Comparison shopping for spas?
September 8th, 2006 • Posted by Bill Bice • Permalink
It sounds crass. But your prospective clients are doing exactly that. They don't just research automobiles, HDTVs and lawyers online — they're also looking for the right spa for themselves, or for a gift for a friend who has moved away.
Personal recommendations have always been great for choosing anything, and it particularly applies to what we care about: spas! Did you notice the reviews on Google Local in yesterday's Local search posting? Recommendations, although not as personal, have moved online thanks to local search.
That's a little snippet of one of the many absolutely great reviews for Massage Therapy Center on CitySearch. Wisely, they highlight their great reviews on their home page.
Take advantage of online reviews for your spa:
- First of all, you need reviews! Encourage your best clients to go online and write reviews. CitySearch is the grand daddy of local search, and always a good place to start.
- In some parts of the country, upstarts like Yelp, Insider Pages and Judy's Book have a strong following.
- Use Google Local, which pulls reviews from multiple places, to see how your competition is doing and to get a feel for where you need to be. Do a search for "category: Spas Beauty & Day" and your city.
- The best defense against a negative review (or an unethical one), is to have lots of great reviews.
• Trackback • Posted in Spa Marketing
Great blog — I've noticed that Spa Finder has lots of user reviews. Some spas have quite a few.