No Website, No Problem! How Yelp Has Helped Hole in the Wall Restaurants Thrive
There are some businesses out there that were created with every penny the owner had, leaving little room for a marketing budget. In today’s society, every business knows that it’s important to have an online presence, but if you don’t have the money to create a website, you’re not going to have a successful online presence…or will you? Thanks to free tools like social networks, blogs and customer review sites, many businesses are thriving on the Internet—and they don’t even have their own website. Yelp is an online review site that has helped many new businesses gain both online visibility and customers. How? Check it out…
It gives the business an online existence.
Yelp is a very popular website, and companies that are on this site can easily piggyback off of its success. When a company has a profile on Yelp, they’re allowed to add information about their business, including company name, specialties, location and contact information. All of these words then act as keywords, and if a person is performing a general Google search that contains keywords found in the company’s profile, they’re Yelp page will appear in the results, giving them exposure.
It markets small businesses.
Yelp provides information to users based on location. If a new small restaurant opened in a suburb of Chicago, and you happen to be visiting that suburb, you can scour through Yelp for restaurants in the area. As long as this restaurant has a profile, you’ll be able to learn about its existence, and if they offer the cuisine you want or are open late at night when you’re looking for food, you’ll be more likely to go there. Now, this business that doesn’t even have its own website is getting foot traffic.
Yelp also has an events section in which companies can promote upcoming events they’re holding. This is a great way to reach out to your current and potential customers and get them to come and visit your establishment. You also have the option of taking out ad space on Yelp. While this does cost money, it’s much cheaper than creating your own website, and your ads will even be placed in front of your target audience, making them that much more beneficial.
It can give companies better SEO.
When a small business starts earning customers, they can ask happy customers to leave reviews. If a company starts earning a large amount of reviews, these reviews will help boost a company’s SEO tactics, making their Yelp profile earn new keywords and continue to rank high in the search engines.
So if you’re a small business with a limited marketing budget, you may want to see what type of success Yelp can bring to your tables. Once you’ve gotten your feet wet, you’ll then have a high enough profit to create your own site—but after all the success you’ve seen from Yelp, who knows if you’ll want to?
Caroline Jones is a business professional and review tracking expert. She shares advice with business owners about online review management and how to get yelp reviews.
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