Get To Know Yelp.com
By Vanessa Salvia, 2/7/11
Do you Yelp? Many people do. Yelp.com was founded in 2004 as a site where people could post reviews and their experiences at places of business-initially reviews focused on restaurants in the California Bay area, but that quickly expanded to many other types of businesses and services all across the country.
The important fact to remember is this: As of December 2010, more than 41 million people visited Yelp in the past 30 days!
Shouldn't your business have a free Yelp account?
If your business has been around a while or has some local presence, you might already have a page of reviews. If you don't, claiming or creating your Yelp business page is easy-just go to their business sign up page and fill out a couple of online forms. Your listing will be confirmed with a quick, automated phone call. It takes less than five minutes. Once you're signed up, you'll be able to take the reins of a tool that will help you connect with your customers through photos, offers and messages, and prevent any negative word of mouth from hindering your growth and success.
Respond and Engage
The point of using Yelp as a business owner or manager is to cultivate positive reviews. Millions of people utilize Yelp to discover new places to eat and shop, and to learn about the track record of service providers they plan to hire. Hopefully you won't have to face negative reviews, but if there are, respond constructively to them by either correcting misinformation or apologizing. People who utilize review sites can be very vocal with their criticism. Remember that responding to negative reviews is your chance to make things better. While you can respond publicly, Yelp does give you the opportunity to respond to users in private. Even people who have publicly complained will give you a second chance if they feel you are sincere in your efforts to adjust to criticism.
Make Offers and Announcements
Yelp allows you to create and share offers and make announcements. The offers and announcements appear not only to the people who visit your page but are also listed in the directory for your city, so people who may never have heard of your business can see it. Keep your offers updated and more and more people will begin to discover them.
Announcements can be just about anything you want. Let's say you're having a sale of your seasonal merchandise, or you've added new products or changed your location. Announcements are easy to create and publish to your Yelp page.
Use Yelp Badges
Yelp offers badges that you can include on your site or blog, that can show that you're on Yelp and how many positive reviews you've received. People can click a badge to read reviews, write their own review, or just get more information about you.
Advertise
While the general service of starting a Yelp listing and using Yelp is free, businesses can choose to advertise. Use Yelp for a while and see if and how it increases your exposure before committing to advertising.
Let people know you're on Yelp, and start gathering reviews. Check out the HEROweb Yelp page if you would like to see what a Yelp page looks like before starting your own. While you're there, tell us how we're doing, and then let us know what your Yelp page is!
Do you Yelp? Many people do. Yelp.com was founded in 2004 as a site where people could post reviews and their experiences at places of business-initially reviews focused on restaurants in the California Bay area, but that quickly expanded to many other types of businesses and services all across the country.
The important fact to remember is this: As of December 2010, more than 41 million people visited Yelp in the past 30 days!
Shouldn't your business have a free Yelp account?
If your business has been around a while or has some local presence, you might already have a page of reviews. If you don't, claiming or creating your Yelp business page is easy-just go to their business sign up page and fill out a couple of online forms. Your listing will be confirmed with a quick, automated phone call. It takes less than five minutes. Once you're signed up, you'll be able to take the reins of a tool that will help you connect with your customers through photos, offers and messages, and prevent any negative word of mouth from hindering your growth and success.
Respond and Engage
The point of using Yelp as a business owner or manager is to cultivate positive reviews. Millions of people utilize Yelp to discover new places to eat and shop, and to learn about the track record of service providers they plan to hire. Hopefully you won't have to face negative reviews, but if there are, respond constructively to them by either correcting misinformation or apologizing. People who utilize review sites can be very vocal with their criticism. Remember that responding to negative reviews is your chance to make things better. While you can respond publicly, Yelp does give you the opportunity to respond to users in private. Even people who have publicly complained will give you a second chance if they feel you are sincere in your efforts to adjust to criticism.
Make Offers and Announcements
Yelp allows you to create and share offers and make announcements. The offers and announcements appear not only to the people who visit your page but are also listed in the directory for your city, so people who may never have heard of your business can see it. Keep your offers updated and more and more people will begin to discover them.
Announcements can be just about anything you want. Let's say you're having a sale of your seasonal merchandise, or you've added new products or changed your location. Announcements are easy to create and publish to your Yelp page.
Use Yelp Badges
Yelp offers badges that you can include on your site or blog, that can show that you're on Yelp and how many positive reviews you've received. People can click a badge to read reviews, write their own review, or just get more information about you.
Advertise
While the general service of starting a Yelp listing and using Yelp is free, businesses can choose to advertise. Use Yelp for a while and see if and how it increases your exposure before committing to advertising.
Let people know you're on Yelp, and start gathering reviews. Check out the HEROweb Yelp page if you would like to see what a Yelp page looks like before starting your own. While you're there, tell us how we're doing, and then let us know what your Yelp page is!