Last time we talked about Google for Business and your business listing. There are three directory listings that are considered the most important to be listed in: Google, Bing, and Yelp. Next time we’ll talk about Bing, so today let’s tackle Yelp.
Set Up Your Yelp Listing
Yelp is a popular directory for consumers as well as small business owners. Its content shows up not just on the Yelp website but also on Apple maps Bing search. Add your business listing by setting up an account and going to Yelp for Business Owners here: https://biz.yelp.com .
Yelp will first ask you to try to locate your listing in its directory, then claim it if it’s there. If not, you can add it. You can exclude your home office address by simply not entering it.
Enter your address or at least city, state, and zip, up to three categories, phone, website, and hours. With Yelp you can add a lot more text describing your business, the owner, a bio of the owner, and history of the business. You can also add photos.
Just like Google for Business, you’ll want to get as many positive reviews on your Yelp profile as possible. Yelp reviews not only show up on Yelp, but also on Bing profiles and map searches. Once you get some reviews, you can go to the Review Badges menu option in Yelp and add a button on your website sending people to look at your Yelp reviews. You may want to add this to your testimonials page of your website in addition to the testimonials you have listed on that page.
Business Recommendations
A cool part of Yelp is that if you have business clients or local companies you like, you can add them in the Business Recommendations section. Hopefully, they will reciprocate and add your business.
Viewing Your Profile
Once you’re done setting up Yelp, view your profile and make any changes you need to. There is also a mobile app, so be sure to view your profile on mobile too.
Paying Yelp
There are several features in Yelp that cost money. We have had some clients do this; the salespeople are very aggressive so once you’ve set up your listing, expect to get calls and emails from Yelp wanting money from you. Of course, you don’t have to pay them anything to keep your free listing, so don’t cave in to the pressure unless you have gotten plenty of business already from them and/or want a lot of consumer tax traffic.
The areas where Yelp charges include Paid ads, page upgrades, calls to action, and deals.
If Yelp appears prominently in search results for your services and geographic location, it might make sense to have more of a presence on Yelp. View Yelp search results to see how prominent your page is and if your competitors are listed.
Adding Users
Earlier this year, Yelp added the functionality of adding users so you can delegate to webmasters or your team members to keep your listing updated.
Try Yelp to enhance your overall online presence.