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Yelp is a well-known website that is added to daily by its users. The users on Yelp are usually just regular people around town who want to let others know about their experiences in the local establishments found in their neighborhoods. Even without registering a username, anyone can run a search on Yelp to find any kind of business in their area and quickly read the user reviews if they need a little more encouragement to make a final decision. Places like restaurants, concert venues, local events, and other services appear in the directory. Everyone can sign up and start a free account, but business owners can take things a step further and unlock their business pages by completing a short and simple process and navigate the site a little differently than everyone else. Another choice available for business owners is paid advertising. Yelp throws in a few perks if the business owner decides to rely on the site as a primary means for spreading the word a little more aggressively about his or her business.

The process for unlocking the Yelp business page is fairly simple. All you have to do is search for your business listing, click on a few options, and answer a quick phone call that gives you a code to enter online during setup. Afterward, you can message users on the site to directly address any positive or negative reviews they have given. You can send private messages to thank users for positive reviews, or apologize respectfully if they did not receive the service they expected. You can comment within the review pages so that your responses are seen publicly by other Yelp users. However, you’re encouraged to choose your words wisely so as not to ruffle any feathers of other users on the site. Unlocking the business page also allows you to create special offers that are visible on next to your business name on the listing. If you have a restaurant, for example, you can list a special offer for Yelp users, perhaps with a discount on entres if they mention how they were directed to your establishment.

If unlocking the business page doesn’t seem like enough, Yelp offers a paid advertising service to enhance the features visible to other users. There are a few perks to this option, although they are a bit expensive. First of all, the changes are rather minimal. Your business page allows you to set up a slide show and a larger image to catch the attention of your visitors. But if you really think about it, you’re better off relying on the simple business page to lead people to your actual business website where you probably already have a ton of amazing graphics and images. Paid advertising will increase the exposure of your business listing during specific searches and will range anywhere between $300 to $1000 a month. The idea is that you reach a targeted audience on Yelp, so if someone is searching for a cafe in a specific area of town, if it happens to be in your neighborhood they will see your business at the top of their list. You can highlight reviews that are favorable for your business and they will appear at the top of the list.

As good as paid advertising sounds on Yelp, there are a few things you won’t be able to change. If someone isn’t satisfied with your service, there is a good chance that they will promptly post a negative review on Yelp and it will be immediately visible to other users. That review will remain there and you will not be able to alter or remove it, even if you pay a whole lot every month for advertising. If that happens, the best you can do is respond thoughtfully and abide by Yelp’s guidelines for commenting on negative feedback.

Raymond Fong’s blog on his personal site, www.raymondfong.net, offers more detailed insight into the setup process for Yelp advertising. If you follow the instructions detailed on Yelp’s site, it seems really easy to do, but Fong’s blog on this topic takes a few other factors into account. For example, while asking questions about Yelp’s paid advertising, he spoke to a customer service representative who seemed unable to answer some rather technical questions. Also, he finds that advertising on Yelp costs a pretty penny, but they fail to explain to business owners what it is exactly that they are paying for. Whereas on any other site you will pay each time someone clicks on your page, Yelp has you pay for each time your link appears regardless of whether the user clicks on it to be directed to your business page.

Another drawback of Yelp advertising is that the pages are full of several distractions. While someone maybe be viewing your business page, they can easily be lured away by links to nearby businesses and attractions. While it’s a great site for people to find your business, Yelp isn’t exactly the kind of place where you can expect to give the audience the full range of attention that can be given to it by your own personal website.

There are other alternatives to advertise for your business without having to pay Yelp. Advertising on Yelp is very limited as it is. The differences between the free and paid page are minimal and won’t lessen the chance that your business will appear in a search result. After all, the main purpose of Yelp is for users to read other people’s first-hand accounts, and it is likely that their positive reviews will drive people to your business much faster than a fancy slide show and larger image size. The power of word-of-mouth advertising is more powerful than anything you can pay for.

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