Small Business Owners, Do You Yelp?

What’s cool about digital is that it is constantly evolving, changing and improving. But, that also means it is hard to keep up with all of the platforms that are available to help your business succeed.

When you look at where you promote your business online you probably think of your website, organic search and your advertising spend. These are all great places to start. But, more and more people are using sites that have a social element to decide who they’d like to buy from.

Yelp has become known to drive traffic to your site and to your physical store. It’s been a strong referrer for physical businesses and now it can send people to your business online.

Even if you are in a professional services industry, Yelp can be helpful to you. It’s not just about quick eats and beauty shops anymore. Don’t let the fear of negative reviews scare you away. Yelp is the modern-day yellow pages.

Here are three benefits of using Yelp to promote your small business:

Improve Customer Opinion

Yelp provides an environment where potential customers can see the opinions of other customers. If you are doing your job, this will help your customers to see you as approachable and potentially a good service provider. You don’t have the budget to launch TV ads and buy billboards, but you can reach people where they are actively looking for service providers like yourself — on Yelp.

Show Off Your Expertise

People are using Yelp to see what others think of your expert opinion. If they have nice things to say, this is an instant credibility booster. Often, a ripple effect can happen due to your customers posting a ton of glowing reviews on your page and then potential customers are exposed to them. If that doesn’t happen, your Yelp business page, at the very least, lets viewers know what you offer, when you are available and how they can find you.

Maximize Local Referrals

Yelp is highly location-based. People want to know what’s near them. They also want to know who in their neighborhood has gone there before. Having a Yelp business page lets you get found in a search like “Computer repair” in “Philadelphia.”  Because it is a directory, it is not uncommon to see a spike in traffic to your website after setting up a Yelp account. If you are a small business owner, try it out. We’ve seen positive results so far.