Being the selfless and diligent worker that I am, I can't help but crack a smile when someone compliments the work my company performs. Call it pride or call it vanity, but I love it. Compliments energize me and the people I work with, and the benefits don't stop there. Compliments from satisfied customers also help us sell our services. So, when we get a good compliment, we really like to publicize it on our website.
Testimonials about your company are good, yes, but when you really think about it, what company in their right mind would publish a negative comment on their company website? When you read other website testimonials, do you wonder if you're only getting half of the story? This is where Yelp.com comes in - to help people find compliments and testimonials about businesses that they can trust.
What Yelp.com is: Yelp.com is a website that allows users to search for and then rave, rate, and critique a business. The possibilities are endless. You can review your favorite bookstore, favorite restaurant, even your family doctor. But Yelp.com is more than a simple review website - it's also a social networking site where people can make friends, compare favorites businesses, and more. While Yelp.com originally became well-known as a source of accurate restaurant reviews, it is becoming a haven for reviews on just about any type of consumer oriented company.
What makes Yelp.com important: Data from QuantCast.com, a website popularity tracking service, shows that Yelp's traffic doubled between the months of October 2008 and March 2009. This level of growth is quite phenomenal when you consider that Yelp had 5.9 million visitors in March 2009. No business owner can ignore these figures.
Why Yelp.com is successful: The social aspect of Yelp is, in my opinion, the key to the website's success. Whenever I read a review on Yelp, I can quickly and easily check all of the reviews that person has left. This makes it easy for me to "judge" reviewers and decide if their opinions and perspectives are in keeping with my own. If I find a reviewer that leaves good reviews, I'm very likely to follow their advice and recommendations.
How your business can benefit from Yelp.com: Believe it or not, Yelp gives you the chance to list your business for free. Since so many people are using Yelp.com to find businesses, this is a great source of free advertising. Not only that, but positive reviews about your business that are left on Yelp can send a lot of customers your way.
How Yelp.com can affect your business negatively: If someone on Yelp leaves you a bad review, they can damage your reputation and your business. Since Yelp believes in honesty and transparency, they don't moderate reviews. If someone does complain about your business on Yelp, you do have the option of leaving a response. Be honest if your business made a mistake, take the high road, and do your best to avoid this problem in the first place.
Now that you know the low down on Yelp.com, it's time to get started on your company's Yelp profile.
Testimonials about your company are good, yes, but when you really think about it, what company in their right mind would publish a negative comment on their company website? When you read other website testimonials, do you wonder if you're only getting half of the story? This is where Yelp.com comes in - to help people find compliments and testimonials about businesses that they can trust.
What Yelp.com is: Yelp.com is a website that allows users to search for and then rave, rate, and critique a business. The possibilities are endless. You can review your favorite bookstore, favorite restaurant, even your family doctor. But Yelp.com is more than a simple review website - it's also a social networking site where people can make friends, compare favorites businesses, and more. While Yelp.com originally became well-known as a source of accurate restaurant reviews, it is becoming a haven for reviews on just about any type of consumer oriented company.
What makes Yelp.com important: Data from QuantCast.com, a website popularity tracking service, shows that Yelp's traffic doubled between the months of October 2008 and March 2009. This level of growth is quite phenomenal when you consider that Yelp had 5.9 million visitors in March 2009. No business owner can ignore these figures.
Why Yelp.com is successful: The social aspect of Yelp is, in my opinion, the key to the website's success. Whenever I read a review on Yelp, I can quickly and easily check all of the reviews that person has left. This makes it easy for me to "judge" reviewers and decide if their opinions and perspectives are in keeping with my own. If I find a reviewer that leaves good reviews, I'm very likely to follow their advice and recommendations.
How your business can benefit from Yelp.com: Believe it or not, Yelp gives you the chance to list your business for free. Since so many people are using Yelp.com to find businesses, this is a great source of free advertising. Not only that, but positive reviews about your business that are left on Yelp can send a lot of customers your way.
How Yelp.com can affect your business negatively: If someone on Yelp leaves you a bad review, they can damage your reputation and your business. Since Yelp believes in honesty and transparency, they don't moderate reviews. If someone does complain about your business on Yelp, you do have the option of leaving a response. Be honest if your business made a mistake, take the high road, and do your best to avoid this problem in the first place.
Now that you know the low down on Yelp.com, it's time to get started on your company's Yelp profile.
About the Author:
Author Jason Lancaster is the President of Spork Marketing, a full-service Internet marketing company based in Denver, Colorado. See SporkMarketing.com for more small business Internet marketing tips and advice.
