Why I HATE Yelp & What We Use Instead For Online Reviews…

Before I move into my critique of Yelp (which I will make every attempt to keep from sounding like an angry Yelp review), there are a few things I want to mention first:

  • When Yelp first debuted, and for a long time after, I LOVED the site and used it all the time
  • My business, PostcardMania, has served over 115,838clients
  • We have a 4.4 rating (out of 5) on Google (221 reviews)
  • We also have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau

Now what could cause someone who was a fan and advocate of a particular business to become so disenfranchised that she publicly gives up on said business and calls others to do the same?

Quite simply:

Yelp is biased toward negative reviews, and it’s not fair to businesses.

How do I know this? Well, I’ve had the experience many of you have. I take pride in my customer service and the service-culture I’ve built at PostcardMania. After working with more than 115,838 businesses over 20 years, we’ve built up an A+ rating with the BBB and 4.4 stars on Google (based on 221 reviews).

Yet to glance at PostcardMania’s Yelp page, you would think that we’re mediocre at best.

I encourage you to compare the difference between our Yelp page and our Google Reviews. It’s a stark comparison. Why the difference? Easy: Google displays every review. Yelp uses a software formula (aka, “algorithm”) to choose which reviews they deem more important than others. For whatever reason, in our case, they “recommended” mostly bad reviews and put most of our good reviews on the separate, hidden “not recommended” pages (which automatically sort from lowest rating to highest, so the good reviews filter straight to the bottom!).

Here’s a screenshot of our 5-star reviews in the unrecommended section:

5 start Yelp reviews for PostcardMania

 

NOTE: These awesome reviews are NOT readily visible to Yelp users, unless they take the time to sift through the reviews in the grey “unrecommended” section that’s hidden all the way at the bottom of our profile.

All together, we have 67 recommended reviews and 105 (105!) not recommended reviews. But there’s actually more to it…

Here’s how Yelp chooses to display my business’ reviews:

  • “Recommended” reviews: 37 out of 67 are 4+ stars (55%)
  • “Not Recommended” reviews: 73 out of 105 are 4+ stars (70%)

Here’s where they hide all of the 4 and 5-star reviews that aren’t recommended:

Yelp's not recommended reviews section

 

You probably need a magnifying glass to see that. Plus, it’s all the way at the bottom of our Yelp page.

If you click on that obscure grey link, you’ll go to this place where it looks like you have a pool of MORE bad reviews, that is, until you get halfway down page… 4. Yup, if you make it to page 4, then you’ll start reading 73 stellar reviews.

That doesn’t exactly seem fair, does it?

It’s annoying, but I could live with it. The “straw that broke the camel’s back” for me with Yelp was when I tried to improve my rating on the site. I saw that our rating was for some reason out-of-step with every other rating service, so I emailed my client list and ask them to review us on Yelp. I figured we would get more positive feedback than negative since our complaints are overall a TINY percentage of the customers we actually service (we have over 115,838 clients) – and that’s exactly what happened.

But it didn’t help at all.

WHY?

Because the reviews all came in around the same period of time (when I sent the email), Yelp buried them in the “not recommended” section. Really? REALLY???

And after a little digging, I found out that many other business owners had complained to the BBB (1,435 total complaints) about Yelp doing the same thing. So that’s why I’m done with Yelp. I won’t use the site. I won’t advertise on the site. I’m done.

Still, many people still use Yelp to gather information and review businesses. So what are we to do? Here are 3 tips that should help you put your best foot forward on the site:

  • Encourage happy customers to leave good Yelp reviews.The trick I learned the hard way is not to ask for reviews all at one time. Yelp will hide them. Instead, do it gradually over time so you are steadily building positive reviews.
  • Respond to negative reviews and explain what happened. If there is a way to reconcile the relationship, try to do it! If not, at least you’ll get your side of things out there.
  • Direct readers to your positive reviews. In your responses, you can tell people that there are many positive reviews hidden further down your Yelp page. You don’t want to sound petulant, but there’s no reason not to let people know the glowing reviews are there!

If you’ve had the same experience I’ve had with Yelp, consider writing a complaint to Yelp about their review process. Then, file formal complaints with the BBB to ensure they are taken seriously! You can even Yelp about Yelp now. (In case you’re wondering, they have 2 stars based on 8,027 reviews, and 9,651 unrecommended reviews.)

