Why is it Vital to Claim Your Business on Yelp?
Maybe Yelp p*sses you off. The less you have to do with them the better. Your friends say Yelp is a waste of time. They've heard poor Yelp reviews can ruin a business and that even some jokers create poor reviews on listings for fun. Why would you want to spend valuable time to claim a business on such a Debbie Downer as Yelp?
Answer: Because your business is almost certainly already listed on Yelp, and accepting reviews. That listing will be visible to the huge number of monthly Yelp visitors, and if you don't claim and manage that listing, it's like having a storefront on a high street that you've allowed to grow rotten. It stands a good chance of being vandalized by idiots and fly-posted on by rivals (and you wonder why your customer numbers are not rising).
Let me make this clear. People searching for a service, and visiting Yelp will almost certainly be able to see your business there, including any poor reviews, and will be influenced in their buying decisions when they compare your Yelp business listing to a similar service that has nice photos, comprehensive business information, and managed reviews.
Not claiming your Business on Yelp is akin to boarding up your shopfront while you're still in business.
Do I have to Pay to Claim My Business on Yelp? And If Not What Do You Gain From This Post?
No, you don't need to pay. Claiming your business listing on Yelp is Free.You need to devote a small initial amount of time in getting the listing looking spruce, and a small amount of time in an ongoing manner for maintenance, but you pay nothing.
Some companies offer to claim and manage your Yelp Business listing at a cost of many hundreds of dollars monthly. We don't, we think for such simple tasks, this is taking advantage of you.
The benefit we gain by bringing you to our website, to view the information on this web-page, is just that... you are on our website. You might decide at some point that you wish more leads than Yelp can provide, and look to the power of Google Paid Ads. We are experienced experts at building and maintaining Google Paid Ad campaigns, and there's a good chance we can provide a better service than others. Hey... why not ask us for a free review of your current Adwords set-up?
What Tangible Benefits Do I Gain by Claiming my Business Listing on Yelp?
You can now upload compelling photos, add external links that guide people to your website and social media profiles. You can add crucial information like your phone number, menu (or service details), and hours. Most importantly, claiming your page and (creating an account with Yelp) allows you to to respond privately and publicly to customers who have posted reviews about your business.
So How Do I Claim My Business on Yelp? I Suppose You Need a Degree to Figure it Out?
Not at all. Claiming your business on Yelp is remarkably easy and fast.
First Search for your Business on Yelp:
Answer: Because your business is almost certainly already listed on Yelp, and accepting reviews. That listing will be visible to the huge number of monthly Yelp visitors, and if you don't claim and manage that listing, it's like having a storefront on a high street that you've allowed to grow rotten. It stands a good chance of being vandalized by idiots and fly-posted on by rivals (and you wonder why your customer numbers are not rising).
Let me make this clear. People searching for a service, and visiting Yelp will almost certainly be able to see your business there, including any poor reviews, and will be influenced in their buying decisions when they compare your Yelp business listing to a similar service that has nice photos, comprehensive business information, and managed reviews.
Not claiming your Business on Yelp is akin to boarding up your shopfront while you're still in business.
Do I have to Pay to Claim My Business on Yelp? And If Not What Do You Gain From This Post?
No, you don't need to pay. Claiming your business listing on Yelp is Free.You need to devote a small initial amount of time in getting the listing looking spruce, and a small amount of time in an ongoing manner for maintenance, but you pay nothing.
Some companies offer to claim and manage your Yelp Business listing at a cost of many hundreds of dollars monthly. We don't, we think for such simple tasks, this is taking advantage of you.
The benefit we gain by bringing you to our website, to view the information on this web-page, is just that... you are on our website. You might decide at some point that you wish more leads than Yelp can provide, and look to the power of Google Paid Ads. We are experienced experts at building and maintaining Google Paid Ad campaigns, and there's a good chance we can provide a better service than others. Hey... why not ask us for a free review of your current Adwords set-up?
What Tangible Benefits Do I Gain by Claiming my Business Listing on Yelp?
You can now upload compelling photos, add external links that guide people to your website and social media profiles. You can add crucial information like your phone number, menu (or service details), and hours. Most importantly, claiming your page and (creating an account with Yelp) allows you to to respond privately and publicly to customers who have posted reviews about your business.
So How Do I Claim My Business on Yelp? I Suppose You Need a Degree to Figure it Out?
Not at all. Claiming your business on Yelp is remarkably easy and fast.
First Search for your Business on Yelp:
Then click on the blue Unclaimed button next to your Business Name.
Then simply sign up to the Yelp via the form that follows.
Yelp will validate the business entry through email. This reduces the number of fake profiles created by malicious individuals. Once you receive your verification email, you will be able to gain full access your Yelp profile.
To verify that you are the owner of your business, Yelp may call the number listed on your business page and prompt you to enter a verification code. You can control when this phone call occurs. Please ensure you are at your place of business before initiating the phone call.
To verify that you are the owner of your business, Yelp may call the number listed on your business page and prompt you to enter a verification code. You can control when this phone call occurs. Please ensure you are at your place of business before initiating the phone call.
