Are You Making the Most out of Your Yelp Page?
Word of mouth will always remain the most powerful marketing tool, and websites like Yelp just perpetuate word of mouth’s importance, even when it’s from strangers. Yelp is very important for establishing your business as efficient, legitimate, and most importantly, worthwhile. Some may not go to your business’s official website and instead look up its Yelp page since Yelp already has a known reputation as a trusted source for reviews, so making sure your Yelp page is informative, up to date, and professional is important to creating new customer leads.
Why do people like Yelp? Firstly, pretty much everyone uses it or knows of it, whether it’s used to look up a place to give your business to or to leave a review. Since it is so widespread that means it is the most likely place to read unbiased reviews from everyone and anyone. Sometimes people are mistrustful of company websites because they are biased or misleading, which is why word of mouth through reviews is so important. So, what can you do to make the most of your Yelp page to ensure you create leads?
The most important thing you can do is make sure all necessary information about your business is readily available and easily located. This includes, but is not limited to: the location and address of your business, phone number, contact information, standard hours, holiday hours, and then any information that shows what you offer, complete with pricing. If you’re a restaurant this means complete menu, if you’re a nail salon this means a list of all the services you provide, etc. People will come to the page specifically for this info, so make sure it’s there and it is easy to find. It’s harder to keep a potential customer around or create a lead if they have to be bothered to go to extra means, like emailing or calling your business directly, to get it.
Not only does this provide answers to the questions they were likely looking for, but you might be able to sway them even more off the strength of other things you provide. If they came looking for a place that carried A, but saw that they also have B, that might be a selling point for your business.
It’s important to keep this page updated with any changes that your business goes through (there will surely be some!) from pricing, to hours, to location, etc. A first time viewer wont know this information is outdated if you leave it up, and your page needs to be accurate.
Another make-or-break aspect of your Yelp page is photos of your business. Clear, high-quality images are the best way to present your business as professional and efficient, and convince people to visit. A dark and blurry photo will not compel anyone to visit your place of business. In certain niches, the appeal of your location is a huge draw. Some will choose a restaurant for its view, some will choose a boutique because it has a chic, stylish atmosphere.
Respond to those who review - whether it is poor or if it’s great. Either way, people will see you are actively involved in what’s going on. People always appreciate when a business owner is apologetic and understands that a mistake was made without blaming the customer. Customer service will always be important and how you react, even when the customer is wrong, is vital to how others see you. You can implement strategies to work on building reviews from valued regular customers, or those that have a positive experience. Leave signs that direct customers to leave reviews on your Yelp page and your reviews can skyrocket.
Although Yelp is the top dog for online reviews, make sure you’ve followed these guidelines and covered the bases with not only this website, but all other online review sites that have a page for your business, too! This is an easy, free way to earn leads.
