Yelp is a popular website that is updated daily by thousands of registered users. The users on Yelp are, for the most part, regular people around town who want to let others know about their experiences in local bars, restaurants, or even dentists’ offices. Even without registering a user name, anyone search through Yelp to find any kind of business in their area and immediately go over the user reviews if they need a little more encouragement to make a final decision. Everyone can sign up and start a free account, but business owners can take things a step further and unlock their business pages by completing a short and simple process and navigate the site a little differently than the regular users. Another option available for business owners is paid advertising. Yelp throws in a few perks if the business owner decides to rely on the site as a primary means for getting the word out a little more aggressively about his or her business.
The process for unlocking the Yelp business page is pretty quick and easy. What you do first is search for your business listing. Then, you click on a few options, and you then answer a quick phone call that gives you a code to enter on the web page to grant you access to new options. You will be able to message users on the site to directly address the positive or negative reviews they have written about your business. You can send private messages to thank users for positive reviews, or apologize respectfully if they did not receive the service they expected. You can comment within the review pages so that your responses are seen publicly by other Yelp users. You are expected to choose your words wisely so as not to cause any issues with other users on the site. Unlocking the business page also allows you to list special offers that are visible next to your business name on the listing. If you have a restaurant, for example, you can list a special offer for Yelp users, perhaps with a discount if they mention that they found your place on Yelp. That would let you know right away how effective unlocking the business page turned out to be.
If unlocking the business page doesn’t seem like enough, Yelp offers a paid advertising service to enhance the features visible to other users. There are a few perks to this option, although they are a bit expensive. First of all, the changes are rather minimal. Your business page allows you to set up a slide show and a larger image to catch the attention of your visitors. But if you really think about it, you’re better off relying on the simple business page to lead people to your actual business website where you probably already have a ton of amazing graphics and images. Paid advertising will increase the exposure of your business listing during specific searches and will range anywhere between $300 to $1000 a month. The idea is that you reach a targeted audience on Yelp, so if someone is searching for a cafe in a specific area of town, if it happens to be in your neighborhood they will see your business at the top of their list. You can highlight reviews that are favorable for your business and they will appear at the top of the list.
As good as paid advertising sounds on Yelp, there are a few things you won’t be able to change. If someone isn’t satisfied with your service, there is a good chance that they will promptly post a negative review on Yelp and it will be instantly visible to other users. That review will remain there and you will not be able to alter or remove it, even if you pay a whole lot every month for advertising. Also, you cannot ask the person who posted the review to make any changes to it in your favor. Bribery is NOT recommended!
Raymond Fong’s blog on www.raymondfong.net offers a first-hand account of the setup process for Yelp advertising. If you follow the instructions detailed on Yelp’s site, it seems really easy to do, but Fong’s blog takes a few other factors into account. For example, he spoke to a customer service representative who and that person did not sound knowledgeable when it came to answering some important technical questions. Also, he discovered that Yelp advertising could be far too expensive for most business owners, and that it fails to explain to them what it is exactly that they are paying for. Whereas on one site you will pay each time someone clicks on your page, Yelp has you pay for each time your link appears regardless of whether the user clicks on it to be directed to your business page.
Another downside to Yelp advertising is that the pages are full of links to other listings that may or may not be related to your business. While someone someone is viewing your business page, on the side of the listing they can be lured away by links to nearby attractions. While it’s a great site for people to find your business, Yelp isn’t exactly the kind of place where you can give users the full experiences they would better off receive if directed to your actual business’s site.
There are other alternatives to advertise for your business without having to pay Yelp. Advertising on Yelp is very limited as it is. The differences between the free and paid page are so minimal and won’t lessen the chance that you will turn up in a search result. After all, the main purpose of Yelp is for users to read other people’s personal experiences, and viral advertising will drive people to your business much faster than a fancy slide show and larger image size. The power of word-of-mouth advertising is more powerful than anything you can pay for.
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