Take an Hour to Add Good Details to Your Business Listing, Once You Have Claimed it.
Once you've claimed your Yelp Business listing, spend a short period of time adding relevant, complete and accurate Business Information to that listing, including good photos, opening times, exact services offered etc... to maximize its impact on people viewing that listing.
Adding fully completed Business Information, to a listing, is one of the key SEO factors on Yelp (those factors which decide in which vertical order businesses are listed).
Can I Remove Negative Reviews on Yelp, Now I Have Claimed my Business Listing?
In theory, YES, if you can show the review is false and malicious. But in practical terms this situation is very dificult to prove, and applications for removal rarely succeed.
All businesses receive negative reviews. However, businesses that are well managed, and offer good service, gain a lot more positive reviews than they do negative.
For any negative reviews you recieve, you can (now you have claimed your Business Listing) reply to such reviews in the way good customer service would suggest. This might mean an apology. It might mean an explanation of the unfortunate events that occured, and what steps you have taken to prevent a repeat situation again. Remember, potential buyers of your service will read your replies, and, the correct replies, will make them view you less harshly.
More important than managing poor reviews though, is the process of actively gathering good reviews. You can't actually ask for 'good reviews', but you can ask for 'honest reviews', and explain how important it is to your business to gain 'honest reviews', and how grateful you are to receive them. You can list such requests on the door of your premises, on menus, on your vehicle, verbally to clients, etc.
Presumably, most of your customers/clients are happy with your service, but might generally be less motivated to leave a review than those few who suffered an unpleasant experience and seek to vent. Well, leaving lots of reminders to people to leave a review, will generally motivate those who might otherwise not have said something - the fairly happy customer/client.
Will Claiming My Yelp Business Listing, and Managing it Going Forward, Generate More Business for Me?
In short, probably.
Estimates suggest there are 150+ million active users of Yelp, monthly. Studies have shown that 82 percent of Yelp users visit the site when preparing to spend money. Also, 93 percent of Yelp users go on to make purchases at the business they looked up and researched on the site.
“$8,000 is the average annual incremental revenue generated by a business claiming its free Yelp Business Page” ~Boston Consulting Group, March 2013. of course, businesses located in cities will generaly recieve more than that, and business located in less population dense rural areas... will receive much less.
GOOGLE ADS
Claiming a free Yelp Business Page is only the beginning for marketing a local business, though. If you wish to dominate Google, for your local area, and have relatively high profit margins then we suggest you consider Google Paid Ads (and consider using us to build and manage your campaign)
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
So you have claimed your Yelp Listing ... what about your free GMB listing? There are potentially even more leads to be generated here.
Once you've claimed your Yelp Business listing, spend a short period of time adding relevant, complete and accurate Business Information to that listing, including good photos, opening times, exact services offered etc... to maximize its impact on people viewing that listing.
Adding fully completed Business Information, to a listing, is one of the key SEO factors on Yelp (those factors which decide in which vertical order businesses are listed).
Can I Remove Negative Reviews on Yelp, Now I Have Claimed my Business Listing?
In theory, YES, if you can show the review is false and malicious. But in practical terms this situation is very dificult to prove, and applications for removal rarely succeed.
All businesses receive negative reviews. However, businesses that are well managed, and offer good service, gain a lot more positive reviews than they do negative.
For any negative reviews you recieve, you can (now you have claimed your Business Listing) reply to such reviews in the way good customer service would suggest. This might mean an apology. It might mean an explanation of the unfortunate events that occured, and what steps you have taken to prevent a repeat situation again. Remember, potential buyers of your service will read your replies, and, the correct replies, will make them view you less harshly.
More important than managing poor reviews though, is the process of actively gathering good reviews. You can't actually ask for 'good reviews', but you can ask for 'honest reviews', and explain how important it is to your business to gain 'honest reviews', and how grateful you are to receive them. You can list such requests on the door of your premises, on menus, on your vehicle, verbally to clients, etc.
Presumably, most of your customers/clients are happy with your service, but might generally be less motivated to leave a review than those few who suffered an unpleasant experience and seek to vent. Well, leaving lots of reminders to people to leave a review, will generally motivate those who might otherwise not have said something - the fairly happy customer/client.
Will Claiming My Yelp Business Listing, and Managing it Going Forward, Generate More Business for Me?
In short, probably.
Estimates suggest there are 150+ million active users of Yelp, monthly. Studies have shown that 82 percent of Yelp users visit the site when preparing to spend money. Also, 93 percent of Yelp users go on to make purchases at the business they looked up and researched on the site.
“$8,000 is the average annual incremental revenue generated by a business claiming its free Yelp Business Page” ~Boston Consulting Group, March 2013. of course, businesses located in cities will generaly recieve more than that, and business located in less population dense rural areas... will receive much less.
GOOGLE ADS
Claiming a free Yelp Business Page is only the beginning for marketing a local business, though. If you wish to dominate Google, for your local area, and have relatively high profit margins then we suggest you consider Google Paid Ads (and consider using us to build and manage your campaign)
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
So you have claimed your Yelp Listing ... what about your free GMB listing? There are potentially even more leads to be generated here.