Yelp can be an intimidating place for business owners. Reviews can make or break a restaurant. Still, many restaurant owners still avoid Yelp— even though we know that whether you create a listing or your guests do, you can’t avoid Yelp any longer.
The good news is that Yelp can be an invaluable tool for improving your reputation and finding new patrons, even if you do end up with a few negative reviews. These 5 simple steps will help you to conquer your fears of facing your Yelp page.
1. Ensure your business profile is complete
Yelp has a “Free Tools” section that every business owner can use to set up a business page. This allows you to provide information like hours of operation, address, photos, and whether or not you take reservations. This also allows you to see analytics related to your yelp visitors and improve your marketing efforts.
2. Don’t forget about mobile!
Yelp offers a free mobile app called “Yelp for Business Owners.” This app allows you to manage your Yelp page from anywhere. You can quickly respond to guest complaints, comments, and questions. A fast response reassures prospective guests, and also shows that management is responsive and truly cares about their guests.
3. Make the most of Yelp’s advertising features
Yelp’s business goal is to provide accurate and helpful reviews and information so that lots and lots of people use the Yelp website and app, and so that restaurants pay to advertise on Yelp. Ads push you to the top of search results and can be a great investment for a new restaurant. Yelp also provides Yelp Deals — prepaid vouchers for discounted meals. This can bring in new guests and show them how great you are.
4. Reach out to your vendors
Vendors most likely know your restaurant really well, so they can provide thorough, insider information in their reviews. They don’t have to leave a review as a “guest” either. Speaking about the integrity of the owners can be enough to convince new guests to give your restaurant a try.
5. Respond to your customers
Whether it’s a positive or negative review, responding to a guest can be an effective goodwill-building strategy. Thank guests for their loyalty. Address concerns or complaints. Five minutes a day should do the trick.
Yelp, like all crowd-sourced reviews, can attract the good, the bad, and the ugly. One bad review will not bring down your business, the same way one great review won’t be the thing that brings in tons of new traffic. A good Yelp strategy requires consistent and ongoing attention. Used correctly, it can help attract and then turn new guests into guests for life.
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