I've just finished a blog post about the Power of Online Reviews - http://idealmedia.co.za/808/the-power-of-online-reviews/

Many business owners find it a bit scary that anyone, anywhere in the world can make nasty comments about their business on the Internet, and there's not a lot you can do about it.

In the blog post, I show an examples and explain some of the things you can do if you're lumbered with bad online reviews.

As entrepreneurs and small business owners, we should be looking out for opportunities to help each other out. One fairly effortless way to do that is to leave a (positive) review on a fellow business owner's Google Place page (or anywhere else they may have reviews, like Yowzit.com or HelloPeter.com).

With Google Places, you get a nice noticeable yellow star rating in the search results once yo get 5 reviews - and the more reviews you have the better Google ranks your Places page.

Find their Google page by going to http://maps.google.co.za and typing in their business name. If a Google Place page is listed, you can leave a review - you will need to be logged in to a Google account to do so (if you have a GMail account or a Google Plus account, you'll be OK.)

Try to make it honest - obviously it's best if you've used their service or bought their products, but if not you could always say something nice about their website, photos or attitude!

If you'd like other people to say nice things about your business, leave a link to your review page in the comments.

Let's start off the new year by paying it forward!