Your experience with Yelp

[ashlen]

I am not sure what is going on with Yelp these days? I made a Yelp account for a business that took three weeks to become public and even though it is public it is not coming up in search. I have a Yelp account for my own business which I tried signing into today but did not remember the password so I inserted my email an hour ago to change password and have not received an email from Yelp yet.

[Harold Mansfield]

I am not sure what is going on with Yelp these days? I made a Yelp account for a business that took three weeks to become public and even though it is public it is not coming up in search.
Things don't come up in search instantly just because you created them. Especially if there are no reviews on it yet. Your Yelp page ranking in search is not a given. If you want to help it out you need to link to it and get people to start leaving reviews so that it is active.


I have a Yelp account for my own business which I tried signing into today but did not remember the password so I inserted my email an hour ago to change password and have not received an email from Yelp yet.
That could be anything from a problem with Yelp to a problem with your email server blocking it or putting them in a spam folder.

[David Hunter]

Yeah, it took awhile for Yelp to come up for us. It hasn't produced any results for us.... then again... we aren't actively using it. Just putting our name and contact info on all the search engines. :-)

[hookedonbiz]

I am not a fan of Yelp. We only created a page to claim our business, and like David said, for the contact info! Google Places/business page is much better IMO.

[will.i.earn]

We're about to launch a product that is aimed at making sure businesses have the best customer rating in Yelp. Could you please help us out by taking this survery (http://checkmatemedia.com/small-business-marketing-survey-complete-report/) - only if you have the time.

Thanks!

[shrinkme]

Yelp probably works for certain kinds of businesses like restaurants. I haven't seen many results with the "local" listings on various sites, but hey, they are free. For advertising to local audiences, I like the local listing sites. Doesn't mean we get results.

[ryantc]

There is always the Yelp Support Center that can be contacted at any time. Here is the link to it: Support Center | Yelp (http://www.yelp-support.com/?l=en_US). Assistance is offered anywhere from 'Updating Business Information', 'Using Yelp', to 'Yelp For Business Owners'.

[JC]

Yelp, like Angies List, tries to get you to hustle for reviews by usually only listing you if you have more than a few reviews. When I was first listed on Yelp, you would have to type my name in and go through a list of about 30 other businesses before you get to mine.

[EmilyB]

I'm sorry you're having issues with Yelp but it actually makes me a little happy to read this feedback. I have started a new website for local services that I want to be more user friendly than Yelp and where users won't have to pay or hustle for reviews. So I'm happy to know that I am offering something that users of Yelp and Angies List are having difficulty with.

[gtatellipsis]

Yelp, just like Google SEO, etc., is tricky and involving. Before investing any time and money, you should seriously ask what it's worth in short and long run. For example, you will end up having someone manage your Yelp reviews and the page itself (updating pictures, tracking analytics, etc.). Even if you outsource it for say $10/hr for only 2 hrs/week, you are looking at 10 x 2 x 4 = roughly $80/month of cost just maintaining the page. And that doesn't get you "premium listing" or anything. You'd need to pay Yelp to do any fancy stuff like uploading certain number of pictures, or changing the background, etc. etc... Overall this can run into roughly $200 to $300 per month. Then again, I'm talking about long term... In short term, yes you can throw a page for free and perhaps continue working on it all by yourself - but remember your time is better utilized in doing what you do best.

Having said that, once you have figured the cost, you should see how much you'd be able to make from it. For instance if you sell coffee, say on average $3 / cup... you'd need to sell 200 coffees in a month to justify cost for Yelp... So then you should see.. OK what kind of people go on Yelp... Are there other coffee shops on Yelp... Are people reviewing them? ... Can I get that much business from Yelp.. etc. etc... And then decide...

In the end, if you plan your marketing strategy around Yelp properly, it will work. If not, then you'd just end up wasting your money.

Hope this helps.