Yelp is the most unreliable source of information anyone could ever get. I've gotten bad reviews from people in California who have never even been in my shop. Yelp wouldn't do anything about it. they said there was nothing they could do. So..... I recommend you run from Yelp as fast as you can. Rich Shamel
Here are some additional issues. Yelp, in my opinion, has very unscrupulous business practices. I find their marketing program to be way to aggressive and with over 400 businesses telling me their less than impressive ROI, mafia style business model, and questionable billing is not a place that a business wants to be found on.
Their business model, in my opinion, targets small businesses that are not internet marketing savvy and has an old style boiler room sales force. They are not good for business, and really drive bad behavior for consumers.
Do not pay them, if you need to bring awareness to your business your better off investing $50/month and get Local Search Optimization Campaign for your business which will cover 25+ of Googles top directories as well as automatic updating so all your business information is current. Plus online reputation monitoring.:)
In my experience, they are in the business to promote businesses that pay for advertising. I am not sure if you have a limited marketing budget, however I would look at the clients you currently have and figure out how they found you then market specifically in that area. Ask yourself if your clients will looking for you on yelp. If yes, then see if they are in your budget if not, advertise there. I work with a marketing company here in NJ, we focus mainly on where my clients look for my service.and thats it. I use yelp for looking for restaurants when i am on vacation. I hope this helps.
Yelp is a great way to attract new customers. A lot of our new customers find us on Yelp. Our reviews are the main reason. Most of them mention our reviews. I make a habit of asking new customers how they heard about us. Almost all say Yelp or Google. I tried the paid service Yelp offers but it did nothing to improve our numbers. I think the reviews is what drives in new customers. Remember to ask your customers to give you a review. Good Luck!
Business from Fort Worth, TX
Answered on Jan 13th, 2018
Hey there, I have had no personal experience with them, however on a group i am in this is the topic 90 percent of the time. Not one person is happy with them. I hear they charge for every click. So if someone looking for a business clicks on your name instead you have to pay for that. Also people have tried to cancel and are not happy because they are also being charged to cancel. This site is strictly for review and DOES NOT promise clients out of it
Yelp is a good source for business in General. In our industry it is not a great lead generator. If you do small handyman type jobs it is good. Also Thumbtack and workplace are good apps for leads on small jobs. We have paid for yelp ads before but have received calls for stuff we have no interest in and thus dont pay yelp anymore.
I believe it helps in the food industry. You get to see the ratings and the pictures of food. Yelp I don’t find as useful for businesses in comparison to the reviews you can simply get on google. But even then you are risking the chance of getting bad reviews, but then possibly enhancing the customers experience
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Answers (11-20)
Yelp is the most unreliable source of information anyone could ever get. I've gotten bad reviews from people in California who have never even been in my shop. Yelp wouldn't do anything about it. they said there was nothing they could do. So..... I recommend you run from Yelp as fast as you can. Rich Shamel
Here are some additional issues. Yelp, in my opinion, has very unscrupulous business practices. I find their marketing program to be way to aggressive and with over 400 businesses telling me their less than impressive ROI, mafia style business model, and questionable billing is not a place that a business wants to be found on.
The Many Problems with Yelp
Yelp Craters
Also, Raymond Fong wrote his experience with Yelp here:
A Candid Yelp Advertising Review – Is Yelp Ripping People Off?
Their business model, in my opinion, targets small businesses that are not internet marketing savvy and has an old style boiler room sales force. They are not good for business, and really drive bad behavior for consumers.
Do not pay them, if you need to bring awareness to your business your better off investing $50/month and get Local Search Optimization Campaign for your business which will cover 25+ of Googles top directories as well as automatic updating so all your business information is current. Plus online reputation monitoring.:)
Very little of our business comes from Yelp. We have gotten a couple of 'bogus reviews' there. We do not pay them for anything.
I agree with Mark. Do not Pay them
Hi Lucy,
In my experience, they are in the business to promote businesses that pay for advertising. I am not sure if you have a limited marketing budget, however I would look at the clients you currently have and figure out how they found you then market specifically in that area. Ask yourself if your clients will looking for you on yelp. If yes, then see if they are in your budget if not, advertise there. I work with a marketing company here in NJ, we focus mainly on where my clients look for my service.and thats it. I use yelp for looking for restaurants when i am on vacation. I hope this helps.
Yelp is a great way to attract new customers. A lot of our new customers find us on Yelp. Our reviews are the main reason. Most of them mention our reviews. I make a habit of asking new customers how they heard about us. Almost all say Yelp or Google. I tried the paid service Yelp offers but it did nothing to improve our numbers. I think the reviews is what drives in new customers. Remember to ask your customers to give you a review. Good Luck!
Hey there, I have had no personal experience with them, however on a group i am in this is the topic 90 percent of the time. Not one person is happy with them. I hear they charge for every click. So if someone looking for a business clicks on your name instead you have to pay for that. Also people have tried to cancel and are not happy because they are also being charged to cancel. This site is strictly for review and DOES NOT promise clients out of it
Yelp is a good source for business in General. In our industry it is not a great lead generator. If you do small handyman type jobs it is good. Also Thumbtack and workplace are good apps for leads on small jobs. We have paid for yelp ads before but have received calls for stuff we have no interest in and thus dont pay yelp anymore.
I believe it helps in the food industry. You get to see the ratings and the pictures of food. Yelp I don’t find as useful for businesses in comparison to the reviews you can simply get on google. But even then you are risking the chance of getting bad reviews, but then possibly enhancing the customers experience