Yesterday, I read a story about some teenagers in Washington state jumping off a tall bridge that runs across the Columbia River.

Judging by the pictures, I’d say it’s a good 50 feet from the bridge to the water.

The news article says, “Officials soon learned the kids were just trying to cool off by jumping into the water.”

Yeah… I don’t buy it.

As a father of six kids between the ages of 11 and 23, let me tell you the real reason these teens were risking serious injury and cold-water shock…

They were trying to look cool, not cool off.

I guarantee this is what happened: One of the teens thought it would be awesome to cannonball off the bridge.

The rest of them, wanting to fit in and keep their “cool kid” cards, followed suit.

I mean, let’s be real.

If they wanted to cool off in the water, they could have—you know—walked into it directly from the shore.

Instead, they dove into it from five basketball hoops high.

Now, if you’re thinking, “Man, teenagers are dumb,” know two things:

1. You’re right.
2. While YOU aren’t dumb, you’re guilty of the teenagers’ same “follow the leader” behavior.

Simply put, not much holds more power and influence over a person’s decisions than social proof.

You might not jump off a bridge because your friends are doing it, but you—like all seven billion humans on this planet—base many of your decisions on what others are doing.

Social proof is why we wear certain clothes, drive certain cars, and eat at certain restaurants. If we see enough people partaking in something, we want a piece of that pie, too.

That’s just the way that gray lump of matter between our eyes is hardwired.

This is why good online reviews—and lots of them—are required for you to attain true success as a contractor.

Don’t believe me? Consider this…

New research shows 90% of people now read online reviews before contacting a contractor.

Out of those folks, 86% (!!!) of them are influenced by a single negative review.

I’m no math whiz, but that means virtually every person who considers contacting you looks at your online reviews first.

And of those people, virtually every person is going to think twice about contacting you if you have a bad online review.

Simply put, people don’t want to waste their money and feel like chumps. That’s why a bad review of your company will make a larger impression on them than a good one. It’s Psychology 101.

Do you know the best way to stop the effects of bad reviews?

A)    Having an avalanche of great reviews to offset the few negative ones.

B)    Not have any negative reviews, period.

MYM Online Reputation Management (ORM) can help you achieve both.

Our Online Reputation Management solution contains a sophisticated customer-review funnel that generates a wealth of positive reviews for your company.

On top of that, it can also intercept negative reviews before they get posted for the world to see.

This gives you the opportunity to resolve the unsatisfied customer’s issue, potentially preventing them from leaving bad online feedback about you.

MYM ORM also monitors 170+ review websites. This includes the “big boys” like Yelp, Google, and Facebook, as well as local review websites of your choosing.

You’ll be alerted anytime your customers leave online reviews about you—good or bad. You’ll no longer have to fear if there’s a hidden bad review somewhere out there that’s hurting your reputation.

Go ahead, take the plunge into ORM with your fellow contractors.

The water’s fine.

P.S. How much do you think 750 glowing online reviews would increase your sales? And how the heck do you even get 750 online reviews? I’ll let you know tomorrow.

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Thwack!

The aluminum baseball bat hit the 14-year-old boy’s skull with the force of a “for-the-fences” swing.

As if the kid’s neck were the tee, his head the ball, and Barry Bonds was at the plate.

The result? It looked something like this:

Note: Not the actual kid.

Let me back up and give you some context for this gruesome story.

When I’m not helping contractors make millions of dollars, I coach a youth baseball team.

Last year during practice, one of my players got smacked in the noggin with a bat (long story, but just know it wasn’t on purpose!).

The kid ended up okay—teenage boys have thick skulls.

After the incident, I needed a way to send all parents info regarding player safety, but I didn’t have a way to do it efficiently. (Don’t get me started on iPhone group texts—setting those up is a nightmare.)

So one night I thumbed over to the app store on my phone to find a solution.