Now get this:

97% of consumers take the time to read online reviews for local businesses they’re considering, plus —

The majority of U.S. consumers — 68% in fact — say that positive reviews make them more likely to use a business, so you need to find a way to boost your online reviews while you mitigate the negative bias of Yelp.

Therefore, I recommend you invest some time into your Google Reviews.

Google reviews not only assist your business in ranking higher in Google searches, but 84% of consumers trust these reviews just as much as word-of-mouth recommendations.

Plus, the golden review stars that googlers see when they find you can increase the number of people who click on your business — to go to your website — by 35%.

Woman looking at star ratings

 

It’s like Google has trained us that more stars = better business, which means click here!

And it goes without saying:

Google Reviews are on Google — the #1 most-used site where 65% of internet searches take place. I can pretty much guarantee that no matter what your business is, some — if not ALL — of your prospects use Google in their lives.

I mentioned before that Google doesn’t use a formula to filter its reviews. Instead, they show every single one which eliminates bias (take notes, Yelp.)

FREE report: How to get more Google Reviews to improve your online credibility

In helping rank your website higher in Google searches, Google takes a couple key things into account, namely:

  • How many reviews you have
  • How good they are

Of course, there are other SEO (search engine optimization) factors at play, but no matter what:

You want to get as many 4- and 5-star reviews as possible.

Remember, your prospects LOOK and take note of good (and bad) reviews, which influence if they reach out to you… or not.

There are several ways to get more reviews without blatantly violating Google’s terms of service, such as:

Including a link at the bottom of your emails with something like, “Did you enjoy our service? We’d love your feedback!”

You can also post signs in your office reminding customers to review you on Google if they’ve enjoyed their experience.

But if you’re looking for an easy, proven solution to getting more positive reviews online, I can’t recommend Podium enough. Podium is a software solution that automates the getting-reviews process so you and your staff don’t have to manually follow up with customers emailing them links. Podium handles everything for you.

No, I’m not getting paid to promote Podium — I’m just a HUGE fan, and here’s why:

When my company started using Podium, we generated 25 5-star reviews in ONE MONTH. Plus, our 1-star reviews diminished by over 50%.

customer rating 5 stars

 

It was incredible, so I recommend if you need help ramping up your online reviews, hire Podium to help you.

What people say about your business affects your business whether you like it or not, and your customers pay attention. Let’s help each other as small business owners by filing complaint reports (where warranted) for unfair business practices, and also by taking the time to reach out to disgruntled clients who — with just a little TLC — may turn into winning clients again!

If you need help with anything regarding your business’s marketing, feel free to call one of our marketing experts at 800-628-1804, their advice is FREE, and we’re here to help!

My business to yours,

Joy

P.S. Want to improve your Google reviews (and online reputation) to generate more leads? Download this FREE Google reviews report for step-by-step help!

Get More Google Reviews

51 Comments

  • I do not find your experiences with YELP surprising or unusual. What you do not say because you are a polite and professional marketer is YELP is only useful and important to people who are uninformed, lazy, engage in group think and probably believe anything they read on the internet. And they are most likely liberal to boot! Tell me I’m wrong.

    • wow! As a conservative, I’m happy to tell you, Jimmy, to get a life. You came with nothing of substance and then assumed her political affiliation because she was “polite and professional”. You may not believe everything that you read on the internet but you are still an idiot. Only someone that BELIEVED they had superior intelligence would write something so stupid with zero substance.

    • Well said Joy, I’m so glad you took time to review Yelp. I am also a business owner with similar experience, my business now has 219 Google reviews with a 4.9 rating we’ve worked hard for the past 7 years to attain that.

      Yelp seems to be poised to be a legitimate online option to Google, yet what really holds them back is their outrageous ad rates. Yelp ad reps call me routinely and I will take the time every time to walk through their ad rates. Every time I do based on my Google adword campaign ROI comparison, yelps rates equate to a projected 25% cost per conversion, my average transaction is only $40, my ROI on my Google campaign usually runs about 2.5%.
      Yelp, if you weren’t so greedy in your ad sales more businesses my advertise with you and more businesses might market towards you with cross-platform promotions on FB and others seeking Yelp reviews, like I do for Google.

  • Thanks for articulating my feelings about Yelp for the last five years! They have improved, I think due to a lawsuit from a VA carpet cleaner LOL. Keep it up Joy!

