Yelp Do's and Don't's

Posted on Jan 03, 2019 by Imaginal Marketing

DO: Claim your business’ Yelp listing. That gives your owner access to the listing—which includes ability to advertise, optimize your listing, and respond to reviews.

DON’T: Offer incentives for someone to review your business on Yelp. This violates their Terms of Service and will get your listing tagged with a Yelp CONSUMER ALERT for a period of several weeks to months.

DO: Activate Yelp alerts to notify you when you get a new review. Respond quickly and strategically to negative ones.

DON’T: Publicly offer an unhappy reviewer a “make-good” like a gift card, free service, or discount. If you’re inclined to offer something to make up for a poor experience, do so in private. Otherwise, you’re telling everyone they could score freebies from you if they leave a bad review.

DO: Invest in an “enhanced profile” on Yelp. It’s $125/month and worth it.

• Block competing businesses from advertising on your listing;
• Rearrange public photos on your listing, so you can put the best ones up top;
• Use a Call-To-Action button that clicks to your online booking or new client offer.

DON’T: Ask people to leave a Yelp review while in your salon. Getting color processed might seem like the ideal time for a guest to review you, but all those positive reviews would come from your salon’s IP address. That emulates the behavior of one person writing multiple reviews, and would (again) get your listing a CONSUMER ALERT tag.

DO: Leverage good reviews. Post the best ones on social media and/or your website. If your overall star rating is a 4 or above, consider advertising on Yelp. (If you aren’t at 4 stars, work on raising your star rating first.)

Yelp Can Be Your Friend