Summary
1. What is a widget, and how can I use one to improve my online reputation?
A widget is a small application that provides specific information or functionality within a larger interface, such as a website, desktop, or mobile device screen. Widgets are designed to enhance the user experience by offering quick access to frequently used features or data. In the context of online reputation management, widgets are powerful instruments that allow you to display real-time customer feedback and encourage new reviews, all without sending visitors elsewhere. Widgets transform your site into a dynamic hub for building trust and credibility.
RankingCoach provides two distinct widgets that you can integrate into your website:
The “Showcase Reviews” widget: This widget displays your best customer reviews prominently on your site.
The “Collect Reviews” widget: It allows visitors to submit new ratings and comments directly on your pages.
Both widgets are customizable to match your website's design seamlessly. You’ll find detailed instructions for each widget in the chapters below.
2. “Showcase Reviews” widget: Highlight your best feedback
The “Showcase Reviews” widget is designed to help you display positive customer feedback directly on your website. This dynamic feature makes it easy to build credibility with potential customers and stand out online by showing visitors why they should trust your business.
The widget is available to rankingCoach FREE and rankingCoach 360 users. For rankingCoach FREE users, the widget includes a “Powered by rankingCoach” tag at the bottom. This tag will automatically disappear once you upgrade to rankingCoach 360. You can access the widget in the dashboard under the “Web Reputation” section, then “Widgets”, and finally “Showcase Reviews”.
To use the widget, you must have at least 10 reviews with a rating of 4 stars or higher from a connected source, such as your Google Business Profile or Facebook business page. If you don’t meet this requirement, the widget will remain in “pending” status to encourage you to collect more feedback.
Once enabled, you will have plenty of options to customize the widget’s appearance and functionality:
Filter Reviews: Filter the reviews displayed on your website by source, rating, or language to highlight the most relevant feedback for your audience.
Size and Design: Choose from three sizes to best fit your website’s layout. You can also customize the appearance to match your site’s branding by adjusting the button corner design, text, and widget colors.
Live Preview: As you make changes, the widget preview updates in real time, so you can see exactly how it will look on your site before integrating it into your website builder or content management system (CMS).
Once you have finished setting up the widget, simply copy the widget’s HTML code and paste it into the desired area of your website. Further information can be found in Chapter 4 of this article.
3. “Collect Reviews” widget: Gather new reviews instantly
The “Collect Reviews” widget is a powerful addition to the Web Reputation section. It allows your business to collect customer feedback on your website proactively. Unlike the existing “Showcase Reviews” widget, which only displays previously collected reviews, the “Collect Reviews” widget is designed to generate new reviews by engaging website visitors with an embedded form. This helps you significantly increase your review volume and gain valuable insights into customer satisfaction. Please note that this feature is exclusive to rankingCoach 360 users.
As with the “Showcase Reviews” widget, you can customize its functionality and design under “Web Reputation” → “Widgets” → “Collect Reviews”:
Customizable Design: You can fully personalize the widget’s appearance by adjusting colors, text, button styles, and corner roundness to align perfectly with your brand identity and website design.
Smart Feedback Flow: The widget is built with an intelligent feedback process to manage reviews effectively:
For positive reviews, customers are invited to publish their feedback on a platform of your choice, such as Google Business Profile or Facebook.
For negative feedback, customers receive a polite thank-you note. The feedback is then stored privately for internal improvement purposes and is not redirected to an external platform.
[GIF to show how you can adapt the widget settings in the app]
Review Management and Privacy
After inserting the HTML code into your website and publishing it, all reviews collected through the widget will be easily accessible in the “Reviews” section of your rankingCoach application. This gives you full control over the process:
Direct Interaction: Respond to reviews directly from the rankingCoach interface with the help of our AI Assistant Reply feature. Your replies are then sent via email to the original reviewer.
Transparency and GDPR: To ensure transparency and GDPR compliance, a confirmation email is sent to each reviewer, and they are given the option to delete their review.
4. How do I embed widgets on my website?
The process of embedding a rankingCoach widget on your website is straightforward and does not require specialized coding knowledge. However, you will need access to your website’s backend or content management system (CMS). Below, we use WordPress as an example, as it is the most widely used website builder. If you use a different website builder, contact its support team for instructions on editing the HTML code.
Embedding in WordPress (Example):
1. Copy the HTML code of the widget you designed in rankingCoach.
2. Log in to your WordPress account as usual to access the dashboard.
3. Click on “Pages” in the left-hand menu to open the page where you would like to insert the widget.
4. Click the “+” icon to add a new block to your page.
5. Select the “Custom HTML” block, which is usually found in the widgets section, depending on your theme or plugins.
6. Paste the entire widget code from rankingCoach into the Custom HTML block.
7. Use the “Preview” option to see how the widget will look. Once you are satisfied with it, click “Update” or “Publish” to make the changes live on your site.
[GIF showing how to insert the HTML code in WordPress]
These simple yet powerful widgets can transform your website into a dynamic hub for building trust and collecting valuable feedback. They strengthen your online reputation and increase your conversion rate. Don’t miss out on this helpful feature included in your subscription!
If you have any questions or need assistance with embedding the widgets, please contact our rankingCoach support team. We are here to help!
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