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How to ask for testimonials, what to ask for, and what to do with them once you have them. Written for people running a business, not for marketers.
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How many testimonials should a website have?
Five good ones beat fifty vague ones. How many testimonials a small business website needs, where they go, and how often to add a new one.
· 4 min read
How to get testimonials for a new business with no clients yet
Where honest first testimonials come from when you have just opened, from past work to your first three customers, and what not to fake.
· 6 min read
Review request text templates you can copy
Four review request texts you can copy, and when to send each. The day of the job, a week later, to a repeat customer, and after a job that had a hiccup.
· 3 min read
I read 448 small business websites. A third show no sign of a customer.
What 448 Midwest service business home pages do with reviews and testimonials, counted in October 2026. Most mention them. Few make it easy to leave one.
· 5 min read
What Google Maps shows a stranger who isn't signed in
I opened a plumber's listing in a private window to see which reviews a logged-out visitor gets. It was three, picked by Google, and one was a one-star.
· 3 min read
The FTC rules on testimonials and fake reviews, in plain English
What the FTC's 2024 rule on reviews and testimonials bans, what it still allows, and what enforcement has looked like so far, for a small business.
· 7 min read
Should you offer a discount in exchange for a review?
No. Here is what Google and the FTC do to businesses that try it, and the free thing that works better anyway.
· 5 min read
What a September rate hike does to the quotes you sent in May
The Fed hinted that rates might go up, not down. What that does to the quotes your customers have sat on since spring, and the one call worth making now.
· 7 min read
What ninety dollar oil has to do with your testimonials
A war most of us cannot find on a map is sitting on your fuel bill, and it is quietly changing how your customers shop. The part you can do something about.
· 6 min read
What to do when a client leaves you a bad review
Your first instinct is to explain yourself. Why that loses, and six replies to copy, including the unfair review and one from a stranger.
· 8 min read
Google reviews vs testimonials: why you want both
They do two different jobs, one gets you found and one closes, and there is a way to ask for both without wearing your clients out.
· 6 min read
How to ask a client for a testimonial without feeling weird about it
Wording you can copy for asking a client for a testimonial by text or email, and when to ask so they actually write one.
· 7 min read
False testimonials: how customers spot them, and what the FTC says
Invented reviews are easier to spot than people think, and the damage is worse than having none at all.
· 4 min read
Where to put testimonials on your website
A dedicated testimonials page is the least effective place to put them. The spots that change minds are next to the price, the promise and the button.
· 4 min read