Yelp has become one of the top providers of local business listings, making it essential for businesses to create and manage a presence here. This is especially important for businesses that serve a local community since your audience is quite likely to find you here. Yelp’s motto is “The power of word of mouth amplified” and its purpose is for users to find and rate businesses through this online directory. With that in mind, you need to create a profile (it’s free!) and then collect positive customer reviews.
- Start here on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/business
- You will be asked to search for your business listing. Enter the name of your business and location and view the results. If your business is already listed, be sure to claim it. If not, proceed by clicking on the link to create a business listing.
- Fill out the basic profile details and submit.
- You will need to verify your email address by clicking on the link provided in a message sent to you by Yelp. Once this is complete, you will see a message letting you know that you can claim your listing once it has been reviewed by the Yelp team. In the meantime, click on the link to “Go to Your Yelp Welcome Page.”
- Add photos to your listing, including your business logo and any other photos you want to share with the public.
- Request reviews from your network. Reviews are very important on Yelp. When consumers are searching for a product or service here, reviews can affect their decisions. Copy the link to your business listing and send it to clients, and share it on your social networks and in your email marketing messages. Consider making review requests an ongoing part of your marketing effort so that you can continue to build up positive feedback over time. If you receive a negative review, the only way to have it removed is to sign up as an advertiser with Yelp. That’s right: advertisers can have negative reviews removed.
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