Yelp Reviews For Small Business – An Ultimate Online Growth Hack
Customers are extremely smart in today’s world of digitalization. Before buying a product or service from any business or brand, they do thorough research. Reviews are such powerful tools for both customers and brands. By embedding a Yelp review widget on website, brands can get social proof, drive conversions, increase website traffic, and build credibility while customers use these reviews to know more about the brands or businesses.
For added advantage, marketers have started to leverage Yelp reviews on the website. But how Yelp reviews for small businesses can impact their growth? To know more about this, go through this blog till the end as we have mentioned the use of Yelp reviews, advantages, disadvantages, and how you can get more Yelp reviews. Let’s get started and embed Yelp reviews on any website to get the benefits.
What Are Yelp Reviews And Why Are They Important?
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Yelp was launched in the year 2004 as a crowd-sourced review website. Yelp is readily available through its app or online website. Listings for millions of companies and target customers for a particular region are available on the Yelp website. The customers can give the local businesses ratings or leave reviews as per their experience.
Millions of customers use Yelp for the reviews and ratings of local businesses, it does not verify user reviews but it uses algorithms to identify fake or malicious reviews. Yelp is one of the most popular websites for local business reviews or ratings. It is the best method to attract more customers and convert them into your consumers. You just need to embed Yelp reviews on websites for this.
Why Are They Important?
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Reviews can make a big impact on small businesses in the industries like service, medical, food, and beverages. It doesn’t matter if customers are criticizing your brand or lauding it but you want to be around to address them. Home and local services, shopping, and restaurants are the top three business categories according to Yelp’s data which make up a total of 52% of categories in the online market.
For local businesses in 2020, more than 85% of customers reported reading online reviews which is more than 80% of the previous year as per BrightLocal consumer trend report. This may not summarize into an evident takeaway at first glance but this is the condition that happens when potential customers read reviews that matter for companies or brands.
In a customer’s decision for using the business, reading positive or negative reviews can play a significant impact. As per data, more than 94% of consumers believe that positive reviews will make their minds buy something, and more than 90% of consumers agree that negative reviews will make them less likely to buy a product or service. These reviews can be showcased when you add a Yelp review widget on your website.
After reading the reviews of the business, 31% of customers say that they will visit the business website, 28% search for reviews, and 17% of customers visit the business website. The reviews on your business website will make an impact on whether your business will have potential customers or not.
How To Get Yelp Reviews?
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When you embed Yelp reviews on a website it can be a huge source for small businesses but to get the best out of it you have to be visionary. As a brand, your focus should be on displaying great service by viewing Yelp’s guidelines so that the consumer is left with no choice but to leave reviews on Yelp. To use Yelp for your business or brand, here are a few steps that should be considered.
1. Get Your Business Yelp Page
You need to ensure that your business information is updated including methods of operation or any temporary business hours. For additional information all the time, platforms added new spaces so it never hurts your profile. For instance, if your business offers a food delivery service or some other service then don’t hesitate to interlink those features so your client can easily order food from your page or business. If the customer experience is more seamless then more likely they’ll write a positive review about your business.
2. Utilize In-store Yelp Branding
From Yelp, order a free window stick that connects the physical with the digital and you might’ve seen this before. They can be attached to the menu in the window when choosing a location. For example, A few branded materials are offered by Yelp-like hours signage on its print shop. These added stickers remind your customers that you’re present on the platform.
3. Reply To Yelp Reviews
Replying to reviews is one of the toughest things to do for a business but to get more Yelp reviews responding to critical reviews is always good. According to the survey, more than 90% of customers read the responses getting by the business on their reviews and they will spend more time with a business that replies to reviews.
4. Convey Your Yelp Reviews On Social Media
You can surely post your old reviews in case you can’t ask for new reviews from your customers. Frame the best reviews in an attractive social media graphic and share them on social media platforms. This is the best strategy to show how much your consumers adore you.
Advantages Of Yelp Reviews
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Here are some advantages of adding a Yelp review widget on website that you should keep in mind.
1. Increased Traffic
There are so many benefits of having positive reviews on your website. The positive reviews on Yelp about your business will help in getting new customers, increasing your client base, and getting your business ahead. Regularly there are more than 150 million visitors to the Yelp website per month. So you need to place your business on Yelp as it can help you to reach more dynamic and new customers by increasing your visibility.
2. Building Credibility
Customers will generally wish to discover your business on Yelp. If you haven’t listed your business on Yelp that means it is not credible. This also signifies that your services or products are not reliable for customers. This will impact your business and your customers will move towards your competitor that is listed on Yelp and is credible to the audience.
3. Yelp Reviews Are Trustworthy
Online Reviews have solidified themselves among customers because more than 90% of customers trust Yelp reviews as much as they trust recommendations from their family or friends. For many people, Yelp is a go-to review site because Yelp filters reviews that are not genuine. When you embed Yelp reviews on a website, you are helping customers find only trustworthy reviews because Yelp removes reviews that are biased, fake, or unhelpful. This will enhance the credibility of Yelp among customers.
4. Yelp Reviews Are Easy To Reach
You can add your contact information as it is permitted by Google so the customers can reach your business easily for their inquiries via email or call. You can do it easily without facing any problems at your fingertips. To navigate for users, Yelp’s layout and design are simple and very instinctive. So that your company or business can be found easily with just one click by potential customers.
5. Yelp Reviews Help To Get Improved Ranking
If there isn’t any competition for your business name then Yelp tends to rate very well in Google. Insert the Yelp review widget on website to get the first few entries on Google to be your website. Maintaining great reviews on Yelp is a good idea, especially positive reviews about your website.
Disadvantages Of Yelp Reviews
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Both advantages and disadvantages are associated with everything. Carefully, read the disadvantages of Yelp reviews that are mentioned below:
1. Inflation
The foremost con of Yelp is that they are not always honest about the lead. A lead is considered as an email, call, and filling out of a contact form by most businesses. While Yelp considers map views, uploaded photos, clicks on websites, or bookmarks as leads. The price Yelp charges from businesses for using their services, Yelp tries to extend its ideas as a way of explanation.
2. Poor Reviews
Not all reviews on Yelp are good, this is the most prominent reason for some businesses as they don’t have Yelp profiles. Anyone can leave a bad or unfair review on your Yelp profile and you don’t have any control over that. You can answer or respond to this kind of review but your business can get damaged with such kind of negative or poor reviews.
3. Yelp Filtered Reviews
Yelp has one of the most frustrating features which filtered out positive reviews given by customers to a brand or business. Yelp also commented that about 25% of user reviews by the algorithm are not filtered out. There is a gray text at the bottom of every page that reads “These reviews are filtered out by Yelp and not considered in the overall business ratings”.
4. Costly Improved Listings
Yelp charges around $350 for an improved listing which is pricey but this is not officially published by the website. A photo slideshow, a video, and a call to action button are included in the improved listings which is very important for businesses to acquire consumers. But for small businesses, this price range can be influential.
5. Yelp Demands A Long-Term Commitment
On its website, Yelp demands businesses to commit to a one-year commitment particularly. This is more of an expectation than a policy because it is not a rigid requirement. Before your one year gets completed, removing your paid presence will be a long and difficult process.
Final Note
By embedding a Yelp review widget on your webpage, you can get some advantages like more engagement, increased traffic, or building credibility as a business website. Yelp reviews make a great impact on small businesses where it is left due.
You’re missing out on chances if you’re not taking advantage of the platform to market your business to local customers. Yelp is a very powerful tool for your business if you optimize your business, respond to reviews on time, and claim your business page. Don’t wait, embed Yelp reviews on website and enjoy the advantages of this tool.