I immediately found an app for 99 cents called Text2Group, which lets you quickly and conveniently send group texts without performing the 27 steps “normal” mass texting requires.

But instead of downloading it right away, I spent 90 minutes reading the reviews.

Yes, for a 99-cent app.

Listen. Despite what my kids tell you, I’m not a cheapskate.

I always get the $2 scoop of guacamole on my burrito at Chipotle. And I always pay the extra $5 for the “premium” carwash.

Living large is just how I roll.

So, no, the 99-cent price tag wasn’t the problem.

What made me hesitate was some reviews said the app won’t work unless you mess with some settings on your phone.

No bueno.

I wanted a solution that conveniently solved my texting problem… not created a new one.

But since this was the only app that provided what I wanted, I tried to find a user review that outlined an easy workaround.

Ninety minutes later, I found a solution and shelled out the 99 cents.

Here’s the moral of the story…

The age-old adage that “it’s not about price, but value” rings truer than it ever has.

It’s why people pay $250 for running shoes, $5,000 on workout equipment, and $100,000+ on luxury cars.

As long as the texting app provided a solution to my problem, I didn’t care if it cost me $1 or $100.

You prove you can solve a problem, and people will pay… period.

And the easiest, most powerful way to prove your product’s or service’s worth? Great online reviews… and lots of ’em.

Online reviews are the most powerful form of social proof today. So much so that new research shows 90% of people read online reviews about a contractor before calling them.

Yes… a whopping 9 out of 10!

This is why contractors with great online reviews reach peak profits and attain unqualified success and riches.

And it’s why guys with poor online reviews—or none at all—quickly sink to pits of the contractor pecking order.

So… where do you land on this scale?

Click here and take 30 seconds to use our free Review Scan to find out. It will generate an instant online-reputation report of your company, so you can discover exactly what your reputation looks like across the Web.

If you find your online reputation is lacking, give us a call, or visit our Online Reputation Management page to see how MYM ORM can radically alter your business and win you the sales you crave.

Batter up!

P.S. We started offering ORM just a few months ago, and our clients are already seeing amazing results. One client has already intercepted two bad online reviews and prevented them from being posted on a major review website. Another client has used our ORM to generate 10 new positive reviews in just 30 days. It works!

Continuing with the SEO theme I started, I want to share something that’s probably never occurred to you: Your competitors can (and some do) use your company’s name as one of their keywords.

I call this “Grand Theft Google” because your competitor is essentially trying to steal your brand and use it against you. What they do is optimize your company name as a keyword in an attempt to sneak above you on the results page when prospects search your specific name.

Sometimes Grand Theft Google works startlingly well. Here’s an example…

One of our clients had a rather nasty rivalry with a competitor. Before we took over their SEO, one of the first results when you Googled their name was a page on their competitor’s website that totally trashed our client.

This competitor’s page ranked highly under our client’s name for a few reasons. I won’t go into them all, but one was that the page was set up to look like a neutral comparison (though it was anything but) between our client and the competitor. The page format made Google think the content was quality information, and not a hit piece. Worked like a charm.

So yep, the one keyword you thought was 100% safe—your own company name—is actually one of the most vulnerable. And the tactic our client’s competitor used is just one of two dozen ways in which a competitor can hijack your brand on Google.

The question is, how do you stop it from happening?

One of the most effective methods I’ve seen for preventing Grand Theft Google is having online reviews on multiple third-party websites. Google loves linking to online reviews from different sites because it sees this content as objective information that its users will find valuable.

Online reviews carry a ton of SEO power for your brand, and it shows in your search results. As an example, here’s a look at Zen Window’s page-one Google results when you search their name:

As you can see, Google eats up third-party reviews like candy. Five out of the top eight spots are links to different review websites. Not only do all the shiny five-star ratings from review sites help build credibility with prospects, but they also prevent competitors from using Zen Windows’ name as a keyword to “steal” spots on the results page.

