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As a brick and mortar business owner, SEO is huge for our business. 🙌🏻
Did you know what 46% of all Google searches have local intent? People are looking for the chiropractor near me, or the best place to take tango lessons, or who has the best pizza.
If you’ve been following me, you know I’m a fan of making sure you are continually working on your SEO.
In fact I have a short little series on SEO in the podcast. Scroll back to episodes 76, 77 & 78 to learn enough to be dangerous.
So today I wanted to share with you exactly how I doubled the number of Google reviews I got in LESS time and frustration!
Short, sweet and to the point y’all. Cuz you got things to do! 😉
Are you a brick and mortar business owner that has put your blood sweat and tears into creating a storefront that lights you up and serves your clients well only to be frustrated that you’re the best kept secret in town?
If you’re NOT hearing your new clients say, “I found you on Google!” then you’re in the right place.
Welcome.
I'm Melissa Rose—mom, business owner, and your straight-shooting visibility coach. I've cracked the SEO code to becoming the top choice on Google in my industry, and now, I'm sharing the secrets on this podcast. Get ready for stories, fail-proof strategies, and practical tips to elevate your brick and mortar presence to the top choice on Google.
So let's get real, because we're about to make your business, “The Only Option in Town!”
It is the beginning of February and we are full on into 2022. So how are those goals coming along? It's the time of year when they start to feel heavy, they start to feel real and they start to feel like I don't know if I can do it. So if you're looking for a little kick in the pants, a little accountability, a little motivation, I invite you to check out my 90 Day mastermind. We start a new group April 1st, and I'd love for you to consider it. So head on over to msmelissarose.com/mastermind to learn more. Allright, let's get real.
If you're running a brick and mortar business, raising some kiddos and juggling all of life's offerings, let's be real and call you what you are. You my friend are a rebel woman, you've put your blood sweat and tears in creating a storefront that lights you up, serves your clients well and contributes significantly to the community you love. You are my hero. And I'm pretty sure we could sit down and talk shop for hours cause I get it! I have a brick and mortar business myself for over 12 years, a handful of kids and a few passion projects that I love like this one. Hey there everybody. My name is Melissa Rose and I am your visibility coach for brick and mortar businesses who want more clients coming in their doors. I have a passion for helping and serving those who are also living life on the edge going for their dreams and creating a legacy through their kick ass business. In this podcast, we're going to share the nitty gritty of running a successful brick and mortar business. We're going to share stories we're going to talk strategy, and we're gonna learn practical tips that leave you inspired, empowered and equipped to create the life of your dreams. Are you ready? Let's get real.
Hey there everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Brick and Mortar Visibility. How are you doing? You guys? We made it through January. That's always like a big moment, because in Wisconsin, it's so freakin cold and we genuinely have had some cold snaps. And the only good thing about cold snaps is that, when it's like 15 degrees, you're like, huh!, it's totally warm out. I don't know if any of you have kids but my boys. I know this about middle schoolers. They don't wear jackets but they will be like Mom, it's too cold to go skiing. But then they will go down on the ice pond and skate for like hours and in their sweatshirts, because they're just moving around and burning calories and having fun and apparently not thinking that it's '-5' outside. So anyway, I just thought that was funny because, I'm fine if they're playing outside. That's all that I care about. I want them outside and active.
Alright everybody we have a fun episode. I kind of geek out on this stuff. It is all about your Google review and what is working now? So in the title, show Title I have in the brackets what's working now and I am going to continue doing this because as a brick and mortar business owner who has been in business for 12 years. What's working now is different than what's been working from last year. okay? So things that we did last year or even two years ago, don't work the way they used to. So we have to adapt, adapt to the situation, change what we're doing. Don't change the strategy, just change the way we're doing it. Don't change the overall vision of what you want to have happen. But we have to change, maybe the direction or the route or the road we take to get there.
So I want to ask you this. Do you know, do you know that 46% of Google searches have local intent. Do you understand that? So people are looking for you. So I am a huge advocate that we need to have our Google business page up and running and doing well for us. So if you have not claimed your Google business page, you need to do that, 'Foundation 101' and then you need to grab my free class on it. All right, I have a free workshop, class, whatever you want to call it on my website, msmelissarose.com. On the homepage, go grab it completely free and I walk you through, what you need to do. I go into the nitty gritty of geo-tagging videos, how to post, what to post, how often to post. Did you know you can post on Google you guys? Yes, you can and you should and you need to be consistent with it. So I talk and walk you through that so that you can get your Google business page up and running. So that you are found, okay! So we need to be found because people are looking for the best pizza in town. They are looking where do I take my kids for Tango? Where do I take tango lessons? They are looking for who is the best chiropractor in town and if you don't show up, you're not going to get business. So part of that showing up is claiming your Google business page. But then the other part of it everybody is your Google reviews. The Google reviews are so so important, and they carry over into other aspects of our business.