  • Very useful information! Thanks for sharing your experience and how to manage online reviews… very helpful and appreciated!

  • The part you left out about yelp is if you become one of their customers they will filter the reviews the other way. They won a lawsuit in San Francisco allowing them to filter the reviews the way they do in order to gain clients as part of their business practice

  • I’m glad to hear I’m not the only frustrated one! I’m glad to hear they have improved, although I still refuse to ever use them again! Thank you for your comment, Michael.

  • You know, it’s very funny that when Yelp was all over us to advertise with them (which we finally did about 7 months ago), we started noticing quite a lot of customer inquiries for service. However, after about 5 months into our 6 month agreement, they dramatically fell off, and Yelp started calling us to see if we wanted to increase our marketing budget with them. After we told them not at this time, we noticed about a 70% decrease in customer inquiries!
    We’re figuring on just canceling them all together now, switching to Google, and more marketing with Postcardmania!
    Interesting to see we’re not the only ones having issues with Yelp!

    Thanks Joy for the info!

  • We had this same exact problem! We went from having over 100 reviews on yelp and a 4 star rating to having a 2.5 rating and only 32 reviews. All of our other reviews were “not recommended”. When I called to ask why they took all of our good reviews away, they said, “you shouldn’t ask for reviews, but let people naturally review you.” This also “mysteriously” coincided with us cancelling our yelp advertising package days before.

    Thank you for writing this because this is exactly what I have felt about yelp for about a year now!

  • Wow – that is VERY interesting, James. I think you’d be right to switch to Google and leave Yelp in the dust!

  • I’m sorry to hear you had the same terrible experience! I would definitely recommend focusing your efforts on getting more Google reviews instead. Thank you so much for your comment, Tony!

    • I have a way to reduce negative reviews and a business pay a one time membership fee Of $500-$1000 a year depending on the size of the business Every review that comes in will get sent directly to the business so they can deal with the customers issue privately but the key difference is the website that I plan to launch will inform the public what could happen to them if they become a target of slander or defamation lawsuit regardless of who they write a negative review about and what review site they use.

      I am a firm believer that review sites do not want the public to think twice before they use a review site they just love the content being posted on their site on the regular basis they don’t want the public to know what could happen and how costly it could be if they become a target of a lawsuit especially a slander or defamation lawsuit for damages c i’m a firm believer that review sites do not want the public to think twice before they use a review site they just love the content being posted on their site on the regular basis they don’t want the public to know what could happen and how costly it could be if they become a target of a lawsuit especially a slander or defamation lawsuit the damages could be very huge.

      I have the blueprints already laid out for a website that will be called AmericanBusinessReviews .com. Businesses will get control of everything that comes in because they will have this website on their website and they will have it in their signature area of their emails so whenever they send out an email they will be informing their customers that if they have any issues with the business they will be able to submit their issues directly to AmericanBusinessReviews This way the website will get in front of the customer before they think of going to a review side of their choice

      The website will have a very special video on the homepage informing the public what is happened to others and explaining the risk of posting slander and defamation about any business of their choice

      The business community has never taken on the task of informing the customer what it’s like to become a target of a slander or defamation lawsuit This task could be very hard and difficult for a business to inform their consumers what it’s like to become a target of these kind of lawsuits so the website will do that instead of the business It will be done in a professional way to get people to think twice before they act once.

      It’s very difficult for a consumer to go on the Internet and find what is happened to others after they’ve define the business on the Internet This task needs to happen there’s going to be two sites

      AmericanBusinessReviews .com

      CanadianBusinessReviews .com

      We are always going to listen to businesses to make sure the websites are doing the best possible for any business no matter how Big or small they are .

      Would love comments

    • James I’ve got something that I’ve developed that’s going to be a lot better than $300 a month and it will definitely help protect the reputation of businesses in the United States and Canada. It’s going to cost $500 a year.

      The key thing to getting the customer in front of something that will help protect your reputation before they go to a review side of their choice you have to cut the review sites off at the pass

      It’s true that you cannot stop them from going to the review sites but using the tools that I’m developing with your not too far from being done will definitely help you reach your goal

      You have to remember the review sites do not want the public to be informed/educated about what could happen to them if they post slander and defamation about any business of their choice.

