5 Tips On How To Get Google Reviews For Your Business

Posted on October 23, 2015 | updated: March 22, 2023

Why Google Reviews Are Important For Business

We can all agree that Google’s Search Engine is the most visited and used site on the Internet. For most people, Google is the first stop or starting point when they open their browser. After each search, any relevant Google Business data are displayed on the right hand side of the results page. You’ll see a Google map with pins, link for directions, business name, website link, reviews, phone number and other information.

A business with no reviews, isn’t attractive or suggestive to the person behind the keyboard or mobile device. In fact, no reviews denotes that the business is either new, too small, or not using modern Internet services. As you can see, this is vitally important to generating leads or attracting business.

Negative reviews denote that the business is getting real reviews but don’t usually reflect positively and therefore it is important to generate plenty of positive reviews to offset any negatives.

Who Reads Google Reviews For Business

I must admit that I never scroll past the first few reviews and I won’t even read them if the business has 4.5 stars average or higher. I usually assume that it is a business I can trust or at least worth my time to visit. It is the negative ratings that draw my attention.

Case in point: My wife and I were looking for a Vietnamese Pho restaurant and we had been eyeing a local spot. Unfortunately, for the business, the Google reviews and ratings were terrible. Fortunately for us, before we even got into the car, we decided to try a different spot and that restaurant is permanently off our list.

How To Get Five Star Reviews On Google

Tip 1: Don’t pay for false reviews or a review service. Amazon.com just reported that they are suing some false review services and their clients are paying the price, a second time!

Tip 2: Natural is best. There are folks out there that love to give reviews. There appears to be some sort of Reviewer subculture. They love to write reviews. Yelp used to have features and competitions. Google gives weight to the review depending on an algorithm applied to the reviewer’s account. So a frequent “reviewer” will have more effect on your ratings. Therefore, your true customer relations and business if positive, will reflect in your natural ratings.

Tip 3: Request reviews. This is not an ethical problem because businesses thrive on word of mouth. A good business practice is to remind your customers/clients that their opinions matter.

Tip 4: Make it easy. Don’t forget to send your Google Business link to your clients in email footers or include a shortlink in printed material. (For a free shortlink service try out bit.ly)

Tips 5: Use incentive. Reward your good client reviewers randomly and advertise it. For example, you could reward a random reviewer with a coupon and make it known. Post on your social media accounts that Joe was this month’s random review winner and got a $20 coupon on his next $50 purchase!

The Power Of The Google Review

Google Business reviews can attract new business or drive them away before they even contact you! Generating positive reviews are often overlooked as a business goal.

Block Advertisements From Your Web Browser

Posted on October 2, 2015 | updated: March 22, 2023

How To

You can block advertisements from your web browser in just a few minutes. By adding any of the latest available ad blocker extensions for your web browser, you can filter out the noise and speed up your browsing!

Chrome users just do a search for: ad blocker chrome extension

AdBlock does a great job blocking ads. Before you know it, you’ll enjoy browsing the web without the constant ad barrage on your eyes! Give it a shot!

How To Use Triggers To Run Javascripts In PDF Forms

Posted on August 14, 2015 | updated: March 22, 2023

Adobe Acrobat How To javascript

You can use triggers to run javascripts in PDF forms. You can also run javascripts in PDF forms that will run when the document is opened. The steps follow:

In order to edit the PDF document I used Adobe Acrobat DC. This is not a free app but I think Google has a free app and their are other apps out there for editing PDF documents, however I’m not sure of the capabilities.

Triggers

Be aware that buttons, form fields, radio buttons and similar features are called “fields” in the system. In the form I modified, I created a button field to send the form data over the Internet to our website where a WordPress plugin was waiting to process it.

In Tools, Prepare Form: double click the “field” to open up the Properties UI
Visibility controls are on the General tab, Common Properties section
The field name, for programming purposes, is on the General, Name tab, and NOT the misleading Options, Label tab
Several Actions and Triggers are available in the Actions tab
An Action is matched with a Trigger
“Mouse Up” is the trigger for the completion of a successful mouse click
Action: Run a Javascript or Submit a form were the two useful features

Submit a form

Submit a form, URL: is the target URL for the form when the user clicks the Send button. The target location must have some sort of processing feature or script that is designed to accept and process the form data. We have a free plugin available for WordPress named PDF Form Receiver with many options included
The Submit a form action also has a few formats available. Our free WordPress plugin handles HTML and PDF. HTML setting sends the HTML formatted data. The PDF setting sends the form data as a PDF file attachment

Actions

The Actions system is trigger-based. Now there are instances where you may need to run a javascript within a PDF form automatically when the PDF form is opened, not when something fires a trigger. This is called a Document-level Javascript.

Document-Level Javascript

Tools, Action Wizard, Create a New Action, More Tools, Document Javascripts. Fill out the name and description, then Save
In the Document Javascripts, you can edit and create your javascript. Do not begin the javascript with a function or it may cause adverse effects
Close and Save, then open the PDF in the free Adobe Reader app to test your javascripts