If you get a negative review don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not just you. You’ll never be able to please every one and not every person is going to like your service or product. That’s right. Whether your business is large or small, everyone is going to experience negative reviews in their business’ lifetime.

It is also important to realize that not all reviews will provide feedback that can benefit your business. Looking too deep into issues could end up harming your business or product.

Instead, start looking for repeated complaints or themes. Look for words like “disappointed” in negative online reviews. This will imply that customers may have had a higher expectation (that could not be met) of your product or service. After receiving a negative review, determine which aspect of your product or service needs improvement, brainstorm with your employees/business owners to come up with a solution to improve or fix the issue.

Did You Know: Yelp reviews will highlight words that are mentioned by multiple customers! Remember, the most important thing is not to take negative feedback personally! It’s just another way for your business to evolve.

Fake Reviews

According to Brightlocal, 97% of consumers has looked online for a local business in the last year, and 85% of those consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. In 2017, 79% of consumers read fake reviews about a business but only 89% of them realized they were fake.

So which platforms do consumers trust the most for reviews?

Facebook and Yelp, followed by Google and Better Business Bureau. You may find customers will leave more reviews on Google than on Facebook, or vise versa. Better Business Bureau acts as a mediator and will help customers solve complaints with a business.

Respond Quickly

It’s important to act quickly once a negative review is published. If a problem does exist, you’ll want to fix it promptly. If possible try to open lines of communication with the unsatisfied customer, while it’s still fresh in their head and possibly willing to change their review. It is important to mention calling or stopping by your office to help solve the problem in person, instead of through email. Additionally, this will show other potential customers that your customer service is a priority. (Note: if the resolution of the issue went well, ask if they mind updating their review about the experience.)

Managing your Reviews

Handling your online reviews, whether they’re positive or negative is extremely important. Respond to complaints in a professional manner. Providing positive reviews with a response, “Thank you! It was a pleasure working with you!” or “We hope to see you again soon!” shows potential consumers you’re interested in your customer’s feedback and care about their experience with your business.

Read through all the reviews people post online and don’t let frustration and anger take over. If needed, apologize and explain that you are sorry for their experience and explain how this is unusual within your business. Maybe consider offering a discount or special deal the next time they visit your storefront or purchase your services.

Have you experienced negative reviews? Tell us how you handled them in the comments below. If you’re in need of a search engine optimization company that can handle your local listings and review management, look no further than Advanced Digital.

We recently completed a project with EIS Trading. This is what they had to say about their experience with the Advanced Digital team.

We would personally like to send our appreciation to the founder and CEO and the lead programmer/team manager for their professionalism and credibility. Our company came to Advanced Digital, Inc after being 60 days behind schedule from another company for the construction of our website, in which we were losing a significant profit.

Upon our first meeting, we proposed a deadline of two weeks to complete the website from scratch. Advanced Digital, Inc was not only able to complete our website five days early, but also did so at a rate that was far more competitive than our previous developer. This alone was impressive, and we are grateful for the recognition of our urgency. Most importantly, communication was never an issue. During the process of construction, there was never a moment in which [the founder/CEO] did not answer his phone for assistance or return our call within a couple hours. Additionally, we were given frequent updates from [the team], never once feeling uninformed.

Upon completion of the website, we were given detailed training on how to use our website as well as digital copies of any important information. Advanced Digital promptly finished any last minute changes we wanted to make after testing, ensuring that we were fully satisfied with our product.

Ultimately, we felt that Advanced Digital was honest, fair priced, and went far above and beyond our expectations to ensure satisfaction of our needs. We would not hesitate to recommend Advanced Digital, Inc and we give them Five Stars.

We value our customers and want them to have a positive customer service experience with our team. We thank the EIS Trading team for taking the time to leave such a positive review!

Over time we’ve had websites go from content fitting within an 800px wide box, to 1284px or 1400px, to responsive programming that allows a website to be viewed fluidly across all platforms, no matter the screensize. One of the largest trends in 2017 is the usage of extra-large images, known as hero images. Bold graphics that draw attention from a customer right away and informs them of your website’s mission.

How do you get the most out of your hero image?

Your hero image is the first thing users will see when browsing your website. It is important the image is relevant to your services or brand. If your image does not communicate this easily, visitors will be left confused.

In our Phoenix Pool Services design, we chose to go with a hero-sized video showing someone jumping into a shimmering pool. This allows the customer to visualize their own pool with sparkling water and jumping right in.

