Getting more reviews on your Google listing (And Yelp and other review sites for that matter) can give you a big boost in your Google rankings, as well as make you stand way out from the rest of the BJJ academies in your area.
Think about it, if most gyms in your area have less than 5 reviews, and you have 50, who do you think potential students will check out first when they want to start training?
The good news is it is pretty easy to get some 5 star reviews. Here are a few quick ways to get it done:
1. Place a sign at your front desk or bulletin board asking students to leave you a review. As you have no doubt seen, students love to stand around and play with their iPhones before, after, but hopefully not during class. Give them the little reminder that when they are playing on their phone, to leave you a review or you will kimura them relentlessly until they do.
2. If you have a Facebook group page, leave a post asking your students to give you a review. Be sure to include the link of where to leave the review (Google Places page) to make it easy for them. Be sure to never ask anyone to leave a POSITIVE review, as soliciting positive reviews goes against Google’s policy. Just asking for a review is fine though.
3. If you have an email list of your students, send them an email with the review links asking them to please leave you some reviews on the different review sites. That way when they are at work wasting time watching YouTube instructionals and reading Sherdog, as opposed to working, they can easily leave you a review.
The more reviews you have the more trust you will build with potential students, the more clicks you will get from Google searches, and you will also rank higher in Google. The fact that it’s free doesn’t hurt either.
We are currently coding our very own BJJ Online Reputation Management System that will make it much easier for our clients to get a ton of 5 star reviews to their profiles. Once we finish we will be sure to share it with you all.
Now go get on the mats!
- Cody