What is the first place newcomers look to find information about churches in your area? I would be willing to bet that most people first search Google, Bing, or Yahoo, and those search results often list reviews. Writing a review is a quick and easy way to share what you like about your church. Here are instructions on how you can write a reviews on different sites:
1. Google
Account Needed: Gmail or Google+
Google support has provided instructions for writing a review.
Reviews for St. Tim’s found on Google Maps.
2. Yelp
Account Needed: Yelp
If you go to Yelp to write a review, you can sign up for a Yelp account at the same time. This was the easiest site that I used to write a review.
3. Facebook
Account Needed: Facebook
Go to the facebook page for your church and find the box labeled “Recommendations” on the timeline and enter your review there.
4. Yahoo
Account Needed: Yahoo
Yahoo has review instructions and guidelines on their website. However, the instructions did not work for me and I am still trying to find the problem.
Did I forget instructions for any other important review sites? Please tell me what I missed in the comments below. Thanks!
Google+
Laura Catalano
One thing that needs to be remembered in these reviews is that you don’t want to game the system by having your members write reviews of your church. Yelp has had a bad reputation at times for posting positive reviews of places that were done by employees or management of the reviewed companies. The reviews need to be authentic, even if they are from your members.
I’m not sure that church member reviews are gaming the system in the same way that reviews from employees of a business would be. Are church visitors the only valid reviewers?