Yelp Help Mastering the Art of the Yelp Listing

You’ve probably heard of the popular local reviews website, Yelp. It was launched back in 2004 and has been the destination on the internet to find what’s hot and what’s not around town. But how can you, as a business owner, benefit from Yelp? And how exactly does the platform work? We at Websiteness have plenty of experience with Yelp, so we’ve compiled some helpful info to pass onto you, so you too can utilize this tool.

 

HOW DOES YELP WORK?

Yelp is a review based social platform. It brings together communities to rate and review businesses, so others can find the best businesses for what they need. Having passed the 33 million review mark back in 2014, there is plenty to find all over the country with Yelp. Here’s the rundown on how the platform operates.

• Users Post Reviews – when someone visits a shop, restaurant, office, or any other business location, they can leave a review on Yelp. This includes what they liked and disliked and even a star rating.
• Other Users Search for a Business – when someone needs to find a business in their local area, they turn to Yelp. They input into the search bar what they’re looking for, such as “Chinese restaurant” or “hair salon”.
• Yelp Finds Matching Businesses – the Yelp search algorithms find the business profiles that match the keywords the user put in. They’ll pull up all of the matching listings and provide them in an easy to understand directory for the user with average star ratings and locations.
• Users Can Read What Other Users Have Posted – all of the reviews on Yelp are visible to other users. That means someone looking for a tow truck in Portland can see all the local tow truck companies and, when they find one that looks suitable, they can see what other Yelp users said about the company.

 

WHY IS YELP IMPORTANT TO MY BUSINESS?

You understand what Yelp is and how it works, but what makes it so important to your business strategy? Yelp is a prime opportunity for marketing if handled correctly. But it can be tricky if you don’t know the value of the customer review.

Because these are real, live people leaving reviews of your business, potential customers find Yelp extremely pivotal in which business they turn to when in need. A gallery of positive reviews shines the spotlight on you and directs money making traffic in your direction. There are over 145 million Yelp users every single month. And 35% of those users will visit the company that they viewed on Yelp within 24 hours. That is a goldmine of revenue waiting for you.

But, just as a collection of good reviews can bring in lead after lead, a slew of negative reviews can be particularly destructive. Businesses with poor ratings won’t attract customers who check Yelp first, which is a large percentage of them. Every guest makes a difference, so treat every single one with care to avoid a poor review.

Yelp is second only to Google when it comes to searching for local businesses. And, just as you put planning and care into shaping your Google listing identity, you should pay heed to your Yelp listing. It is just as valuable to your marketing strategy and could either help or hinder your sales. Let Yelp be a friendly source of revenue, not an obstacle for traffic.