How Angie’s List’s New Free Membership Could Impact Your Business
Read about Angie’s List decision to offer a new free membership and how it can help local business SEO…
Perhaps you have heard about Angie’s List and were not sure if it had much of an impact on your local business.
As a local business owner, you should know that many customers and potential customers have found the List to be a great place to read, and place, reviews on local businesses.
Like many review sites, a reviewer must join Angie’s List in order to place a review. Not only that, they have to be a member in order to read other reviews.
For many, both consumers and businesses, this was a small stumbling block.
While many people have joined, others have balked because there was a membership fee. Some found the fee to be worthwhile and others decided they would rather use one of the free review sites.
Since the fee did deter some people from using the site, you might have decide that Angie’s List was not that relevant to your business, so you didn’t bother to even claim your profile. (Yes, you might have a profile–and some reviews–there and not even know it, in this case!)
You could be on Angie’s List already and not even know it.
Angie’s List is a community where members and local providers can connect. Your profile is your first impression to members, so make it count! Build a robust profile that includes a business description, operating hours, areas of specialty, responsiveness, reviews and more. Members consider this information before deciding who contact.
After you interact with members, they submit reviews on their experiences. Reviews are given in the form of a letter grade, and are a great way to gain insights about how customers and patients view your services.
Angie’s List reviews are:
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Never anonymous
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Verified by BPA Worldwide’s certification process
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Submitted online, through mail or over the phone
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Easily accessible to read and respond
Well, hang on to your seats…because Angie’s List’s new CEO has decided to offer a free “green” membership.
This is great news for your local business because now even more people will be able to see your profile page and all your positive reviews–without having to pay ‘for admission.’
We have long encouraged our clients to claim their profile on AL if their business was in one of the appropriate categories. Now, they have not only providing a free membership, they have also expanded the list of business categories, from Air Duct Cleaning to Welding!
One of the benefits of claiming your business profile is that you can manage your reviews. Keeping on top of both positive and negative reviews is essential for your business.
On review sites, whether Google, Yelp, Brownbook, Angie’s List or others you want to be sure you are responding promptly to negative reviews. Your prompt response gives you the opportunity to rectify any situations that need to be fixed–and let the customer (and others) know how you have handled it. All good PR, and it should be SOP (standard operating procedure) for any business.
Angie’s List is one of the review sites that is also excellent from an local business SEO perspective–one of the other reasons we suggest claiming your business listing. AL is seen as a trusted site, which links out to your site–and you can link to theirs–and that all is good search engine “mojo.”
So what have you got to lose? If you haven’t already claimed your listing, this just might be the final push you needed to convince you that it is a good idea.