Should you use Yelp for Business?
As a marketing company, we talk to countless business owners, and many are using several different methods of marketing in hopes of attracting new customers. Many of our clients are using, or are considering the use of Yelp to aid in finding precious new clients. Since we are competing with Yelp on some levels, we thought we should take a closer look.
When holding a consultation with our clients, we always ask about the types of marketing they are using or have tried in the past, and the results that have seen with those methods. Many answer Yelp, and of course SEO. In both cases, many business owners have been disappointed in the results and the entire experience. This has left many owners reluctant to invest any money in internet marketing.
Yelp for Reviews
Having good quality Yelp reviews will definitely help your business, but will paying for Yelp advertising really help you increase your client base? When it comes to Yelp for Business it is a pretty mixed bag! For some businesses, it works, and they attract many new clients by having their business information on Yelp’s site. This is good, yet at the same time, the majority of customers with whom we speak all say the same thing: they are not paying for any Yelp advertising!
The large majority state that by spending $300 plus a month and being locked into a contract has yielded little or no return for their money. When reviewing the clients who were yielding the better results, a major common factor was involved in just about every case.
Google Search Results
Hypothetically, if the business is a carpet cleaning company, you searched for a carpet cleaner in their area on Google, and a Yelp listing appeared in the search results, those carpet cleaners received phone calls from that listing. These results also held true for anyone advertising Angie’s List, YP.com, or any other major directory.
The reality is, if you were to add up all of the search traffic from Yelp, YP.com, Angie’s List, Manta, and Home Advisor, you would only see 1.07% of the total search market! That’s right, Google is 83% on desktops and 92% when it comes to tablets and mobile devices. No matter what service you choose to invest, Google will still dictate whether you will gain new clients in most cases.
If your Marketing is Working, Don’t Stop!
With everything said in this article, if what you are doing is working, please don’t stop! In other words, if you are investing several hundred dollars a month and your ROI is acceptable, keep it going. If you could invest $1000 in something every month and your profit was $400 when everything is all said and done, 40% is a pretty good return on your investment!
Internet marketing has to be seen as an investment, not an expense. It is only an expense if you do not see are turn on your money. Marketing is a tax-deductible item for your business, and proper marketing will only help you reach your goals more quickly.
Internet Marketing/SEO has never worked for me!
We hear this 50 times a day: “I signed up with a big named company, paid $149 a month for two years and never saw any results.” Well, you get what you pay for, and at six months you should have called your credit card company!
The only way to receive real results is to find a small agency that can deliver what you want. We know, there are only a handful of companies in existence that can truly do this, and they all say it will take more than 90 days….. Here we go again, 90 days is a myth in most cases, sometimes we can hit that number, hell we have even hit our mark 30-60 days in some cases!
Trackable Results
The truth is, in 60 to 90 days we can show trackable results. What this means every couple weeks your position will be different and you will be able to see it happen with your own two eyes! Every keyword and every area is different. Some keywords rank quicker than others, websites can take longer to rank than your Google+ page or visa versa.
The good news is when all of your online listings are optimized correctly, including your website, and you achieve those top ranking in the area you want, everything else is just gravy from here on out!
