YELP! is more that just a great directory of business services. It is vast becoming a mobile powerhouse having connections to Apple Maps for the iPhone and Mac Desktops (now with Maverick OSX).
YELP! has a powerful review tools which allows people to give your business a rating and a review. And these reviews help your business stay visible on mobile and desktop searches. In fact, when you Google a service such as Carpet Cleaning in your area, one of the top results will be the YELP! page for that service in that area and not a website.
So, how do we get people to review us on YELP! and how do we get those reviews to be unfiltered.
The first part is simple. Set up a page on your website with links to your YELP! page. (You should also include your Google + Local page link as well as your Yahoo! directory link as well) Ask your customers to review your business after you have completed the service. Always ask for an honest review.
That doesn’t sound so hard right?
Well here comes the fun part.
Yelp filters the review not just on the quality OF the review and the IP address of the reviewer, but also based on the REPUTATION of the REVIEWER on YELP!
What I mean is that if your reviewers do not USE YELP! on a regular basis and have not reviewed any other business, then unfortunately their ONE review of your business may not ever appear or have any effect.
Here is one solution to this. Form a network of businesses in your area that are all on YELP! When you have a customer, recommend the other services your partners do and then when your YELP! reviewers review those other businesses, you will be at least at the starting gate for creating many VISIBLE reviews on YELP!
By the way, it’s the same thing on Google + Local and I will be addressing this in an upcoming article.
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