If you search the internet for local businesses and services, you may have noticed a trend over the past few years. Often, the top hit on Google, Yahoo, or other search engines is not the businesses’ website, but the business’s listing on Yelp.com. Yelp is a site that allows customers and clients to review the businesses they’ve visited or utilized – everything from restaurants and spas to dry cleaners and landscapers – and because of the site’s popularity, people who use the internet to check out local businesses have come to trust the opinions posted there. With the economic downturn, more people than ever are doing their research before patronizing a local business, so if you run a business catering to local trade, then it’s time to make Yelp work for you.
Your first step is to visit Yelp.com and search for your business. Anybody can add a business on Yelp, so you may be surprised to find your business already listed and reviewed. (If you were surprised, check out our previous Outright blog post about reputation management and set up some Google Alerts so that doesn’t happen again!) If you find yourself already listed on Yelp, take the time to fill out a detailed profile of your business. Or if you don’t find your business listed, go ahead and add yourself! According to the Yelp site, users, known as “Yelpers,” have written over 7 million reviews, and over 85% of them have rated a local business 3 stars or higher on a 5 star scale. Further, every business should have a website, but if yours isn’t up yet, Yelp.com can be a great place to let locals know your business hours, methods of payment you accept, specialties and other pertinent information. Don’t forget to add lots of flattering photos! Experts have proven that adding photos of yourself, your premises, and your staff make your business seem more “real, appealing and accessible.”
So you’ve added your business to Yelp.com. Now how do you start getting reviews? For one, make Yelp.com part of your testimonial request from clients after you’ve finished a job. Asking for a testimonial about your work should always be a part of your post-project follow up, so add a link to your Yelp profile when following up. Or if you run a high volume business, add your Yelp link to your marketing materials. But don’t forget that this is a double edged sword. If you did a less than stellar job, prepare for a less than stellar review.
Also, never ask friends and family for Yelp reviews or try the underhanded tactic of planting reviews yourself. For one, Yelp has a filter that scrutinizes and removes suspicious reviews. You also should not offer customers discounts or other incentives in exchange for a 5 star review on Yelp. Yelp, rightfully, asks users to report any business who engage in this practice. Remember, deviously upping your Yelp rating is a black hat tactic and is simply bad form. Just like cheating on a paper in school, cheating on your Yelp rating only hurts you in the long run.
Of course, putting your business name out there and asking for reviews always runs the risk of a bad review or two. Fortunately, Yelp allows business owners to contact reviewers privately. If you received a spontaneous good review, why not offer that client a discount or other incentive in exchange for their candor? The least you could do would be to send them a personal note thanking them for their review. This function allows for damage control, too. Receive a negative review? Contact the client and try to make it right. Jeff Diamond, the co-owner of Farmstead Cheese and Wines in Oakland-Alameda, CA answers every review he receives on Yelp, positive or negative. He was once able to turn a negative reviewer into a wine club member after resolving a customer service misunderstanding through Yelp’s system. Also, just as Yelp’s filtering system keeps you from engaging in black hat reviewing tactics, it also helps you filter negative reviews, especially when a competitor or other nasty person creates a Yelp account solely for the purposes of hurting your business.
Keep in mind that Yelp users can turn off the option to be contacted privately by a business owner, so some reviewers may be unreachable. The good news is that a negative review or two will wash out in the mix as long as you continue to offer great products and services. Worried about malicious reviews from competitors or enemies? Yelp.com reminds reviewers that posting false information in Yelp reviews can have legal ramifications.
Listing the specifics of your business and receiving reviews is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Yelp. You can also list specials, sales, discounts, contests and other promotions on your Yelp page. And we all know that, when it comes to marketing, measuring results is the name of the game. Yelp allows you to see how many people have visited your business page. Add regularly checking Yelp’s statistics page to your reputation management routine. You can also set your Yelp to notify you whenever you receive a review.
If you like Yelp, don’t forget to check out other customer review sites such as Citysearch.com, Kuzdu.com, and Angieslist.com (a pay service), or your city’s own local version of Yelp. (Know of anymore reputable review sites? Let us know in the comments.) If you are worried about negative reviews, be sure to check out the terms of service of each site to make sure they have s policy on filtering and reviewing false reviews. Also, check around regarding each site’s reputation before posting your business there. Some sites become known for biased reviews, and just like with any marketing initiative, it’s never a good idea to associate your good name with a bad site.
What do you think?
How do you make Yelp.com work for your small business?