Yahoo, and Bing with many of these sites so that they will show up when the customer searches for the business they want to investigate and it will result in the negative Yelp link being moved to the second page of Google's search results.

In theory, this will work whether the business is trying to bury Yelp posts or Foursquare or Insider Pages or any of the legitimate review websites. Sound a little shady to you? Well it sure does to me!

Most negative review posts are based on a misunderstanding or honest mistake made by one of the parties. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes these reviews have roots in some pretty big and pretty ugly problems at these businesses and sometimes there are people who complain just to complain, but the most common negative reviews can be resolved with some good customer service and that is what most people are seeking when they go public with their experiences.

That being said, while negative reviews sting and can harm your business' online reputation, the answer is most definitely NOT to bury the reviews, but to contend with the issues. Fess up if the mistake was yours. Make changes if your business is having repeat problems. Do some extra staff development training if your employees are not meeting customer needs. Change your product line and services if they are not what your customers are asking for. Reach out to your customers if there have been misunderstandings and work to mend bridges!

While there are times we'd all like our problems to just go away, don't fall prey to these kinds of shady companies who will try to play the system and ignore the problems. It can and will come back to bite! Your reputation will soar if you work to reconcile with unhappy clients and let the review sites serve both your customers and your business!

  Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations through monitoring and responding to customers on online review websites. For more information on IRM, it's services and programs, visit www.impressionsrm.com .