      They have to learn what has happened to others after they post to slander and defamation to become a target of a slander or defamation lawsuit and show the end result. Like one lady I believe she’s in New York she posted a one star review on a review site the doctor took her to court he sued her and the court awarded him damages of $7600 she had to pay $7600 to spend 10 minutes on her review site of her choice. She also had to spend $10,000 to pay his legal bills. She spent $17,600 to spend 10 minutes on a review site of her choice.

      We are going to show these type of results on the special website that I’m developing that you will place on your website and you will place a link to it on all of your outgoing emails in the signature area.

      This is a very special way to cut them off at the pass because you make sure that somebody from your company always sends your customers an email with the special link the places positive fear in their head to think twice before they go to a review side of their choice and trash any business of their choice and what could happen if they do if a lawyer comes after them .

      Nobody is telling the consumer what could happen to them if they post slander and defamation because most consumers fly by the seat of their pants and they do not do any homework about slander and defamation we’ve done that and we are going to bring that to every businesses customer in a constructive positive way

  • Great article, very informative and insightful! Even as consumers my family and I have been frustrated that Yelp’s algorithm skews reviews and there’s no way to adjust that in settings.

    About your point regarding negative reviews, it reminds me of what my marketing professor taught me- negative experiences tend to make exponentially more noise than positive experiences. Sadly Yelp amplifies this problem with their algorithm. I know people that look at 1-star reviews before positive reviews, sometimes even for entertainment (pissed off people are usually more entertaining than satisfied people on the internet I guess?).

    • Ivan I agree with what you’ve written but the people that love writing negative reviews are never held liable when they post land or defamation. People that read negative reviews would never like it if somebody wrote something negative about them on the Internet. Like negative reviews until it happens to them. Myself I would love to be able to get a resolution or solution to my issue regarding a business been spending time writing a negative review and getting nowhere with it.

      I’m sure a lot of people love writing negative reviews because they want to get attention or see how many hits they can get regarding what they posted. Too many people with no talent want to be known so they do stupid things that cause trouble to others.

      I am willing to bet that if somebody have the ability to remove everything negative off of Yelp in the middle of the night I am sure that yelps traffic would dramatically decrease and their revenue would decrease as well. Just like the media says If it bleeds it leads The dirt gets attention just like the song by Don Henley “ dirty laundrY “

      I’m creating something that will bring resolutions and solutions to live for businesses in the United States and Canada I don’t believe in negative reviews it drastically affects people’s lives and their businesses. Shows of the communications decency act section 230 review sites love posting negative reviews but if they were held liable for hosting slander and defamation they would not want to be in the business of hosting negative reviews

  • James, that’s a good point. It might be a bit of a steep price for some businesses but we definitely feel that it’s worth it for us. Thank you for your comment!

  • Ivan – EXACTLY! That’s why I much prefer checking Google reviews before I do business with someone. I’m glad you liked the article!

    • Sorry for your difficulties! After entering internet marketing in 1996, I jumped on yelp early on. I registered a company I owned at the time. Then I later went back and registered another company using a separate company name. I got a notice to never darken their door again. I think the two email addresses used were the same. And in their mind I was double-dipping? Anyway, there are plenty of other sources for good representation for your business. The pathway to entry in the yelp business isn’t rocket science. Competition unseats companies daily. Keep doing what you guys have consistently done for many years …. quality ….. superior sales and service…. who could ask for more!

  • Reading this with interest. The situation with James is one that I tend to believe, Yelp’s strategy for holding their client base hostage is one they’ve been accused of for many years. Unfortunately, they also typically own many of the top search engine results, especially for certain categories, so they do hold some sway. You give good advice Joy and hopefully many will read this. Thanks for sharing it.

  • A lot of liberals think really well.

    What you’re seeing is people fed up with knee-jerk reactions and spoonfed religious conservatism. So they seem a little abrupt. It’s because right-wingers had already crossed the line.

    Human beings deserve better and liberals know that. Not that conservatives don’t, but a lot of conservatives think they deserve a lot more than they do. You better earn it cause you don’t.

