 |
| photo by thechattery.org |
Guest Post
Are you a small business owner who relies on customers to buy your products or services? If you don’t spend a lot of money on advertising, attracting customers needs to be done in other ways. One way that you can do this is to use an online marketing space like Yelp. Most of the visitors to the site are there to find a business where they can spend money. This means you may want to take a hard look at why your business needs to be listed on the site.
There have been a lot of negative press about the site, you may have read about that could be the reason you are holding off. This could include news about negative reviews and issues with the site’s business practices. However, the best course of action is to understand the site so you can make the best decision for your business. The easiest way to do this is to review some information about the site and how your business will benefit. How Do Business Owners Proceed? Yelp is primarily a business review site that was designed for customers. There are many businesses on the site that have been added by users. This could be a business owner or someone else, The main thing to remember is you will need to claim the listing for your business. Just follow the steps that are provided to verify your business. One of the very first things to do once your business listing is verified is to update any information that is old or out of date. If you are adding a new listing, make sure to include every bit of information there is about your business. This will include the address, phone number, hours of operation, menu items, to any specials. The more information you provide gives customers a reason to patronize your business. Yelp listing can be found on search engines like Google. This means you may make sure it is optimized for SEO. You should add some keywords for your business, anchor text, and other details that are found on a typical website. Check out their analytics page to get a better understanding of your market. If you want to help drive customers to your business, then local SEO will be important too. Search results that appear on Google or other search engines will display sites on Yelp if they include this information. Fun Fact - Do you know that shopping is the biggest category on Yelp and not restaurants? How To Encourage Positive Reviews? Once a Yelp listing is added and fully optimized, the next step for a business owner is to make sure they are getting good reviews. This is a tricky subject as business owners want to have the best reviews. One thing you should not do is entice customers to write positive reviews with discounts or other perks. The reviews need to be organic from customers who enjoyed their experience. There are many aspects of a business that customers will experience. One aspect that is more important than any other is customer service. Customers that have a pleasant experience are more likely to leave a positive review. You just need to find ways to make your customers feel special. Fun Fact - Do you know you can apply for a window decal if your ratings are overly positive? How To Address Negative Reviews? The worst thing for a business owner on Yelp to do is not address negative reviews. However, this does not mean making excuses or making the customer look bad. The goal is to respond to a negative review in a positive way. You want to create as much goodwill as possible as other users will see the responses to negative reviews. Hopefully, they can be persuaded to revise a negative review. If there is a problem with your store, then be upfront about it. Yelp users will know when a business owners is attempting to do their best with a customer. Fun Fact - Do you know the majority of the reviews on Yelp are 4 stars or above? What Is The Not Recommended Section? Some review on a Yelp page may be found in a not recommended section because they have flagged as suspect. This is due to Yelp using algorithms and filters to detect bias. The only way to find this section is to use a tiny link located at the bottom of the page. Unless someone really wants to read reviews that have been flagged, business owners should not worry that much. The main thing to keep in mind about reviews is they cannot be removed regardless if they are negative or positive. Fun Fact - Do you know that over 20 percent of reviews will be in the not recommend section? Should I Spend Money On The Site? Yelp offers a lot to business owners for free, but a lot more is available. Business owners have features that can be used if they want to spend money on marketing. If you want to have a sponsored listing on the site, then be prepared to pay at least $350 or maybe even more. However, there is a good chance that you may not get the return on your investment that is expected. On the other hand, an ad that is well designed is likely to attract people who may become return customers. All it takes is one or two customers to establish a long-term relationship with your business that is profitable. Fun Fact - Do you know there is a correlation between a Yelp store rating and revenue? A business owner will have a lot to process when they want to add a new business listing to Yelp. You have many options to consider depending on how you want to use the site. One hing that may be helpful if you want to get people to leave reviews is to provide a link on a receipt or business card. Customers of a business will likely use a smartphone or tablet to access the site. This means they can leave a positive or negative review within minutes of leaving your business.
