Yelp Business Advertising Review

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 business page is fairly simple. All you have to do is find your business listing, click on a few options, and answer an automated phone call that immediately provides you with a code you must enter online during setup. Afterward, you can communicate with users on the site to directly address any reviews, whether positive or negative. You can send private messages to thank users for positive reviews, or apologize respectfully on behalf of your staff 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. However, you’re encouraged to choose your words wisely so as not to agitate the experience for others on the site and in turn make yourself look bad. Unlocking the business page also allows you to create special offers that are visible on 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 on entres if they mention how they were directed to your establishment. That would help you see just how far your reach is on the site.

If unlocking the business page isn’t bringing your business attention you expected, Yelp offers paid advertising to enhance the features that are already visible to other users. Though there are a few perks, they are a bit pricy. First of all, the changes are rather minimal compared to the free version. Your business page gets a slide show and a larger image to catch the attention of fellow “Yelpers.” 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 Yelp advertising will increase the exposure of your business listing and will range anywhere between $300 to $1000 a month. The idea is that you reach a targeted audience on Yelp, so if, for example, 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 immediately 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. If that happens, the best you can do is respond thoughtfully and abide by Yelp’s guidelines for commenting on negative feedback.

Raymond Fong’s blog on www.raymondfong.net offers first-hand experience into 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 which aren’t mentioned on Yelp’s information pages. He discovered that Yelp advertising costs a pretty penny, but fails to explain to business owners 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 minimal and won’t lessen the chance that your business will appear in a search result. After all, the main purpose of Yelp is for users to read other people’s first-hand accounts, and it is likely that their positive reviews 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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