Another client of ours, Bella’s Lawn Care, has a hero image of grass, dirt and a small plant with roots. Communicating your business with a hero image is easily accomplished by choosing the right photos.

When browsing our client’s websites, you can easily tell Phoenix Pool Services provides pool cleaning and maintenance services to customers, while Bella’s Lawn Care offers landscaping, lawn care and landscape design.

Adding a touch of your brand’s colors on the images is beneficial as well.

Break Hero Images Down

Does your hero image serve a purpose?

If you’re trying to sell a product, show your product in a real setting with the hero image. Display how a customer would use your product.

Does your hero image support your overall design?

Your hero image shouldn’t stand out like a sore thumb. It should fit seamlessly into your overall website’s design. It is okay to invoke emotion or action – after all, that’s how business’ gain new customers.

Is your hero image relevant to your business?

As mentioned previously, communicating your brand’s service or mission is a key element of choosing your hero image. Be selective. Use resources such as Pexel or Dreamstime for stunning stock photos.

Does it fit within a responsive design?

Resizing your image to mobile devices is important. Whether you’re creating breaking points with cropped images or simply resizing to fit a specific screen size, there are multiple ways to make sure your images are clear on any platform.

With hero images, you are able to create stunning websites that communicate your brand, services or mission with ease. Contact us to begin your website design journey.

Taking the plunge and opening your small business can be extremely tough and time-consuming. A large number of businesses fail within the first year or struggle to make it to the 5-year mark. How do you avoid being one of those statistics and succeed with your business?

Search engine optimization will help you climb above your competitors in organic, paid and local search results. One struggle a small business has includes finding funding to correctly market themselves to bring new and repeat customers. When search engine optimization is done correctly, the visibility of your website will increase leading to your return on investment.

So.. What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization is the process of getting your website ranked organically for specific keyword terms, by combining tasks such as: market research, keyword research, content creation, link building, etc.

Our SEO specialists work closely with all of our clients determining the right path for their business. We factor in your location, industry and overall business goals.

A few questions we ask:

Is your website mobile ready?: One of the key factors in organic listings is the responsive programming of your website. Search engines want all of your website’s information readily available to users. The SEO industry is constantly changing; just a few years ago, websites had subdomains specific for mobile browsers.

Do you have unique and valuable content?: Our team and in-house content writers will create fresh content on a regular basis.

Has on-page SEO been previously completed; should changes be made?: Title tags, descriptions, and internal linking are all extremely important aspects of the on-page SEO process.

Are you listed on relevant directories and social media platforms?: That’s right! Social media is a key element to your organic rankings. Not only do likes, shares and interaction lead to an increase in visibility, but it also builds credibility with your business.

Is your business credible?: Directories and social platforms open a path to build your business’ credibility. Reviews, testimonials, photos, etc. help encourage search engines as well as other customers.

The Advanced Digital team takes into consideration a business’ budget, competition and how quickly our clients want to see results. For quick responses, we will recommend a great Pay-Per-Click campaign by our certified Adwords specialist, as well as taking the time to increase your organic search result rankings with time and constant effort.

Call or contact us today to get started!

Whether it is the new season, other websites, print advertisements our team of web designers get inspiration from everywhere! The first day of summer is just around the corner and the weather in Niceville, Florida is causing everyone to head out to the beach.

Imagine a website with a palette of colors filled with cream, emerald-green, navy, peach and coral. Now imagine a website of primary blue, red, black and white. The beach-themed palette would be perfect for a coastal business, vacation property, or community. Meanwhile, the primary color palette website would be perfect for a corporate business.

Consumers want a great web experience and something that is eye-catching if they are going to spend money. You want to make them feel positive about spending money and not making them feel disappointed in the process of purchasing a product or service.

This is where the all the colors and the liveliness come into play on your website. When a user comes to your website for the first time, they want to be impressed with how your website looks and functions. You want the site to pop out and be remembered and never forgotten. Let’s take a car for example driving down the car. You see 2 cars driving, one is dusty and black and the other is red, sleek and shiny. You will be drawn more than likely to the red car first because it’s brighter and not a dark color like black. That’s how you would want your website.

It is important your website is attractive to the eyes. Instead of making a website just black and white, use a color palette that works with your industry or business. The website should have inspiration and character if you want to attract the users to your site.

Are you looking for inspiration? View some of our sites that we have on display in our portfolio or browse our Instagram!