  • Within the past two weeks, I have experienced the horrors of Yelp myself. Boylan and Associates is a business with an impeccable reputation until one Elite Yelp Member. Since 3/9/2018, Yelp has removed 6 5-Star Reviews (placed in not recommended) section and chosen to leave an Elite Yelp Member’s review which stalked our business for free consultations and whom we repeatedly advised we would not represent. Additionally, she was verbally abusive to 2 staff members which included myself. What I want to informs persons out there of is that we have a voice. Each time you have a review removed or Yelp does not post your review, get written documentation from Yelp at feedback@yelp.com. Request a written explanation regarding their actions. Be certain to post exactly what your issue is with them. Then, take the time to use your gathered documentation against Yelp to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Better Business Bureau, Attorney General of your State, U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, news stations, newspaper stations – anyone that you can think of. Place their phone number on your do-not-call list and file a complaint if phoned. It will take thousands to stop this abuse by Yelp. We cannot sit and just complain any longer. Take action please.

    • Marie, I’m so sorry to hear about your Yelp experience! Thank you for taking the time to share how we can take action as business owners. We do have a voice!

    • I totally understand where you’re coming from I have developed something that is going to change the review site industry what I have developed will help businesses protect their reputation and get their customers / clients in front of something that will make them think twice about using review sites of their choice

      Take note your typical review site is not going to like what I’m going to do but what I’m going to do is not illegal and it’s very creative You have to think about how do you get your customer to think twice about using review sites of their choice You have to change their mindset before they go to those review sites they like to use. I have developed the tools that will change their mindset of using those review sites.

      Businesses will be able to place a very special website that I am developing which is almost done on their website so let’s say that you own a restaurant. Do you replace this website that I’m developing on your website. You will also place a link to this website in your outgoing emails. You will place it in your signature area of your emails that all of your employees send out This special website will definitely educate the public about what could happen to them if they become a target of a slander or defamation lawsuit. This website will encourage them to cool their jets off and submit their issue to the special website. They will be asked a lot of nice questions regarding their issues they have with your business. We will take that information and we will send it directly to the business but here’s the special thing about this website.

      The tools that will be on the homepage of the website that will educate consumers about slander and defamation and what has happened to Who have posted slander and defamation It’s going to reveal how much money the consumer had to pay in damages and in some cases they had to pay the business is legal bills.

      I want to be able to show the consumer what could happen if they go to a website of their choice and post slander and defamation what could happen to them we definitely don’t want this to happen to any businesses customers so we want them to think twice before they act once.

      When someone is upset with your business and they’re thinking about posting a review they don’t think about what could happen to them if they get sued. So I am going to take it upon myself to bring this to life so businesses can place it on their website the key thing is asking the customer if they have any issues with your business to submit those issues to us and we will bring them directly to the business to give them a shot at resolving the issue with the resolution or solution. Resolutions and solutions are much better than slander and defamation.

      In general most consumers have no idea as to what has happened to others after they became a target of a lawsuit for posting something they can’t get removed and defend a business. Nobody’s ever show them so we are going to reveal the legal industry and what has happened to others after they wound up in court because of what they posted on the Internet in the heat of the moment.

      The key thing is to get something in front of the consumer that’s upset before they go to a review site of their choice. The businesses can’t do it because the consumer will think they’ve got some kind of control over them it has to be an outsider. That’s what I will be I will be the outsider trying to bring a resolution or solution to life for the consumer I will be working with businesses in the United States and Canada I have a way to reduce negative reviews for all businesses in the United States and Canada.

  • Something big is coming to the review site industry for everybody I was with a review site for over 10 years and I know what people are talking about what it comes to negative reviews I know somebody in California they got a negative review that popped up on the first page of Google and it will probably destroy her career that’s not good So I’m going to do something about it the new website is coming to life that’s going to be called American Business Reviews Business owners will be able to post as many positive reviews on the website about who they are and what they doing what they sell whenever they want to

    Their customers will be able to come to the website and read the reviews the business puts up as often as they wish try to keep it legitimate is what I will ask everybody to do. This website is going to be free for the basic user that’s going to be three levels

    Level one Free. Consumers will have the basic functions of the website to post positive or negative reviews

    Level to a business will have access to unit functions to help them with their reputation

    Level three businesses will have access to a lot of unique features including live broadcasting.
    Setting up accounts there employees so their employees can post positive reviews about the company that they work for an explain why

    Businesses will also have the ability to post up to three YouTube videos in each positive review they put up. This website going to be about solutions and resolutions

    It’s never going to capitalize off of negativity I will see to it

      • Joy I am bud. Change things around a little bit the sites are going to be

        AmericanBusinessReviews .com

        CanadianBusinessReviews .com

        Businesses will have these websites on their website they will also have a link in the signature area of the email encouraging their customers and clients to go to these websites if they have any issues with the business We are going to inform the public what slander and defamation is with a lawyer a lawyer is going to have a video on the homepage of the website professionally informing the public what it’s like to become a target of a slander or defamation lawsuit

