Inc.com has this good article about online reviews that reflects a lot of what I wrote about in my post Why Should Small Business Care about Ratings and Reviews? .  In it the author lists 7 easy steps to improving your online reputation, including monitoring and responding to the reviews you have as well as soliciting reviews from your current customers.  The last point they make is important – it is a numbers game.  Your small business will be reviewed and rated online whether you want it to or not.  You will sometimes get bad reviews.  Your best defense is to get as many good reviews out there from your loyal customers; let consumers see what a good job you do and how happy (most) of your customers are!