How to use Yelp for Small Businesses?

Ram zi

Updated on:

How to use Yelp for Small Businesses?

Yelp is an American website that serves as a review platform. It is the second most popular review website in the US where users leave star ratings here and give a review on business in detail. This website publishes reviews on businesses. Most Americans visit and consult yelp before making any purchase.

Yelp is an appealing review website that can be accessed online and via its application. it was launched in 2004. The function of yelp is to feature listings of millions of companies and targets customers in a particular area.  Users can visit the website, rate the local businesses, and leave comments on their performance. Yelp does not approve or verify users’ comments but it uses algorithms for the detection of fake or malicious comments. Yelp’s website is a better option to attract more potential customers and convert them into buyers or clients. It functions better than yellowpage.com and whitepage.com, therefore it is popular among business owners to generate more traffic.

How to use Yelp for Small Businesses?

Yelp serves to be a great resource for promoting small businesses but you need to be very motivated to get the most benefit from it. Here are some steps that are recommended to utilize yelp for your business growth.

When buyers or consumers are searching for a business like yours, they go online to get what they want and where they want to get it or when they want to get it. They prefer choosing the best business to meet their needs and with a complete Yelp business page, they mostly like to find your company during their research procedure. The consumer who once clicks on your business from Yelp will contact you either by calling you or messaging you, or requesting a quote directly through your page. It is most probable that 93% of consumers make a comparison of businesses before deciding on the final one. It is important for how you stand your company out on yelp

1. What is Claiming Your Business on Yelp?

Claiming your business on yelp is free and allows you to edit details on your business page. You can get access to more than 20 free tools and metrics for your company. You have the option of updating your hours, adding details of your business, uploading photos, responding to reviews from visitors, and much more. It offers you to bring your distinctive business brand to yelp. It is merely not branding that makes yelp for your business, the benefits of yelp go far beyond this. Those business companies who claim their page and share detailed information about their business are more likely to receive more potential customers on yelp, as well as more calls and more website clicks.

2. How do You Claim your Business on Yelp?

The following steps are required to be followed to claim your business on Yelp:

  • Go to Yelp for business at biz.yelp.com/claim
  • You can find your business by simply typing your business brand name. if it is already listed there, just click on it. And if it is not listed, you can click the ‘Add to Yelp for free’ option.
  • You can create an account on Yelp by giving your business details, information, and your email address. You should use an email address so that you can check it on regular basis to stand, on top of what’s going on with your page.
  • You have to verify your account by entering the verification code. You will receive an email or call to the number listed on your page to verify your identity.

3. How to Optimize Your Yelp Page?                    

It does not take much effort to set up your yelp page. Setting up your Yelp page is just the start of the process if you are interested to get maximum advantage of your listing. A basic and half info page fails to attract many customers. Yelp offers you numerous options for customization and optimizations that help to improve your page from a marketing point of view. You can add more photos and images relevant to your business. For instance, if you are a professional chef you can add more images of cakes and other cuisines that enables your page to attract more potential customers who might be interested in purchasing those food items. Therefore, it is beneficiary to add images and photos to show off the products you are offering to buy.

You can optimize your page by adding some more helpful and effective free steps to apply on your page.

  • Select the category of your business correctly:

There are 22 main categories and hundred other subcategories on yelp. You have the option of choosing up to 3 categories for your business. Classifying your business aptly is a way to get a better chance of being found by those who are searching for your products or services.

  • Write a good business description

You are allowed to write 1500 characters descriptions of your business for your page visitors. It is up to you to write a sensible, effective, and catchy description of your business. You can add specialties of your business or product, the experience of your staff members, and the reason customers should choose your business over other competitors.

  • Enlist your Business Hours

Inform your customers about the hours or the best time exactly when they can reach you.

  • Give Additional Information

You can add more information regarding your business such as whether you have the facility of car parking, daycare, allowing pets, or free Wi-Fi, etc.  

  • Add Photos and Videos

Add photos and videos relevant to your business to enhance your Yelp profile. Whether you are a food expert or clothes maker add portraits that can showcase your entrepreneur to attract more customers who are in search of those products that you sell or make.  

