Online reputation management has become crucial for businesses in the digital age. With the rise of review sites like Yelp and Google, consumers now have more access and influence than ever when it comes to a company’s reputation. Studies show the tremendous impact online reviews and brand perception have on buying decisions.
According to recent data, over 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting or purchasing from a business. What’s more, 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Negative reviews or brand publicity can quickly spread online and damage revenue and growth. This data demonstrates the need for proactive online reputation management.
Monitoring review sites, social media, and other channels is an essential step in maintaining a positive brand image. With the right reputation management strategy, businesses can turn their online presence into an asset for building trust and credibility with customers.
What is BrightLocal?
Founded in 2009 and based in Brighton, UK, BrightLocal is a popular software platform designed for local businesses to manage their online reputation and local SEO. Some of the main features offered by BrightLocal include review generation, review monitoring, citation building, and competitor tracking. The platform targets small and midsize local businesses across a variety of industries.
BrightLocal uses a pricing model based on the number of locations a business has. For a single location, plans start at $39 per month for the Track plan, with prices increasing as you scale up features and add locations. There are also add-ons available such as social media management and web chat.
Benefits of Using BrightLocal
BrightLocal offers several key features that provide benefits for local businesses trying to improve their online presence and reputation.
BrightLocal can automatically generate and send review requests to customers on your behalf. This feature makes it easy to get more online reviews with minimal effort. According to BrightLocal, businesses see an average of 13% more 5-star reviews by using their automated review collection.
BrightLocal also provides alerts when new reviews come in so you can monitor what customers are saying about your business in real-time. This capability allows you to quickly respond when necessary.
Another benefit is BrightLocal’s local citation building, which improves your local SEO rankings by getting your business NAP (name, address, phone) listed consistently across key sites like Yelp and Facebook. This practice builds trust and authority for search engines.
Finally, BrightLocal lets you track how you rank against competitors for important local keywords. This competitor keyword tracking allows you to see opportunities to improve your visibility and outrank competitors in local search results.
Limitations of BrightLocal
While BrightLocal has some useful features, it does have some significant limitations that are important to consider:
- Expensive pricing for multi-location businesses: BrightLocal pricing is based on the number of locations you need to manage. This price can get costly for brands managing a large multi-location footprint across many cities and states.
- Mixed reviews on Google review generation: Some BrightLocal users report disappointing results from the Google review generation feature, with low opt-in and response rates.
- Lower quality citations: While BrightLocal builds local citations, some users feel these citations are not very high quality and don’t comply with Google’s strict guidelines.
- Competitor tracking lacks features: BrightLocal provides basic competitor keyword tracking but lacks some of the robust competitive analysis features offered in other tools.
Introducing ReputationStacker
ReputationStacker is an alternative online reputation management platform that makes it easy for businesses to get more online reviews, monitor their reputation, and improve local SEO. Founded in 2021, ReputationStacker aims to provide a more modern and intuitive solution compared to competitors like BrightLocal.
ReputationStacker consolidates reviews from dozens of sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp into one easy-to-use dashboard so businesses can keep track of their online reputation. The platform also includes features to automatically request reviews from customers across various sites to improve a brand’s visibility and search rankings.
While BrightLocal also provides review generation and monitoring, ReputationStacker focuses more on getting authentic reviews on high-authority sites like Google. This focus helps businesses rank higher in local pack search results. ReputationStacker also has more affordable pricing for multi-location businesses compared to BrightLocal.
ReputationStacker offers an alternative all-in-one platform for online reputation management, review generation, and local SEO optimization. For businesses looking for a modern solution to improve their online visibility and customer feedback, ReputationStacker is worth considering.
ReputationStacker’s Top Feature
ReputationStacker offers a comprehensive set of features to help local businesses improve their online reputation and local SEO. Their top feature includes:
Getting Google reviews from customers: ReputationStacker focuses on generating authentic online reviews on Google Business Profile, which directly impact local SEO rankings. BrightLocal spreads reviews out across platforms.
Benefits of ReputationStacker
ReputationStacker offers several key benefits that make it a great choice for multi-location brands looking to boost their online reputation and local SEO:
- Authentic Google Reviews: ReputationStacker focuses on getting real, verified reviews on Google which is key for improving local pack rankings. Their automated system makes it easy to generate a high quantity of Google reviews from actual customers.
- Improved Local SEO: With increased reviews, ReputationStacker also increases local SEO rankings in Google. This comprehensive approach improves many aspects of local SEO.
- Intuitive Platform: ReputationStacker has a modern, user-friendly interface that makes it easy for anyone to manage their online reputation. Users find it more intuitive than BrightLocal’s platform.
- Dedicated Support: ReputationStacker is known for its high quality customer support.
Comparing BrightLocal vs. ReputationStacker
ReputationStacker focuses specifically on generating Google reviews by targeting your customers. Studies show 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, so getting more Google reviews is key. BrightLocal automates review requests but does not guarantee Google reviews.
Is ReputationStacker Right for You?
ReputationStacker is an ideal solution for many types of local businesses looking to boost their online reputation and improve local SEO. Here are some examples of businesses that can benefit the most from using ReputationStacker:
- Service-based businesses: Home service companies, healthcare providers, auto shops and other service businesses rely heavily on online reviews and local SEO. ReputationStacker helps them get more customers.
- Customer-facing retail: Stores, restaurants, gyms, salons and other retailers with high customer traffic need a steady flow of online reviews. ReputationStacker makes it easy to generate more reviews.
- B2B companies: Even B2B companies today rely on reviews to build trust and authority. ReputationStacker helps them showcase their reputation online.
Businesses that provide an ongoing service and interact directly with customers on a regular basis stand to benefit the most from review generation and online reputation management with ReputationStacker.
Conclusion
BrightLocal offers useful tools for online reputation management and local SEO, but has some limitations especially for multi-location brands. ReputationStacker provides a more modern, affordable, and effective solution.
With features tailored specifically for local businesses like verified Google, Yelp and Facebook reviews, ReputationStacker helps your company stand out online and attract new customers.
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use platform to boost your local search rankings and online reputation, we recommend giving ReputationStacker a try with a free trial. See for yourself how it can help your business get more 5-star reviews and dominate local SEO against your competitors.
Don’t settle for outdated tools or pay over the odds. Get started with ReputationStacker today and achieve better results for your local marketing.
