Seattle, WA -- (SBWire) -- 10/09/2012 --According to a study recently published in Economic Journal, researchers who analyzed restaurant online reviews and ratings at Yelp.com found that when using a 1 through 5 system to rank, a half of a star rating increase meant a 19% greater chance the restaruant's tables would be full during peak periods. This study found that the increase was completely independent of changes in the prices, food or service quality.

When coupling this study with Google's April change to search results, posting reputation scores for more than 80 million businesses, it's understandable why businesses work so hard to maintain their reputations. According to Len Canning, CEO of MAPS Reputation Management, "An online reputation (or lack of one) is now exposed for everyone to see, for every online consumer to compare. A company can't hide their reputation anymore. It can be fixed, but unless you have or create a great reputation, you're going to lose business to companies who do."

According to eMarketer, 2012 will see 184.3 million online shoppers in the US alone. According to Canning, this makes the competition steep for every customer and a business' reputation all the more important. As he explains, "If a shopper goes online to look for a electrical contractor and one company has 12 good reviews, another has 8 reviews - 2 good and 6 bad and a third has no reviews, which one do you think would win the business? It's really quite simple." That is where MAPS Reputation Management steps in.

Canning has created a business helping others create a positive online reputation and keeping it. "It used to be an online economy, and the goal was just to get to the top of the search engines. Today it requires more. It requires a great reputation." Canning continues, "A business can't escape being reviewed. There is no choice in the matter, anymore. Actually, there is a choice. You can choose to either keep your fingers crossed and hope that the business doesn't get too many bad reviews or take a proactive approach, partner with a reputation management services company who will go out and create and maintain a great online reputation for your business."

Mr. Canning explains how his company works. "Most companies have no reputation management in place and they leave themselves at the mercy of anyone posting reviews (including nasty competitors). If they end up with a number of negative reviews, their Reputation Score plummets - and so will sales. We set up a business so that they are in a proactive position, creating a positive 5 Star Reputation, generating positive reviews and putting them in a position so that even if they get a negative review, the Reputation Score will not collapse."

About MAPS Reputation Management
MAPS Reputation Management was created to help local businesses generate positive reviews and to help clients build and maintain a 5 Star Reputation.