Given its massive user base (Yelp is currently the fourth most popular app in the U.S.), prospective business owners may wonder whether or not their company should get on Yelp. Businesses that thrive on word-of-mouth recommendations, like restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels, will likely see a lot of benefits from getting listed on Yelp.
And while it’s relatively easy to get listed on the platform, the process isn’t as simple as clicking a button. Getting your business listed on Yelp does require some work upfront but with these tips you can increase your chances of being discovered by new customers who are searching for businesses like yours.
If you’re reading this, chances are good that you’ve considered launching your own business — whether it’s something small like a food truck or something bigger like opening a brick-and-mortar storefront. In this post, we’ll take you through some considerations before you launch a business and ways to get started today if you’re ready to take that leap of faith.
What is Yelp?
Yelp is a user-generated review website that allows users to leave reviews of businesses they visit and recommend. Users can leave reviews about the quality of the products they purchased, the service they received or even just leave general feedback about the business.
Yelp is a website that lets users share their experiences with businesses. This includes things like restaurants, hairdressers, hotels, shopping and more. People can log in to their Yelp accounts, search for a type of business and read reviews posted by other users about that business.
Yelp is one of the most popular crowd-sourced review sites on the internet, with millions of monthly users. It’s also one of the most authoritative, as it’s not uncommon for a business owner to be given access to the ability to respond to reviews.
There are two types of accounts on Yelp. Business accounts are for companies that offer services or sell products to consumers. The other type is the consumer account, which is for the person who is looking for businesses like yours.
Why Should I Care About Yelp?
As mentioned above, an increasing number of people are using Yelp to find businesses in their area. According to the company, there are more than 148 million people using the site each month and 84% of them are using it while in-market for services.
These are people who are actively looking for a service you offer, and if you’re not listed on Yelp, you’re missing out on potential customers and sales. Even more important than the sheer numbers of people using Yelp is the fact that most of these users are highly engaged.
They visit the site regularly and spend a long time reading reviews and browsing the site for businesses. In fact, the average visitor spends about 15-20 minutes on the site each month. This means that if you do everything right, you can make a big impact on people, who are actively looking for businesses like yours.
How to Get Your Business Listed on Yelp?
Before you can get your business listed on Yelp, you first have to make sure it is eligible to be listed. If you’ve ever wondered if you can get your Yelp business review blocked, then you’re in luck.
There’s a way to do it. You need to go through a verification process, where you provide the Yelp team with some information about your business. Once your business is verified, you can add it to your account. Here’s what you need to do:
- Sign In to Your Account – Go to the Yelp website and log in to your account.
- If you don’t have an account, click on ‘Sign up’ and follow the prompts to create an account.
- Add Your Business – Click on the ‘Add’ button and choose the type of business you have. You can also add your business by clicking ‘Business’ and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
- Verify Your Business – Once you’ve added your business, the next step is to verify it. This means providing some information about your business, including its address and contact details, and uploading a photo of the business location.
Find Out If You’re Eligible to be Listed on Yelp
If you’ve ever wondered if you can get your Yelp business review blocked, then you’re in luck. There’s a way to do it. You first need to find out if your business is eligible to be listed on Yelp. To do this, go to the Yelp website and click on the ‘Advertise’ button.
On the next page, click on ‘Get Started’ under the ‘Advertise on Yelp’ section. On this page, you’ll see a list of options for businesses, which includes ‘I want to advertise for my brick-and-mortar business’.
If your business is eligible for this, you can move on to the next steps. If it isn’t, you’ll see a message saying that your business isn’t eligible.
Free Tools to Help You Find Out if You’re Eligible for Yelp Ads
If you’ve ever wondered if you can get your Yelp business review blocked, then you’re in luck. There’s a way to do it. If you want to find out if you’re eligible for Yelp ads, you can use the Yelp Ads Eligibility tool.
This lets you enter your business information and check if you’re eligible to have ads on the site. If you are, you can also add your business information and create a profile. Another tool you can use is the Yelp Ads Diagnosis tool.
This lets you enter your business information and gives you an overview of your business on Yelp, including the number of people who view your page, the number of people who call or click on your website, as well as your overall rating.
Create a Great User Experience
The first thing you can do to improve your chances of being featured on Yelp is to create a great user experience. When people visit your page, they’ll want to know what you do, where you’re located and how they can contact you.
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Make sure you have all of these details visible on your page, as well as photos of your business. You should also try to engage with your visitors.
Click on the ‘Reviews’ tab on your page and read all of the reviews posted about your business, along with the responses you posted in response to these reviews. Click on the ‘Questions’ tab to respond to any questions visitors might have about your business.
Add a Call to Action Button and Infographic
Another thing you can do to increase your chances of getting featured on Yelp is to add a call to action button and infographic. These two elements help you to stand out from other businesses on Yelp and get more reviews.
Here’s how you can do this:
- Click on the ‘Ads’ tab and select ‘Get Started’. On the next page, click on ‘Create an ad’.
- Select ‘Images and Texs’ under the ‘Choose a type of ad’ section and click to expand this section.
- Select ‘Add an image’ and upload an image that highlights what your business does.
- Click on ‘Add a button’ and write a catchy call to action. For example, you could write ‘Ask us about our insert service or product>’.
- Click on ‘Add an infographic’ and write a short but informative infographic that describes your business.
Add Photos of Your Business
The best way to get more reviews on Yelp is to get more reviews on Yelp. One way to do this is to add more photos of your business, as research shows that people are more likely to leave reviews when there are more images on a page.
You can do this by taking photos of your business and uploading them to your Yelp page. You can also use images from your website, or if you don’t have any photos yet, you can hire a photographer to take some for you.
You should make sure you’re following all of the rules when it comes to taking photos and uploading them to your Yelp page, as breaking these rules can get you banned from the site. You can read more about these rules here.
Improving Your Chances of Being Featured
Once you’ve followed all of the above steps, you’ll want to make sure you stay on top of your page and respond to reviews as they come in. Keep an eye on your page and respond to comments and questions as soon as possible.