  • Add relevant keywords

Adding such keywords that feature your services or product to make it easier for customers to find your page.

  • Provide your Active Contact Number

You are advised to add an active contact number so that it will be convenient for clients to contact you and inquire about the desired product or service. You can also mention the period for the availability of your contact team.

  • Update your profile regularly

If you do not update your profile on regular basis the profile becomes stuck in search. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep uploading some new offers, and announcements related to your business.

  • Link to your Yelp profile

To grab the attention of yelp’s algorithm, you need to link back to your Yelp profile from your business website.

  • Reward check-ins

Yelp visitors have the opportunity to ‘check in’ when they visit a business in person. You can give incentives by rewarding them with special discount offers on future purchases for such visitors who would come to your premises.

  • Match your NAP information to your Google Business profile NAP

‘NAP’ is the company’s name, address, and contact number. Make it sure that Nap on your Yelp profile matches that on your Google Business profile to get a better chance of being featured in the ‘local pack’.

  • Share all locations

If your business is located in more than one location physically, you should create a separate profile for each establishment.

You can remove the feature ‘You might Also Consider’ part by paying 1$ a day to avoid the feature of removing links to your competition on your page.

  • Add a call-to-action (CTA) Option:

For 1$ a day, you can get a CTA button to your profile, it invites visitors to book an appointment, print a voucher, visit your location and get a quote.

  • Offer Deals

You can invite visitors by offering them some discounts on products and services. It helps to arouse your sales.  For this offer, Yelp charges a 30% commission.

  • Arrange Photos

You can pay yelp 1$ a day to arrange for photo shots to appear on your profile. Otherwise, yelp shows your pictures randomly on your page and also uploads snapshots of reviews that customers leave on your page.

  • Sell Gift Certificates

You can also offer gift certificates to your customers, but Yelp charges a 10% fee for this.

  • Attract more Yelp Reviews

Yelp does not poke customers to reviews, it even out the business that breaks this rule. However, there are many ethical ways to encourage customers to leave positive comments on your profile.

Following are the best ways to build your yelp reviews”

  • Connect your yelp review page with your company’s website
  • Add a review carousel to your website to highlight the testimonials
  • Use yelp stickers on your locations
  • Give a good introduction to your business to attract customers with special offers
  • Promote your commending reviews on your business’s social media channels or platforms.
  • Maintaining to be higher on Yelp
  • Ensure as many reviews as possible on your company to get a high rank on Yelp’s listings.

4. How to manage Negative Yelp Reviews?

It is always worrying to handle negative reviews from customers but it is unavoidable.

However, you can control how prominent bad reviews are on your yelp page. But you have to pay to advertise with the company to remove or to push those bad reviews to the bottom of the pile. It is advisable to set the course for a positive relationship from the beginning of the company in order to avoid ditching a company over bad customer service. Only then you can lessen the chance of getting negative reviews. You can also offer special discounts to customers who write a review. They may appreciate this gesture and leave positive reviews.

If your company receives a bad comment, you should follow these best and most efficient ways to handle them

  • Never take it personally
  • Never let a crisis go to waste
  • Be humble to the reviews
  • Respond to the review quickly
  • Deal with their concerns directly
  • take the discourse offline

Yelp does not pay for removing negative comments, but you can request Yelp to remove reviews that spread hate, malicious, threats, or harassment. You can also engage with the Yelp Advertising Partner Program to give boost your sales.

Yelp is Important for Your Business Success

Yelp is, no doubt, a fabulous platform for the promotion of your business. If you are taking full advantage of this platform, then you are missing out on the chance to market your company locally. You need to be engaged with customers who leave reviews, in order to be connected with your customers. You need to make a profile, add relevant details of your business, optimize it, and connect with your clients via reviews. Thus Yelp can be an impactful marketing platform for your company.

Yelp Mobile App for Android Devices:

Yelp Mobile App For iOS Devices:

You can download Yelp mobile app on your mobile easily. Yelp connects people with local businesses, companies, and brands. It is a one-stop travel and local platform to explore neighboring favorites. You can find whatever you desire. You can take help from yelp whether you are searching for a restaurant, travel guide, pet sitter, home services and repairs, or anything else. Yelp is always there for you.

Leave a Comment