Now, I've already done a podcast on Google reviews. It is episode 78, 'The gold in Google reviews' and I talk about that. I talk about how to get them. I share with you a template. I also share the gold in them and how you can use them in your business for marketing. So I'm not going to get into that. I am going to get into how to get them now because what worked two years ago for us is not working and we changed the way we do it and it worked even better, Okay?
For those of you that want to learn a little bit more about SEO and get more tips on growing your SEO, look for in the show title, I have 'SEO' inside brackets, but they are 76, 77 and Episode 78 that all deal with SEO and improving that for your business. So go back and listen to those.
Alright, so we are going to talk about Google reviews., and what's working now. For those of you that are new around here I have a Brick and Mortar dance studio. I also have an online dance membership called Dance On Demand. And we have been in business for 12 years and I am going to share with you the different things that we have done through the years and the reason I'm sharing with you the different things rather than just going to what's working now is because some of you might not have the capacity to do what's working now. You might have the capacity to do what I did a couple years ago and it may work for you, okay? So I want to give you the different options, because you may try it and you may have success with it. And then you may go after a few months, and experience what I experienced and then try the next strategy. So I want to give you what we have done. Alright, so Google reviews are huge. I talked about that before. And getting them consistently is important too. You don't want to just have a huge batch right off the bat and then wait a year. And then get a huge batch. Google doesn't like that. They want to have your Google reviews consistently improving or being added consistently. So this is where we have a system where we are getting them consistently or asking for them consistently. What we do is we ask our clients after a few weeks of taking lessons with us. So I personally do not like it when a business asked me for a review after the first date. I just think that's like kind of rude because it's like, of course, you're going to give me great service the first time because it's the first time and I expect to be 'Wowed' the first time. What I want to see is, you 'Wowing' me every single time I come into your facility. So I wait personally, that's my personal thing, but you do you. And I wait a couple weeks before asking for a review. So the first thing we did was simply email them. We just said, hey! We wanted to just let you know that? We see you and we're enjoying you in class? How was your experience then? If you are having a great time here? Would you be so kind as to leave an honest rating and review on Google and give them the link, Okay? Simple, easy! And we would get that, we would get reviews that way. A lot of my first reviews were that way.
Then we realized we needed to up our game a little bit. So we changed the subject line to say 'You have been hand selected!' Oh, okay! So that causes somebody to open the email, all right? And then basically it was the same format. Hey, we've enjoyed having you in class. I hope you enjoying your experience here at the dancing house. Would you be so kind as to leave an honest rating and review so other families can learn more about the dancing house. And it brings in more amazing families like you, something like that. If you actually go back to that episode 78, I read out the template there so you can copy it right there. You have been hand selected I see this and then if you will leave an honest rating and review before 10pm on Friday night, I have a special gift for you. That helped because there was a call to action and there was a deadline, urgency and when people know they're gonna get a gift. They're more apt to respond. We still use this one especially if we hold like a one time masterclass or if we hold like a one time little workshop, we will do that template in the follow up email. So we still do this and get results but not as massive as my latest strategy, Okay? So I talked about that in episode 78. Go back and listen to it and get more details there.
