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You may have heard of this phenomenon. It can happen anywhere, to anyone at all with a reviewable presence, whether it’s on Facebook, Yelp, Google, Bing, Steam, Amazon, or even somewhere else. A review bomb, or review bombing, is when the internet turns against you.

The more I work with clients online the more I realize that not a single business is immune from bad reviews online. Getting a bad review can certainly feel like the end of the world, especially if you’re a reputable business trying to keep up a good reputation online and you don’t have a whole lot of reviews to begin with. The good news is it’s not the end of the world — and often times not the end of your business, either — and handling a bad review in the right way can be super important. Step 1: Don’t freak A bad review can happen for lots of reasons. Maybe you had an off day, or there was a miscommunication between your business or someone in your business and your client. Maybe they were generally dissatisfied with the work done. Sometimes there are even just “bad” people who are unhappy no matter what you may do or say to resolve an issue. As a business, we need to take them all. Bad reviews can be looked at as showing that your business is genuine, existing, and operating. Step 2: Don’t try to get it removed Most places that invite reviews do not let you remove or hide bad reviews just because you want to. Showing a non-biased view of your business is important for customers to make an informed decision. Yelp and Google will not allow you to remove bad reviews just because they’re bad and you think it…

One question we often get asked if how to get better reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook, or any other review site. The problem with “getting better reviews” is that you can’t just get 5 star reviews – you really have to earn them. Most of the time customers will not go out of their way to rate your business unless they felt they had a bad experience. Often times this means that Yelp or Google can be littered with poor reviews of a business that may not entirely be deserving of being rated 1 or 2 stars. The more people you invite to review your business, if you’ve got a really great business, then the more chances you’ll get for a 5 star review. Invite people to review your business You want people to review your business and how they felt about the services they received. Unless you’re a business where you’re expecting reviews, photos, and a lot of social media presence (i.e. an event or a restaurant would be one of these businesses), chances are most people will generally not look to go out of their way to review your business until they have a bad experience. The simplest way to mitigate this is just to ask! Ask former or current clients if they have a few moments to review your business on Yelp, Google, or elsewhere. Send them a link so they don’t have to fish through your website or the review website to look for it. Invite…