Is your Yelp business page active? Is it up-to-date with your business and contact information? Or maybe you don't see the importance of your Yelp page? It may be time to rethink this strategy. According to a 2019 survey by SurveyMonkeyBlog, 97% of consumers have spent money with a business they found on Yelp. And that is just the headline. Read into that survey and you find that even more impressively, 90% of consumers made their buying decision within a week of visiting a business's Yelp page. In other words, when an individual has a need for a service or product, they either go immediately to Yelp to find a relevant business or use Yelp as a final check to ensure they are hiring the right person (51% of those surveyed said they bought from a business they visited on Yelp within the same day). So if Yelp is where the customers are, why wouldn't you want to be on it too? Having a strong presence on Yelp helps you establish trust with potential customers, and ensures that you will stand out from your competitors.

 

If you are still not convinced that your business ought to be on Yelp, consider the following:

  • ♦ Keeping a Yelp Business Page is 100% free. It costs zero dollars to create a business page and have a successful strategy on Yelp. It's free advertising for you! Even more, it gives you an opportunity for interactions with your customers to positively talk about your business and services. Take advantage of Yelp's free business page and tools to craft your brand and tailor your reputation.
  • ♦ Claim your business page. If you haven't already done so, the first step for a small business on Yelp is to claim your business page. You may even find that you already have a page created without you ever going in and creating one. This is because sometimes consumers have already done it for you. Consumers want somewhere to share information so they add to it, but it's important for you to be in control of your own business information and make the necessary updates to ensure everything is accurate. More importantly, claiming your page allows you to upload photos, add links to your website and social media profiles, and add important business information like your phone number, email address and typical business hours, as well as respond and reply to those who have left reviews or posted photos.
  • ♦ Use the reviews section to bolster your reputation and earn trust. Simply put, reviews alone can land you a job. 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions, so the more reviews you have, the better chance you have of landing more business. When someone writes a positive review on your Yelp business page, thank them for it. Or maybe offer a referral bonus if they write a review. The more you show how involved you are with your customers, the more people will trust you and be interested in your refinishing work. Hopefully, most all of your reviews will be positive but it's also likely you will get some bad ones too. In this case, do what you can to make amends. Replying to the bad reviews, even when unfounded, is just as important if not more so than replying to good reviews as it gives evidence that you care about your customers and the work you do.
  • ♦ Add in pictures! Yelp is seen primarily as a place where buyers can share their experiences, but you can make it so much more than that. You can make your Yelp business page into a type of secondary business website. And, again, you can do it all for free! As an entrepreneur, you know the value of free advertising, and having your pictures and information hosted for free, is free advertising. So take advantage of it on Yelp. Upload pictures of recent projects. Show before and after photos of some jobs you are proud of. Ask your clients if you can incorporate happy pictures of them with your finished work. You could even offer them incentives to upload their own pictures in their reviews and testimonials. Photos are crucial in this industry and are a powerful and simple way to create a good first impression.
  • ♦ Keep information updated and accurate. The 'about' section of your business gives you the opportunity to include relevant keywords your customers might be searching for that could bring more people to your page. For example, include your key services like 'bathroom refinishing' and 'kitchen refinishing' so you're always included in that search. Simply put, well-written and descriptive copy can help the right people find you faster. Not sure where to start? It’s always a good idea to take a look at the pages of other local businesses, especially your competitors just to get an idea how others are presenting themselves online. It would be a good habit to refresh any information and/or check that it's still up-to-date every few months.
  • ♦ Consider Yelp advertising. Want to do even more on Yelp and reach more potential customers? Consider taking advantage of Yelp's business advertising options to put your name and your brand at the top of users' search results. With Yelp advertising, you can reach 3X more potential customers. This is the one thing that will cost you, but experimenting with their advertising can bring you big returns for a small investment given how many people use Yelp Reviews as their primary source for business products and services.

 

Always Be Hungry for Greater Reach to Potential Customers

As a bathroom and kitchen refinisher and small business owner, your job is a bit different than other types of businesses. You aren't going to get as many repeat customers as something like a restaurant might get so it's incredibly important to leverage the resources you do have to get your name out and attract new customers. Yelp is a fantastic platform to do so and one on which you can get started, for free, today.