Then we changed and tweaked some things and started doing a three questions survey. I received this survey from somebody that I work with, and I loved it. I loved it because it gave, I gave her exactly what she wanted, right? Let's see oh, here here. So it's a three question survey. So in the subject, you could say like a two second survey, or two seconds of your time and then have this survey, a Google Form survey where it is just really quick. So the first question is, how are you enjoying your experience at your business? a scale of one to 10! The second question, how apt are you to refer our business? a scale of one to 10! Number three question, what would make your next experience a 'Wow' experience at your facility? And then you leave it open? Then they are telling you exactly what they want? Which is gold, right? So what would make your next experience with us a 'Wow', Or what can we do to make your experience a 'Wow' factor? I love that question. And then I would have at the bottom of that Google form. If you would be so kind to leave an honest rating and review on Google. Please, please do so, and do so by Friday. We have a little gift for you. Same thing, so that call to action there at the end. So we did that, and we still do that. But people are not responding as much. Okay, so that's the hiccup. You know, you send it out and the people that respond, it's awesome to give you what you need, you know, we're still doing it. But they open the email, they don't respond as much and that's the kicker, right? You're putting the time and energy in there. And we want them to respond. So we have changed and tweaked even more. So I said to my Karen, who's my admin, Karen! we're still going to do that survey, because if they fill it out it is gold because when they tell us what would be the 'Wow' factor we are doing, we're going to make sure we do, you know? However, I said let's, let's do this. You put the names of the students' families, and I'm going to call them. Me, the owner is going to pick up the phone, the 5000 pound phone and call them and ask those three questions in the survey, but ask them. And then get their feedback. And then say thank you so much, Would you be so kind as to leave a Google review and then text them the link of the Google review. You guys, I did this and we had, we limit it to 10 new families, okay? because otherwise it can go on a long time. But I want to get 10 people a month that I'm asking. And I call them, it took less than an hour. And honestly, I think only three people picked up, all right? So just, just know that. But when they picked up I was able to talk to them, I was able to get some feedback. And then out of that I texted everybody basically the same thing short and sweet though I just condensed it a little bit more and that's, would you be so kind as to leave an honest rating and review? Out of 10, we got four more Google reviews. Four more five star Google reviews. Now Four doesn't sound like that much. But when you're getting four every month, maybe five every month, that adds up over time. You guys, we are the highest rated studio in my area, And people look at that. People Google where to take dance classes, we come up, great! that's right! We come up, so does all my competition, but then they look at the Google reviews. We blow them out of the water and they are straight five star Google reviews. Okay? So that is why I am so passionate about it. You can Google pizza joints or you can Google chiropractors or you can Google whatever and you're going to get a list and that's awesome. You should show up. But you want to be the top rated, the top rated without ads, ad money put behind it. Alright? So this is what I have done in my business. I'm sharing with you the nitty gritty. We still use some of these strategies. We just tweaked them, okay? So we did this straight up email. Then we change the email to make it more specific, the hand selected, you've been hand selected, then we say the call to action and give them the deadline. So really specific, okay? And that one, I want you to take note of, okay? We need to be specific what we want, don't give them three things to do, just give them one call to action. The other strategy was a survey and asking you know, how are you enjoying your time here? how willing are you to refer us a scale of one to 10 and then that 'Wow' question, like what would it take for us to give you a 'Wow' experience? And then they share with you the answer which is just so good. But pick up the phone and call your clients and they will be blown away. They will be blown away. Now if you don't want to do this, yes, you could outsource this to your assistant or somebody on your team. But I find that when you, the owner, the CEO, the boss takes the time to really hear from your client, that says so much. Says so much about you as a person, about how you care about your clients. And it sets you apart and that's what we want. We want to be set apart. Okay. So I get heated up, excited about this because this is so good for your business. Those Google reviews set you apart, making notice, but then they also help with your marketing. So go back and listen to episode 78. So now that you can take those Google reviews, take those words and use them in your marketing to just maximize the effort that you made by picking up that phone. Alright?
Okay guys, I hope this was helpful. If you are needing resources or help I have a bunch of free resources on the homepage of my website, msmelissarose.com forward slash nothing, on the home page of my website, msmelissarose.com. And you can take a couple of different webinars that I have there. I also have my list of books there, which is super fun. Just to grab that and see what you're reading when I'm reading and see if we can compare notes. I would also like to invite you over to the Facebook group, the Rebel Women Tribe. This is all for business owners, Brick and Mortar business owners, badass ladies who are crushing it, doing the things and it's a great place to just connect with each other, help each other, support each other, encourage, empower, all those good things. And we do that inside the Rebel Women Group on Facebook, and I come in every week to share with you the nitty gritty of what I'm learning in my Brick and Mortar business. And that is where I get super raw and share with you little tips, tools, tweaks, lessons learned and share them with you. So come on over there. I'd love to meet you and see your face there. Okay guys! All right. We will see you here same time, same place next week. Have an awesome week. Peace out! Bye Bye!
Oh my gosh! you're still here. You are such a rebel women, I have to meet you. Come on over to the Rebel Women Tribe on Facebook created for brick and motar business owners just like you. In this group we empower, encourage and support each other and every week I come in and share with you a tip, tool or strategy that I'm learning in my brick and mortar business to help you in yours. And you guys this is the real stuff, the nitty gritty in real time of what's going on. So come on over to the Rebel Woman Tribe. on Facebook. I can't wait to meet you!