Previously, I talked about the importance of online reviews on sites like Yelp. Yet, Yelp has even more to offer which I’ll be covering right here, right now!

If I had to choose, I would say Yelp is closer to Facebook than it is to Yellowpages.com.  Yelp allows reviewers to create profiles detailing everything from their favorite food to their second favorite website.  Reviewers can become online “friends” with each other and give out “compliments” (colorful little badges that serve as decoration and recognition on your profile).  Yelp even sponsors local events for frequent reviewers.

How does this relate to local small business marketing?  Well, this group of local people eventually get to know and trust each other quite well.  Studies show that about 20% of consumers write 100% of reviews online, and those in the Yelp community are the ones that make up that 20%.  So, if you can establish a good reputation with the few consumers that decide your online reputation, it will go a long way to building up some making it great.

What to do? It’s easy—Get involved!  Here are a few tips:

1. Create a Yelp reviewer profile—You already (should) have a Yelp for business owners account, now go to Yelp.com and create an account to become a part of the reviewing community.  Create a profile, include a picture (of yourself!), and be sure to put something about your business in your tagline.
2. Review every single local business you frequent! This will get you noticed by other reviewers and other business owners.  They’ll see you, see what you do, and talk to you and about your business.
3. Give out some compliments! As I mentioned above, Yelp allows users to give each other public props.  People love to be complimented and they’ll love whoever does the complimenting.
4. On your Yelp business account, Respond to EVERY review on your business—this point is last, but certainly not least.  I can’t stress how important this point is.  Did a customer have a bad experience? Find out how you can make it right.  Did they rant and rave about how you’re the only dentist they’ve ever loved?  Thank them for their kindness and let them know that you appreciate their business and the review.

If you do these things, you’ll be a Yelp superstar.  I’ll close with a story regarding the all important point number 4.  I had a bad experience at a local establishment and left a 2-star review on Yelp saying as much.  A few days later, I received an apologetic message from the owner saying that she wanted to make it right.  My opinion of the business went from “awful, I will never go back” to “maybe I could give them a second chance” with one simple message.

Now, get Yelping!

Have you heard of Yelp?  Most have not, but among a few early adopters, Yelp has a cult-ish following that is about to become mainstream.

Yelp is like any other yellow pages site, with one big difference: there are heaps upon heaps of reviews of just about any kind of consumer oriented business that you (or your potential customers) may be looking for.

Curious about where to eat in an unfamiliar city?  Yelp will help you separate the hole-in-the-wall hidden gems, from the just plain holes.  I have driven by this restaurant hundreds of times, but I have never thought to try it.  After seeing the reviews, I’ll be sure to check it out next time I am around.

Upon reading this, you may have searched for your own business on Yelp, and hopefully you liked what you found.  However, unless you are a restaurant, it is unlikely that you have any reviews at all!  Yelp has yet to catch on in the same way for other service businesses, but with its strong community atmosphere and steady growth it is only a matter of time.

At this point, this lack of reviews for you and more importantly for others, can be used to your advantage.  If you are the first one on the block (or the page) to get a few good reviews, why should a searcher go anywhere else?

Now, I wouldn’t be singing Yelp’s praises quite so strongly if it only helped businesses get found by searches on Yelp itself, but it does not.  It does far more than that.  Nowhere in the foreseeable future, will major search engines like Google not be a very significant force in determining where consumers spend their money.

The great news is, search engines love Yelp.  Any review of your business on Yelp will become a part of your ever important local listing on Google.  In locally targeted searches like “South Elgin Dentist,” Yelp’s local list is often the first result, providing an awesome opportunity for exposure if you are one of the few businesses in your area with some good reviews.

Search engine results for "South Elgin Dentist" with Yelp at the top. (Click to enlarge.)

Now that you know about Yelp, would you like me to boil this down to two actions you should take right away to expand your web presence through Yelp?  Okay!

Step 1 — Make sure your business is listed on Yelp and claim it.  Go to Yelp’s business center and search for your business.  If you see it, great—select it and complete the confirmation process.  Update your business’s listing and all relevant details.  If you can’t find your business, Yelp will guide you through the process of creating a listing for your business.  Your listing will appear almost right away, but you will have to wait 60 days to claim your listing.  But you can still move on to step 2 in the mean time.

Step 2 — Encourage your customers to write some reviews!  There are lots of ways to do this, which I have already discussed in this article about how to get your customers to review you online.

That should give you something to work with.  If you hit any stumbling blocks just post a comment right here!

Craig

At one time or another, you have been handed a little piece of card-stock and a golf pencil and were asked to fill out a survey, and leave some comments about your experience as a customer of whatever business you just patronized.

With enough of these completed surveys, the business owner found out what went right and got some ideas about what needed fixing. Getting candid customer feedback is certainly valuable information to any business and can tip off a business owner to a brush fire, before it becomes full blown forest fire of bad customer experience.

Old School: Comment Cards

Mostly, these cards are kept to the eyes of those on the inside, but what if we gave your potential customers a peek as well?

Today, customers get more than a peek—they get an eyeful. And it’s not up to you to decide who sees what, for better or worse.

That is because the new comment cards are online customer reviews. In case you are not familiar, online reviews are essentially comment cards for any business, posted on one of many popular internet portals that anyone can write and anyone can see.

While that may be seem a bit frightening at first glance, I think there is actually an awesome opportunity under the surface.

One study showed that about 50% of consumers used online reviews to begin their buying process.  Unfortunately, many businesses have little or no online reviews, leaving customers in a position to either guess or go somewhere else.

Personally, that is what I do.  I recently chose a shop to get my brakes fixed at, based on nothing but online user reviews.  Tons of places had no reviews, and I did not bother looking into them any further. I have not chosen to go to a restaurant that had less than 4 stars on Yelp in as long as I can remember. (4 & 5 stars are not the traditional kind of stars where more stars means more $’s—Mexican, anyone?)

Some business owners are nervous that a negative review will ruin their reputation. My advice? Do not worry so much. You know that your business provides a great service and that in general, your customers are happy and loyal. If one malcontent posts something bad, do not sweat it. With enough reviews, your true reputation will always come through.

Convinced?  Here are some tricks I use to encourage customers to write reviews:

1. Just Ask! – Do you have a friendly relationship with some of your customers?  Would they be glad to do a favor for you?  If someone compliments your service try responding with this, “Thanks!  Would you mind letting other people know?  I am trying to get some reviews online and if you think of it, would you mind writing one?  I would really appreciate it.”  This tactic is also likely to render a good amount of positive reviews.

2. Review Cards – This one is easy and requires only a little work.  Just get some business cards printed up that say something to the effect of “Like our service?  Let others know and review us online!”  Be sure to provide detailed instructions. (Go to maps.google.com, search for us, click write a review.)  Just set the cards out, or better yet, staple them to some paperwork that you regularly give to customers.

3. Make It Easy – One of my clients actually came up with this one!  Spend $200 on a netbook and setup a “review station” right in your place of business. Ask satisfied customers to write a review while they’re in the store.  They will not forget or get distracted by the other 10,000 things online and off, that are constantly vying for their attention. Plus, the experience will be fresh in their minds.

4. Incentives – Provide a discount or freebie to anyone willing to write a review. Promote the fact that you will be giving a discount to anyone that writes an online customer review. The owner of a restaurant that I often frequent gave me a free breakfast after he saw my glowing online review.  It only made me even more of a loyal fan.

That is all for now.  I would love to hear some more ideas or field any questions—So, post a comment!

Thanks for reading.

-Craig