Internet Star Alignment Determines The Success Of Your Business

Today, I was reminded how important Internet Star Alignment (ISA) is becoming for any business marketing and branding strategy.

In fact you could say from the viewpoint of an Internet astrologist, the ISA for some businesses are aligned to grow their profits while others are aligned to bring them pain.

How is your Internet Star Alignment?

Before you think that I lost my mind and have jumped into metaphysical search engine optimization (MSEO), read on.

Google Socializing The Web Using Stars

Compelling arguments have been made supporting the new requirements for business owners to have an active Internet Reputation Management (IRM) process. This post includes a visual confirmation as well.

Today, my search engine results page (SERP) for a local business name was filled with “stars”, These stars are not there by accident; Google is socializing search results.

Google is rewarding consumers who volunteer their time to post reviews. It created the Google Places App to make it easy to post a review.  Google empowers consumers by giving them the ability to associate star counts for any business.

As a side note, all business owners should be using Google Places App when their customers are visiting their place of business.  It’s much easier to get a review when you are face to face with a satisfied customer that already has a Google or YouTube account.  The review process takes less than 60 seconds.

Google is also rewarding business owners who encourage customer reviews with Google Boost.  Business owners can use Google Boost to create pay-per-click ads with their “star” counts prominently displayed.

Google Marketplace includes stars showing for e-commerce vendors who advertise their products using Adwords.  The two Adwords ads shown on the right column are e-commerce vendors that are proud of their star alignment.

Google Page One Is Star Struck

The web has gone to the stars! In the screenshot below, there are five sections of the page that are integrated with consumer review stars.

How does your Google Page One look when you type in your business name?

Your ISA Impacts All Advertising Dollars

I’ve said this in the past and it is worth repeating. Your online reviews impact your past, current, and future advertising dollars.

Since your business name is a very popular search that brings consumers to your website every day, what appears on Google Page One is doing one of two things.

It’s reinforcing a positive brand message or it’s negatively impacting new customers that are considering your brand. For some business owners, what appears on Page One is helping their competitors.  If the reviews are bad, they will quickly move to the next business shown on the SERP.

So whether these reviews are displayed on Google Places, or on dedicated review websites reviews are influencing your local market.  Your stars are either attracting new customers or making them run to your competitors.

In the case of Circle BMW, these reviews are very positive and consumers seeing 143 reviews on DealerRater with a 5 Star rating is a strong statement.

Businesses that have STRONG online reviews posted on Google, I encourage them to start testing Google Boost, which can advertising their business and include positive reviews on Google Places.

So, take a minute today to Google your exact business name and sit back and play the role of an undecided consumer.

Would they call you or visit your business based on your Internet Star Alignment?

Need Help?

If you need help with your online review strategy, send a member of your team to Chicago this coming weekend. They will get everything they need to align your stars and significantly improve your online image. Flights to the major cities that we are holding the PCG Pit Stop tour are inexpensive.

Get signed up today: http://www.pcgpitstop.com