If your business doesn’t have a Yelp page, it’s definitely time to get one! Yelp is extremely powerful for small and local businesses; in fact, if you haven't yet claimed your Yelp page, you might be harming your business—your business could be listed without your knowledge or control.
Yelp Reviews Boost Credibility—No Ratings, No Credibility
Yelp is a review website, and the reviews are written by its users. For small and growing businesses, these reviews are an online version of word-of-mouth—anyone looking for your company will find reviews written about your company by other users. As you can imagine, these reviews will either help or hurt your brand.
Yelp isn't something you can ignore. If your company doesn't have a Yelp page, users trying to find businesses like yours will find your competitors, not you. But Yelp might already have a page for your business, and that page might even have reviews—Yelp regularly buys business information from third-party data providers. Do you know what your customers are saying about your business? Are you joining the conversation?
Over 100 million unique visitors come to Yelp each month, 9.4 million of them using mobile phones. With this much activity, your business can't afford to be absent or misrepresented.
Claim Your Page and Access Yelp's Business Tools
Claiming your Yelp business page will unlock Yelp's business dashboard, which gives you access to the following features.
- User Views - See how many people have viewed your business page.
- User Actions - View how many people have called, clicked on your website, uploaded photos, checked in on mobile devices, and more.
- User Reviews - Find out what your customers think about your business. This helps you improve your products and services to deliver more of what your customers want.
- Direct Messaging to Customers - If customers leave you reviews, you can thank them or send them personal messages through Yelp's direct messaging feature. And if you receive a negative review, you can respond to it directly and resolve the issue.
- Ads and Upgrades - Promote your business or add extra features to your page, such as an image slideshow. These features get your business additional exposure and more customers.
- Percentage of Users Accessing through Mobile Devices - It's important to understand how your customers are searching for your business. This feature allows you to see how many people are viewing your page from a mobile device.
Get Found on Search Engines and Mobile Devices
Not only will Yelp help bring customers to your storefront, it will increase the trustworthiness of your business and in turn will help increase the ranking of your website in search engines like Google and Bing. In addition, your Yelp business page will often rank on or near the first page of search results when a customer searches for your company or for a business like yours in your local area. This offers increased exposure for your business as well as validation of your company's legitimacy. And let’s face it—it's better to have Yelp on the first page of a search for your business rather than other review sites that focus only on negative reviews, such as Ripoff Report or Pissed Consumer.
Yelp functions as a search engine in its own right, with many users conducting searches through Yelp's website and mobile app. The Yelp mobile app is a highly popular way to find local businesses, from restaurants to auto mechanics to insurance brokers and more. And the information provided is robust. For example, when a user searches for a local restaurant on Yelp's mobile app, he or she can view customer ratings, pictures of the food and the dining area, driving directions, contact info, restaurant hours, and more, and can quickly and easily send the page to friends through social networks.
Ask Your Customers for Reviews
Since Yelp is accessible via computer, mobile devices, and tablets, it's easy for potential customers to check Yelp before visiting your business or purchasing your products or services. If your business has a five-star rating, you'll likely have customers lined up out the door. If you have a poor rating or no rating at all, this won't be the case. Trust is important, and customers trust other customers. Encourage your satisfied customers to submit a review on Yelp. It's one of the simplest things you can do to help grow your business presence online.
Need Help?
Yelp is a low cost way to acquire a large amount of exposure. If you would like to start a Yelp account for your company but don’t have time to set up or manage it, we can help!
