(Wines&Vines) - Most wineries regard customer-rating services like Yelp and Trip Advisor as presenting more problems than opportunity, but they can also offer help building tasting room traffic and sales.

“They’re a great opportunity to leverage customer endorsements and market to potential visitors, noted Michael Wangbickler, CEO of Balzac Communications & Marketing at the recent Wine Country Hospitality Symposium sponsored by the Business & Entrepreneurship Center at Napa Valley College and held at the school’s St. Helena campus.

“There’s nothing better for local marketing than these services,” he added.

Wineries may wonder why they should get involved in the review process, but Wangbickler pointed out that people are already writing reviews, and it is unwise to ignore them. “Don’t be an ostrich!” he warned.

The review sites provide good opportunities to connect directly with customers, Wangbickler added. They also help search engines like Google find your winery, and that increases rankings. More and more, search engines are taking user reviews into account when they list searches.

On top of that, Wangbickler said studies have shown that 90% of local searches lead to a purchase or visit. You should do what you can to make sure that purchase or visit happens at your winery—not another one found in the search, he said.

After all, when people talk about companies, products and services, they’re more likely to share bad than good experiences, he said. A study by market research firm Dimensional Research found that 45% of consumers shared stories about bad service encountered online, while only 30% shared good experiences.

Wangbickler observed that the two best-known rating services have distinct niches, but they overlap and other rating services are also significant.