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Unfortunately because reviews are such a powerful marketing tool, they have been gamed and abused for years. I think a lot of online consumers are now starting to get more savvy though, and a bit of due diligence can normally spot fake or gamed reviews.

For review sites it's an ongoing challenge as review spam increases. Our automation filters out 100's of spam reviews a day, leaving the rest to be manually moderated, but some will always slip through. Then you have unmoderated review sites such as Facebook which hardly help the issue 

But by spreading your customer reviews across a variety of sites, making sure your site looks professional, then positive reviews in-conjunction with your site builds the all important credibility. In theory, this is what will turn a lead into a conversion. 

Well we couldn't let that little landmark go by unnoticed

Well done Barney, can't offer any real Champagne so will have to make do with a picture 

Genuinely appreciate your contributions over the years and straight talking 

Great article from Search Engine Land discussing reviews and business credibility.

It's well worth a read, but basically it's talking about the reality that most consumers these days are swayed by reviews, and its up to businesses to put out a credible and positive reputation.

Most of the tools are out there for a business to it themselves, and are free, such as a Google listing with reviews, Facebook page, directory review sites etc. But it does paint an interesting picture and give an example of how you determine when a business or idea is deemed credible.

Online Reviews, Reputation And How To Become Super Credible

Do you follow the online review and testimonial approach with your business, or disagree and prefer other marketing approaches? May be you are a word of mouth business, which is the original testimonial model.

Interesting and original introduction

Welcome aboard. erm.. A 

Originally Posted by ColonWhisperer25

“Not unexpectedly theres been all the " I always thought so " and " I told you so " voices. 

Enjoyed impressionist Rory Bremmers' satirical show; ”

Missed that, will have to see if I can get it on catch up telly!

What a difference 12 months makes. Last year we seem to riding the crest of a UKIP wave, now there are very public spats and skulduggery going on.

The UKIP election campaign director has turned on Farage according to the beeb, "who was quoted in a newspaper calling him "snarling, thin-skinned, and aggressive".

Nigel Farage facing leadership contest demands - BBC

There one and only MP has been blasted by the party for not taking the full allowance of Parliamentary money which is an astonishing £650,000 of tax payers money! A very admirable stance from the UKIP MP, and it seems the money is so high due to the way money is calculated for opposition parties, with a formula dividing seats by votes cast.

No doubt that will soon be amended  

I suspect Nigel stepping down, then inadvertently back up again with no leadership election has now set the tone for lots of division and in-party fighting. It does seem to give the party a bit of an amateur image. Growing pains or a sinking ship I wonder?

Lord Sugar seems to be in for a bit of social media backlash after making his Twitter announcement...

Interesting tactics when it comes to reputation management.. 

Here is Lord Sugars public response to criticism from Andrew Neil

It's better than EastEnders 

We've had a favourite films thread but not a rated movie.

Watched a classic last night with a mucker. Chilli, few beers and the Battle of Britain. Doesn't get any better than that 11/10 

Hi Greg

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Great post from Seth Godwin:

"Pretty websites

...are rarely websites that convert as well as unpretty ones.

If the goal of your site is to position you, tell a story, establish your good taste and make it clear what sort of organization you are, then pretty might be the way to go. And you can measure the effectiveness of the site by how it impresses those you seek to impress, by its long-term impact.

But it's a mistake to also expect your pretty website to generate cash, to have the maximum percentage of clicks, to have the most efficient possible funnel of attention to action.

There's always been a conflict between the long-term benefits of beauty in commerce (in architecture, in advertising, in transactions) and the short-term brutality of measurement and direct response."

Full article: Pretty Websites

He does speak a lot of sense and it's an area I've always struggled on. Balancing cosmetics, functionality, calls to action and generating hard cash and conversions.

It took me a long time to realise (and I still don't understand) that sometimes a web page or a sales mail just works and doesn't need any tinkering or bells and whistles, regardless of how you think it looks. They distract, add noise and take attention from the primary objective, conversation/sale/lead.

I should probably add more adverts across the forum, but I genuinely dislike adsense, regardless how much revenue it brings in. A compromise is more adverts show for non members or if you aren't logged in, but they are still not too imposing (I think). So vanity over rules commercial sense.

But the hardest pages to optimise from a sales point of view has to be the home page. So little time to catch someones attention, make it blatantly obvious what you do, and have an obvious call to action to hook their attention and turn them into a lead/conversion/customer. We've experimented heavily over the years with things like split testing and have got to a formula that works for us. Personally I'd love to start afresh with a different design, but it's a huge risk when you have a working model, and I then fall into the playing trap.

How do you get on with your website? Are you prettier than your competition but your competition is more successful? Have you lost leads and sales after moving to a pretty website and regretting leaving your old unfashionable one?

Maybe you're a tinkerer and can't leave your site alone?