Hey ya’ll!
My name in Ori (it means “my light” in Hebrew, in case you were wondering) and I live in the sunny city of Tel-Aviv in Israel.
As someone who uses Google Maps on a daily basis, I often come across reviews that provide lots of useful information, and that are very helpful for a person like myself who has a hard time with decision-making! For this reason, the thing I love sharing the most on Google Maps is writing detailed reviews. When I visit a business like a hotel, a restaurant or a shop, I always try to think how will my review affect others and in which ways will my information and tips provide them with that “added value”.
In order to achieve that, I try to practice these 5 tips I gathered from my years as a local guide, and I hope they will also give you some ideas and methods for writing your reviews. Let’s begin!
1. Don’t Just Write. Read!
Before you start your manifesto, it’s important to scroll down a bit and see what others have written before you. You can either add info that’s missing, or - you can react or reference other reviews or even contradict them - which shows others you’ve put the time and effort.
In the following example (sorry, it’s in Hebrew), I noticed the business owner tried to raise his bad ratings by cheating, and adding 5* reviews. I wrote a small “guide” on how to distinguish the real reviews from the fake ones, in order to help others decide for themselves:
2. Think Like a Tourist, Write Like a Local
If you review a place in your on country or city, try and put yourself in a tourist’s shoes. Think what are the things that people who are not local need to know, or what would they benefit from your point of view as a local.
In this example, reading that a place isn’t crowded during peak times, might be useful for a tourist:
3. Lists, Summaries, Points
You don’t always have to tell a story. Sometimes a simple list of points or tips are easier to follow and understand.
Try this method and see what works better for you, and others.
In this review I was straight to the point: a few of the the good, a few of the bad:
4. Help Others Know What to Expect
An important part of any review, is helping others set their expectations. It’s not even a matter of an opinion, its simply facts or even suggestions.
When you review a hotel, a restaurant or an exhibition like in this case - give price ranges, time duration and other factors that can help others understand what’s waiting for them:
5. Don’t Forget the Pictures!
A review can stand on its own and provide great help even without a photo of that tasty sandwich you ate. However, if there is something visual you think might be of service to others - add it to the review.
In this case the business didn’t have a website or an online menu. You could call and have a your take-away ready, but you couldn’t know what to order.
This called for a menu picture! (which happened to be on the wall…):
That’s it!
Those were my 5 personal tips but there are of course so much more that can help writing awesome reviews.
What are your suggestions and tips? How do you do it?
Share your ideas!
Ori
