Not all businesses are eligible for Yelp. They are mostly focused on traditional brick-and-mortar businesses and local service providers, but also feature mobile businesses, government services, parks and attractions, and anything else that fits the local scene.
Claim and Set Up your business page HERE.
To get started, confirm that your business name, address, and phone number are all correct. You’ll also want to include your business’s website, add your hours of operation.
Add up to three categories that best describe your business—choose from hundreds of options. This will help customers find you in search. Within each category you choose, you can also add services and offerings which will help consumers know more what you offer.
In this section, you can specify details that help customers see how your business operates and what type of experience they can expect. This includes attributes like Free Wi-Fi, Accepts Apple Pay, Wheelchair Accessible, Offers Takeout, and more.
To make it easier for consumers to find more sustainable businesses, new searchable attributes have been added to the Yelp platform. These include “EV charging station available,” “Plastic-free packaging,” “Provides reusable tableware,” “Bring your own container allowed,” and “Compostable containers available.” In addition to these new eco-friendly attributes, existing relevant attributes, such as “Bike parking” and “Vegan,” are also be searchable and highlighted in Yelp search results and business pages.
Business owners can add the new “LGBTQ-owned” attribute to display on their Yelp Page. This free, searchable attribute helps consumers find and support LGBTQ-owned businesses in their communities.
There is also an “Open to All” attribute that allows your business to distinguish itself as a safe and welcoming place to everyone—regardless of ethnicity, race, sex, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
When a consumer visits your Yelp Business Page, they’ll be able to see if your business is “Open to All.” It will be highlighted under the Amenities section.
This section contains three parts to help your customers get to know you, your background, and your business better.
Specialties – Here you can describe what you do exceptionally well. Let your customers know what you’re all about and what you specialize in.
History – Tell your customers what year your business started and the story of how it all began.
Intro – Also called Meet the Owner/Manager, this is where you can say hello to your customers and tell them why you’re passionate about the work you do.
People shop with their eyes, which is why adding photos to your business account is crucial—especially high-quality ones. Customers love seeing what sets you apart from the competition, so make sure to upload photos that best represent your business. There is no limit to the number of photos you can upload through your Yelp for Business account, and you don’t even need a fancy camera. A simple smartphone will do.
It’s good practice to add new photos plus captions weekly to get started and then monthly once you have a nice collection.
Once you start getting your first few reviews, be sure to respond to that feedback—whether its positive or critical.
Have a satisfied customer? Thank them for their praise. It’s a great opportunity to respond publicly, letting potential customers know that you strive to make your customers happy.
Come across a customer who had an issue? It’s best to respond to find out what went wrong and how you can make their experience better next time. Plus, our research shows Yelp users are 33% more likely to upgrade their review if a business owner responds with a personalized message within a day. Need more motivation?
Also, please remember not to ask your customers for reviews on Yelp. They have a strict policy against soliciting reviews.
Easy Response Formula
Start by thanking the reviewer for providing feedback about their experience.
Highlight something positive they said in the review.
Address any concerns or share your business philosophy.
Conclude by inviting them back or with a way to continue the conversation offline, like a direct message, your email, or phone number.
You can also download the Yelp App and manager your page from your phone. It also include data about your user views and other activity on your page. Through the App you can also get mobile notifications of reviews and messages to respond more quickly.
When you log in to your Yelp for Business account, you’ll land on the Home tab where you’ll see a section titled “Activity.” This is your home base for breakdown of your business analytics.
There are three specific sections to take note of when measuring your metrics: Page Visits, About Your Audience, and Customer Leads. You can see these metrics over three different time ranges—the past 30 days, 12 months, or 24 months.
When someone runs a search on Yelp and then specifically clicks on your business listing, this reports as a Page Visit. Page Visits are the total number of times people clicked through to your page on Yelp during a specific time period on any device, including mobile and desktop. For businesses that have generated some traffic to their page already, Yelp will automate a forecast that shows the projected number of additional Page Visits you may receive.
Just below the graph, this section is where you’re able to see what percentage of user views—which is the same as Page Visits—were from mobile devices as well as how many times your business appeared in Yelp search results. This can be a good barometer for how well you’re capturing the local audience. For example, if you had 10 Page Visits but appeared in 1,000 searches, you’re only being found 1% of the time. There are a number of things that can help your organic reach such as filling out your business information with keywords and adding photos with captions.
After a customer clicks on your business page (i.e., a Page Visit) and takes any other trackable action on your page, they are considered a Customer Lead. Click on the Customer Leads tab found at the top right of the Activity section to see a full breakdown of what actions were taken over the specified period of time. Here is a breakdown of the different types of Customer Leads:
Mobile check-ins: This is the number of people who clicked the “Check-in” button on your Yelp page from a mobile device. People “check in” for a variety of reasons—to collect a deal you’re offering, to show they like your business, etc.—and it helps you determine that customers from Yelp were physically at your business or received your services. Check-in offers are available for select business categories—log in to biz.yelp.com to see if your business is eligible.
Directions and map views: This shows how many people looked at your location on a map and/or got directions to your business. Getting directions is a great indicator that someone from Yelp visited your business or plans to soon.
Yelp deals: This indicates how many Yelp users purchased a Yelp deal you created for your page. This is a great way to concretely monetize your Yelp Page, and deals are free to set up.
Mobile calls: This is how many people called your business through your Yelp Page, which signals the user’s interest in becoming a customer.
Clicks to your website: This displays the number of website clicks from your Yelp Page directly over to your website.
User uploaded photos: This details the number of photos that Yelp users have uploaded to your Yelp Page. Photos can range from the inside decor of your business to a favorite dish and helps give other potential customers insight into what your business looks like from the eye of a consumer.
Yelp bookmarks: Users can bookmark/save your business so they can check back on your page in the future, whether they just visited your business or plan to be a future customer. These saved businesses are then grouped together by the Yelp user into Collections. Collections can also be shared or followed.
Messages: This shows you how many people on Yelp sent you a direct message. This may be a one-off note from a potential customer, or it could be a request via Yelp’s Request-a-Quote feature.
One bonus place to view page activity details is in the Notifications section—look for the bell icon at the top right of your Yelp for Business account page. This activity feed gives you more specific information about those that have landed on your page and what they did once they got there—for example, if someone viewed the map for your business or clicked on your Call to Action button.
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Yelp Business Page Guide - Visit Palm Springs
