Check out part 1 of this series here

So yet again I’m going with the basics and easy to implement tastics, however, this is a sneaky tactic (kinda like the sneaky cat pictured) that many trainers/entrepreneurs will not have implemented. Can lead to higher conversion rates and higher Google ranking all by setting one easy 10 minute task for your clients! Best of all its 100% free advertising…

So what is this sneaky tactic that is used? Well firstly we all know that word of mouth is great for business! That’s how the whole idea of human billboards works and some of you may even train some REALLY overweight people for cut price due to the amazing walking testimonial that that persons becomes as the pounds of excess fat fly off them!

Well this is kinda the same theory in that if people see, read or hear that a product is good they are put in a buying mind frame easier than if there is no living proof that  something is effective and good value for money. In a highly competitive market we need to stand out above our competitors in EVERY way possible.

Firstly, before I start, I must stress the effectiveness of having picture, video or text testimonials on your email newsletter and website as this is a great example of the living proof of success you will hear me talk about further through this site. This is another thing that seems obvious once you have been in business for a while but I thought I would include it for all the new guys out there who are perhaps in website design phase. If this applies to you then get looking at my website design post here.

Now to get into the method to getting this to happen, to having living proof of success BEFORE a client even clicks on your website.  Ok so I was planning on running a Christmas raffle for my clients. The raffle was originally intended to be a referral contest but have expanded it so much more. Basically every client or subscriber to my email newsletter has a chance to win an ipad 2 or a pair of designer jeans (great prizes as they have high value and public perception of wealthy associated with the high price tag of these items). For every review my clients posted on Google places and also on yelp.co.uk my clients get an extra entry into the prize draw, hence making them more likely to win the prize over a regular newsletter subscriber. Also for every referral they give me they get 2 extra entries, as was the original plan with the referral contest.

I even emailed my past clients list in the hope that they would write me a review in return for an entry into the draw but I guess past clients quickly forget the help you gave them in getting massive results as none of them entered so far!

Ok so I am a small local business and have not graduated to the big time yet so the number of people doing this for me is small but you can see from the screenshot below the recent reviews done is WAY more than my top competitor for Google #1 ranking. After the first couple of reviews google.com crawled and pushed me up above the current 3^rd spot there. Now currently sitting in second spot my page has 5 reviews linked to it and I hope that when google crawls again I will be pushed up to #1 for my keyword. Gotta be patient with the SEO guys it doesn’t happen overnight!

Ignore the top two ads as they are Google PPC campaigns. This tactic is a FREE TO IMPLENT TACTIC that can get you noticed a hell of a lot quicker for free. Even though I am #2 ranking I believe that I will get the first click on google.com simply due to the number of reviews. To put it into perspective if 1 of your friends tells you a restaurant is good you will consider it but if you have 5 or more friends telling you at the same time how good the restaurant round the corner from it is then chances are next time you are going out for food you will try the restaurant around the corner. Multiple reviews have more power than a single review! It is how the human mind works, more is always better!!

Notice how alongside reviews they also rated my performance with a star rating. Now who would you go to my competitor with one review and no star rating or the second best option according to google ranking but the one with 5 stars and 5 positive reviews?

The other perk of this is that as well as pushing you up the rankings that little bit, any potential customer who sees 5 good reviews is already pretty much pre sold before they even contact you making it an EASY SALE!!

Now you guys don’t have to run the competition alongside it I just thought it was a nice touch for me to do this as I was already going to run a referral contest. Face it we will all do something easy like this 10 minute task if it has the chance of a high return (in this case the return being a freaking ipad 2! Whooaaa :D )

Hope you enjoyed this post guys and can implement it asap to get more pre-converted clients before meeting you and push you up the ranking a little bit. Let me know if you like this. Part 3 of my series of posts will contain a look at how I used a buy and sell website to get ranked on the first page of Google.co.uk within 1 day of posting, despite regional versions of google being notoriously harder to rank on. Yes I said Page 1 ranking overnight!! Keep an eye out.

Till next time,

Odhran, Personal Best PT