The Bottom Line: Being on multiple review websites is like having a can of Google-brand pepper spray in your back pocket. Anytime a competitor tries to steal your brand’s SEO mojo, your online reviews instantly halt the hijacking.

Want to know how your online reputation stacks up, and how big (or small) of an impact it has on your page-one results? Click here for a free Online Review Scan.  We’ll instantly generate a detailed report to tell you whether your online reputation is flourishing or floundering.

If it’s the latter, we can help. Our Online Reputation Management (ORM) controls and builds your online reputation to grow your business and make more profit. Here’s a sample of what MYM ORM provides:

• Monitors customer reviews across all 170+ review websites
• Converts happy customers into glowing, sales-producing online reviews
• Stops negative reviews BEFORE they happen 
• Turns positive reviews into automated SEO-friendly web and social media content 
• Provides regular comprehensive reporting regarding the “health” and status of your online reputation
  

We began offering ORM about a month ago, and it’s already becoming a hugely popular service among our clients. Join them in reaping the massive rewards of a robust online reputation… and preventing yourself from becoming the next victim of Grand Theft Google.

Have a great day!

-Rich

P.S. Resistance to SEO is common in contractors who operate in smaller service areas. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about a client in a small town who was dead-set against SEO… until we convinced him to try an SEO campaign with MYM a few months ago. Wait until you hear what he has to say now. Stay tuned.

Imagine you’re a homeowner looking for replacement window installation.

You’ve heard of a few contractors in your area, so you search Google to find out more about them.
When you do, here is the results page you see for each company:

Contractor A: Dozens of 5-star ratings across multiple review websites

Contractor B: Two one-star ratings on a single review website

Now, be honest: Which of these companies are you going to be more likely to research further?

Contractor A… by a country mile.
And you’re not alone. Everyone who compares the search results of these two companies is going to choose Contractor A.

Every. Single. Time.

Here’s why: In today’s always-online world, internet reviews are the definitive form of social proof.

People don’t buy anything anymore without first consulting online reviews.

They don’t decide which restaurant to eat at… the television they’ll buy… the brand of toothbrush they’ll stick in their mouth… until they read online reviews.

You better believe 99.9% of prospects scope out your online reputation before they even consider contacting you.

And if your search-results page looks more like Contractor B’s than Contractor A’s, you’re doomed.

The reason?

Well, the stat geeks at Harvard performed a study. They found that online reviews play an ENORMOUS role in deciding whether a prospect will buy.

Online reviews have so much influence that just a one-star increase on review websites like Yelp can increase profits by 5% to 9%.

That means if you have a four-star rating on Yelp, you’re making 5% to 9% less than the contractor across town with the five-star average. If you have a three-star average, you’re making 10% to 18% less. And so on.

And if you have no online reviews at all?

Brother, I don’t even want to think about how much money you’re leaving on the table. It’s too depressing.

What I do know is your competitor with a ton of glowing online reviews is snatching up your business.

And lots of it.

Want to know how much money your online reviews are leaving on the table? Let us perform a free, no-strings audit of your online reputation.

We’ll provide you with a comprehensive report that shows you EXACTLY where you need to improve your online reputation to start bringing in more money.

No games. No cost. No obligation. It’s our way of saying “thanks” for being an awesome email subscriber. (We’re nice like that.)

You have to act fast, though. This offer expires 6/31/16. If you don’t take advantage of the offer by then, wave bye-bye to it forever.

Call us at (817) 416-4333 or shoot us an email to get set up with your free online reputation audit.

Consider this: Even if you have a respectable four-star rating on a review website, you’re losing out on up to 9% of business to the guy with the five-star average. This online reputation audit is the key to beefing up your online ratings to even the playing field.

Talk to you soon!

-Rich

P.S. Remember, to get your free online reputation audit, you have to respond by 6/31/16. Otherwise, your online reputation may continue to hemorrhage money. Get to it!

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