Reviews & reputation
Our review management gets more of your happy customers to leave a Google review, replies to every review in your voice and handles the bad ones calmly, for local businesses across Southwest Florida.
Naples Bay at night
Photo: Charles Patrick Ewing · CC BY 2.0The short answer
Review management means asking every customer for a review, replying to all of them and dealing with fake or unfair ones. We use our own review tool: a short /review/ link and QR code that open your Google review form, plus email requests with one reminder after 6 days. Everyone is asked, nothing is filtered and nobody is paid. It's part of our Local plan from $600/month.
Google's policy is simple. You may ask every customer for a review, but you may not offer anything in return, and you may not filter who gets asked. Review gating, where a 'How did we do?' screen sends happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form, is against the rules. The FTC's rule on fake reviews and testimonials also targets bought or suppressed reviews. Our tool asks everyone the same way, so there's nothing to hide.
Platforms differ, and we respect each one. Google lets you ask for reviews; Yelp asks businesses not to solicit them at all, so our requests never include Yelp links. We point requests to Google, because that's where Map Pack and Local Services Ads shoppers read them, and we reply on the other platforms where customers leave reviews on their own.
Timing does most of the work. A pool service asks after the first clean of the season, a dental office the evening after a visit, a contractor at the final walk-through when the client is happiest. In Southwest Florida we also watch the calendar: winter residents who used you all season leave in spring, so their requests go out before they head north, while the experience is fresh.
Replies matter as much as stars. A specific, unhurried answer to a two-star review tells the next reader more about you than the average rating does. For medical, dental and other healthcare practices we write replies that never confirm someone was a patient or mention treatment, because health privacy rules apply to public replies too. This isn't legal advice; it's the approach we use, and you keep the final say.
What you get
We set up the asking once, keep it running and answer what comes in.
A short /review/ link and QR code to your Google review form, ready for invoices, receipts, truck decals and the front desk.
One email after each job or visit and a single reminder after 6 days, then nothing more.
Short, specific replies in your voice, approved by you at the start, so readers see a business that listens.
A calm public reply, an offer to sort it out offline and a note to you about what happened.
Reviews that break Google's policies reported through Google's own tools, with the outcome tracked.
New reviews, rating trend and the themes customers keep mentioning, in your monthly report.
How it goes
Every step ends with a clear deliverable and your approval.
We create your review link and QR code and connect email requests to your customer list or CRM.
We settle tone, what we can say on your behalf and what always goes to you first.
Requests go out after every job, and new reviews get replies on a regular schedule.
The monthly report shows new reviews, common themes and anything we reported to Google.
Pricing
Starting prices, before taxes. After a 20-minute call you get a fixed quote — no hourly surprises.
5–8 custom pages, keyword basics, technical SEO, quote form, GA4, Google Business Profile setup.
10–20 pages with service and city pages, wireframes, custom UX/UI, SEO copy, conversion tracking, CRM connection, 30 days of fine-tuning.
WooCommerce or Shopify, booking and payments, integrations, load testing.
Local SEO and Google Business Profile, technical monitoring, review requests, monthly report.
Everything in Local, plus 2–4 SEO articles a month, Google Ads, landing-page optimization and a monthly call.
SEO, Google Ads and Meta, social content and creative, link building, a quarterly strategy workshop.
Ad spend is paid directly to Google or Meta and is not part of our fee. Website and marketing together? Ask for both in one quote.
Questions
Only if they break Google's policies, such as spam, conflicts of interest, off-topic rants or reviews from people who were never customers. We report those through Google's tools and follow up. A genuine negative review stays; the best answer is a calm reply and a steady flow of recent reviews from happy customers. Anyone promising to delete honest reviews is selling something Google forbids.
No. Google bans incentives for reviews, including discounts, gift cards, free services and prize draws, and the FTC's rules also cover paid and fake reviews. You can thank people after they've reviewed, but the request itself must come with nothing attached. This isn't legal advice, just the policy we follow for every client.
Review management is the day-to-day work: asking for reviews, replying and reporting fake ones. Reputation management is broader and can include what shows up when people search your name, press coverage and social comments. For most local businesses, steady honest reviews and good replies are where reputation is won or lost, so that's where we put the effort.
There's no magic number. What counts is how you compare with the businesses next to you in the Map Pack, how recent your reviews are and how you reply. A steady flow every month beats a burst followed by silence, for customers and for Google. On the first call we show your count and recency against nearby competitors.
We draft them in your voice, and at the start you approve each one. Once tone and sensitive topics are agreed, we post routine replies directly and send you anything delicate, like a complaint about a named employee or a billing dispute. Replies always go out under your business name.
Keep exploring
On the 20-minute call we compare your reviews with nearby competitors and show how the review link, QR code and email requests would fit your day.