Create an Effective Yelp Business Page

To prepare for writing this article, I did a brief review of online research and found out that, depending on the study, between 72% to 90% of consumers turn to online reviews when evaluating a local business. Yelp happens to be one of the most prominent online review platforms. Do an online search for just about any business or professional service, and you are sure to see one or more Yelp listings near the top. You might even see a “Best 10 (whatever kind of business you typed in) and city name.” There’s no way around it, if you want to reach local consumers, Yelp is a powerful tool!

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Here are some tips for creating a Yelp Page that will attract prospective clients. Hint: you may already have a Yelp Business Page, previously set up by Yelp, using information that it has gathered somewhere on the Internet. If that’s the case, you’ll need to “claim” your page before you can change it.

Tips for Creating an Effective Yelp Business Page

  1. Get started by logging into Yelp for Business Owners. If you are just setting up your page, you’ll have to wait 3-4 days for your page to be approved by the Yelp team before it will be visible to others.
  2. Fill in your basic business information. Be sure to use the same business name, address and phone number you’ve used elsewhere across the Internet. Read why in my blog: Is your business name listed exactly the same way across the Internet?
  3. Choose up to 3 relevant business categories. Yelp has hundreds of business categories to select from. You may not find a category that exactly matches what you do, so choose ones that are close. For example, I use “Marketing” and “Editorial Services” because there are no categories for SEO or writer.
  4. When you fill in the Specialties section, be sure to include words that prospective customers might use to search for your business. For example, my Specialties section begins with: “Do you need fresh website content, a well-researched white paper or interesting blog posts? As a seasoned writer, editor and SEO specialist, I can write for you, help you get found online, and turn more prospects into clients. I also write LinkedIn profiles, brochures, proposals and a host of other business communications.”
  5. Be sure to add a short history of your company in the History section, and a profile photo and short biography in the Meet the Business Owner section. This will help potential customers get to know you before they contact you.
  6. Add 6-8 photos to your page that represent your business or, if you are like me, examples of your work. Be sure to add a profile photo too! Incorporate words your clients might use to find you online to name your profile photo rather than something like 1134.jpg. For example, I used Carolyn-Kohler-SEO-writer.jpg for my profile photo. Also, add a photo description, such as: Carolyn Kohler SEO Writer. This will help your photo come up in search engine results separately from your Yelp page.

What about getting Yelp reviews?

Yelp’s official policy (from their website) is simply Don’t Ask for Reviews, but do make it easy for customers to give them by:

  1. Putting a badge and link to your Yelp page on your website using Yelp’s review badges.
  2. Putting a “Find us on Yelp” sign in your place of business.
  3. Including a link to your Yelp Business Page in your email signature with the words, “Check us out on Yelp!”

Happy Yelping!

Carolyn Kohler is an SEO writer who specializes in helping businesses get found online. Her company is Website Wordsmith, and she is located in the San Francisco Bay Area.