Online reviews, whether you like them or not, are a major source of advertisement on the internet for small businesses.  One bad review can drive the business owner crazy but how much can you actually do about it?  I would like to think that my reviews on Facebook and Google are pretty good, but the two that drive me crazy are the 2 three star reviews from people that live in other parts of the country that I have never treated.

You want to know what to do in this situation, in my opinion, nothing.  You better hope that you can get more reviews that out-number those and average them out.  If you are good enough at what you do for a living and have a good enough rapport then you should have no trouble getting a boat load of five star reviews on any page that you operate.

The rule of thumb when it comes to working with the public, you cannot please everyone.  You will have bad days, people that come in and out of your office will have bad days.  Those days can reflect in one click of a mouse and can potentially affect your business but unfortunately that is the world that we live in.  I sometimes feel that by responding to negative reviews you are just baiting an argument and that is the last thing you are going to want on the internet is you looking petty trying to defend yourself and your business.

While I cannot control the reviews that get posted, I will tell you that none of them are from family members or friends that are looking to boost my online profile.  I have been known to snoop around on Facebook, when I start looking at reviews for other offices and you click on the links to see that the persons mom, dad, wife or chiropractic school classmates are leaving the majority of the reviews, it looks a little fishy to me.

Bad reviews are not always a terrible thing for you either, I have always been told that learning experiences are around every corner.  If everyone in your life just pats you on the back every day and told you how good of a job you do, while that may seem great on a daily basis, are you ever actually learning your flaws or trying to improve on things.  While no one like criticism, including myself, if you are going to own your own business and work with the public, thick skin should be developed in a hurry or your feelings are going to get hurt A LOT.

With all this being said, try to learn from your reviews and receiving genuine reviews are far superior than getting your mom and dad to leave you a five star review.  While your parents may love you, it looks funny when all of your reviews come from people with your last name.  The public is a weird dynamic to work with, you will not please everyone and patients will not be happy with you all the time, the only thing that you can do is show up every day and work to gain trust and respect.

In ending, if you have ever thought about leaving a review feel free, good or bad.  Small businesses rely on these reviews in order to boost our online presence and I would be grateful for the feedback that is left on my page.

P.S. I hope this request does not backfire on me spectacularly!!!