If you’ve set up a Yelp profile for your small business then you know the pains you’ll experience. Every time you set up a Yelp profile, Yelp’s salespeople will call you, a lot. They’ll try to sell you premium features and Yelp advertising. They’ll even try to get you to sign a contract.
Before you sign up for your Yelp profile, decide whether you’re going to spend any extra money or not (at least initially). When the Yelp salespeople come ringing you better have an answer or the pressure will come on.
This post has some ideas of advertising on Yelp and my experience with a limited run. I’ve also recently done a 3-month experiment with a Yelp ad contract and wrote an honest Yelp advertising review.
Read it and also continue this one before you look any further into Yelp advertising.
That doesn’t mean avoid signing up for Yelp, though. There is a chance Yelp will be a lucrative place to get business. There’s also a chance Yelp will end up being a non-lucrative place to lose a lot of money if you jump right into paying for premium features.
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Start your relationship with Yelp on a positive note by understanding what Yelp advertising and business page upgrades are and what they can do for you.
Before you create a Yelp business profile, know whether or not you want to advertise. Share on XWhat It Is
There are two types of premium paid features Yelp offers businesses:
- Business Page Upgrades
- Yelp Ads
I’m going to primarily cover Yelp advertising but the information here also applies to business page upgrades. I will cover what they both are, though.
Business Page Upgrades
Business Page Upgrades are premium features for your Yelp profile that make your Yelp profile page look better. Upgrades are divided into three sections:
- Restrict Competitors’ Ads
- Slideshow
- Call to Action
A free Yelp profile shows competitors ads on the profile. If you advertise on Yelp then you will show up on your competitors Yelp profile (and a lot of other profiles).
If you pay to restrict competitor’s ads then your profile will be ad-free from your competitors and others.
The enhanced slideshow will let you organize photos however you like so it starts with a pre-determined (by you) photo then cycles through.
The Yelp Call to Action gives you the option to include a Call to Action on your Yelp profile. You can choose to send visitors who click your Call to Action to a coupon, order form, etc.
Yelp Ads
Similar to how advertising works on Google and Facebook, you pay a sum of money and your ad gets impressions on other companies profiles.
Yelp gives you historical metrics about how your campaign is doing too. Advertising metrics from Yelp are limited, though. The ad metrics show you the number of ad impressions, ad clicks, cost per click, and total ad spend but no details about the audience or where they viewed the ads from.
Yelp ads will show to Yelp visitors who are local to you and are looking at your competitors Yelp profiles.
Competitors are defined widely on Yelp. Anybody in the same category as your business is considered a competitor. For example, a home improvement company ad would be shown on competitors pages who really aren’t your competitor (ie. interior designer and landscape designer).
That means targeting for Yelp ads is limited and you are going to pay for a lot of impressions for those not interested in your business. It can cost upwards of $10 per lead which is quite expensive.
Yelp ad targeting is lacking compared to Google and Facebook. Share on XThere some benefits to Yelp advertising, though.
How It Can Help You
Yelp advertising will reach a broad audience loosely targeted to your industry through ads shown on competitor pages and in search (there are some new helpful ways to manage search that I’ll get to). With an established Yelp profile, you’ll be able to reach more people looking for what you do.
Your goal as a business is to reach people looking for your service. Yelp’s entire existence is based on people visiting who are in need of a service. You know you’re reaching people who need work done.
They need work done and they’re looking for somebody to do it. Yelp advertising will make your company present on your competitors Yelp profiles which helps grow your exposure.
Yelp advertisings biggest benefit is that it will grow your exposure and allow you to reach customers you might otherwise never reach.
With that said, Yelp advertising won’t work to establish your Yelp profile if you’re new to Yelp.
Is Yelp Advertising Worth It?
If you’ve already set up your Yelp profile and have seen success with your free Yelp profile, you may also find success with Yelp Advertising. If you haven’t set up your Yelp profile, do that first, it’s always worth at least having the free profile.
People look at Yelp for reviews from your previous customers. Potential customers want to read about your past customer’s experiences. Even with advertising on Yelp, people are still looking for reviews and want to know the best company. That means if your profile isn’t established, you’re not likely to see any benefit.
Most Yelp visitors are going to see through advertising, especially if your company Yelp profile doesn’t have at least one review.
Here are some simple rules that will help you decide on Yelp advertising:
Try It
If you have an established Yelp profile with a good review and are seeing visits and inquiries from Yelp users. Don’t invest a massive amount of money, take it slow and fine-tune your ad to make it more effective.
Yelp hands out free $300 in ad credits all the time to try out the service. You should absolutely take advantage of this offer to see how things work for you. Be sure you monitor your account daily though because it won’t tell you when your $300 are up. Yelp will gladly continue to charge you.
Also, if you’re going to try Yelp ads, make sure you’ve thoroughly read about the ad keyword management which helps you get your moneys worth more.
Don’t Try It
If you’re new to Yelp and their salespeople are calling you with 10 reasons you should advertise on Yelp. It’s not going to bridge the gap between a new profile and becoming established (what I thought). Even if someone clicks on your ad, they’ll see you have no reviews and aren’t established on Yelp. That won’t build trust with the typical Yelp user.
Don't try Yelp ads expecting it to boost your new Yelp profile. Share on XIn either case, it’s not a good idea to sign a contract unless you have tried Yelp advertising on your own. Once you’ve tried it and seen some success then go ahead and sign a contract, they’ll make a great video for your company.
Or, you could just keep going with month-to-month ads and continue to monitor your ad keywords properly.
If you do try Yelp advertising, there are Yelp ads for a free $300 advertising credit all over the Internet. Visit biz.yelp.com and then browse the Internet, their retargeted ads will find you.
If Yelp will be worth it for your industry, you’ll see some successes with your free profile. If you see some success with your free profile, you may also see success with advertising.
Be sure you get your Yelp profile and, of course, have some reviews before you spend too much money on ads.
If you buy ads without reviews then you’re probably advertising someone else who does have more social proof.
There is more than just Yelp out there though. If you own a local business, be sure you set up and manage your business information in the most important directories. That may mean you will need to use some local marketing automation in order to save you time and make your local business marketing more effective.
One In Many
Yelp is a great place to build your presence online for your company because people are looking specifically for what you offer. It’s not a silver bullet, though, and it shouldn’t be your primary source of business.
Yelp is unpredictable but is still a great option in your arsenal of branding options for your company. One week you can get 3 leads and the next none.
Make sure you’re getting your company out there when possible on social media, Google Business, and beyond. If you’re paying for advertising on Yelp, make sure Yelp is one of several paid marketing platforms for your company.
If you have a website and Yelp is bringing visitors to your website, make sure you’re taking advantage of the traffic with an awesome website that’s conversion oriented. You’ll get a report customized for your business that will give you tips you can immediately take action on to improve your website and online brand.