        Also on the website the public will see links that they can click on to see what has happened to others after they’ve posted negative content on the Internet using a review side of their choice and writing a review about the business of their choice

        Unfortunately the business community has not taken the time to inform the public what could happen to them if they post the wrong content on the review site of their choice especially one they cannot remove whatever they post

        There’s going to be a video on the homepage by a very well-known lawyer

        Links below the video to inform the public what has happened to others

        And a submission link above the video where they can submit a review or their issue with any business of their choice We are going to take those and send them directly by email to the business to consumer is writing about if the business is on the service

        It will be the ultimate in reputation protection and being able to deal with customer issues in a private form It 2017 yelp made $846 million I’m sure that they’re on target for $950 million in 2018. Most of this money is coming from businesses that have been trashed on the internet

        The reason these review sites exist is because the communications decency act section 230 prevents the review sites from being held liable for damages If that protection on Bralla falls apart or gets a hole in it by a small lawyer the review site industry will have to make drastic changes I want to make a difference before businesses have to wait forever for Congress to do anything about it

        Congress refuses to pass any laws when it comes to slander and defamation they need to separate freedom of speech from slander and defamation Sometimes I think there’s lobbyist that are paid to keep that communications decency act alive

        I look forward to your comments

      • Joy I’ve made some modifications to what I’m going to do but it’s coming to life I’ve been working on it for a while I want to make sure that is perfect. Believe me when I’m going to do is definitely going to inform the public what could happen to them if they go to a review site of their choice and post something about a business of their choice.

        You have to remember most consumers fly by the seat of their pants that’s just the way it is they don’t spend the time to educate themselves as to what has happened to others after they’ve posted slander or defamation about a business of their choice using a website of their choice.

        We are going to have a very unique opportunity to help protect the reputation of businesses in the United States and Canada

        There’s a lady that posted a one star review about a doctor I believe it was in New York I have the link saved in my computer she had to spend $7600 in damages that the court awarded the doctor she also had to give the doctor $10,000 for his legal bills.

        Bottom line she spent $17,600 to spend 10 minutes on the review site of her choice. Do you think if the consumers read that story that they would think twice about using a review site of their choice ? If she had read the story before she posted anything I’m sure that she probably would think is there a way I can work with the business before I do something stupid like that.

        The websites are going to be

        AmericanBusinessReviews .com

        CanadianBusinessReviews .com

        Trust me review sites will not like these two sites when they’re launchEd

      • Joy you have to remember the communications decency act section 230 allows review sites to host whatever they want that gets submitted and not have to worry about being held liable for hosting slander or defamation about any business.

        I’m coming up with A solution that will bring resolutions and solutions to life instead of slander and defamation. It’s time for businesses to be in control of their reputation and stop spending $300 to $500 or maybe $1000 a month. Seems these days if you pay them you have to deal with less slander and defamation and if you don’t pay them you have to deal with more ! Why is that ?

        AmericanBusinessReviews

        CanadianBusinessReviews

        Both are coming and they both will reduce negative reviews to get posted about businesses in both countries

      • Joy I just want you to know that I’ve made some adjustments in my decision when it comes to functions of both websites. Negative reviews are never going to get posted. Positive and negative reviews will both get sent directly to the business so they can deal with those in private Sometimes you learn a little bit more about what you right after you read it a couple of times and I’ve never had any intentions of hosting negative reviews. Businesses have to deal with too much of that now.

        I believe that resolutions and solutions are much better for businesses and consumers then doing what the typical review site does that trash is the reputation of businesses..

  • I am not a huge fan of Yelp. I have advertised with them before and I couldn’t justify the ROI vs. using that same money on Google PPC. I have a 5-star rating based on 3 positive reviews. I made sure to setup my free listing and monitor it occasionally; making sure to respond to any client inquiry.
    I spend some time claiming my Google + listing and setting up the page for reviews (add lots of pics … it counts), and also deliberately getting (asking) reviews. I did this when I first opened my tax and accounting office. I can say that simple upfront investment in time has paid dividends more than other form of advertising I have done. I continues to work 24/7 for free. I just had a client come in today because of the stellar Google reviews ($450 earned).
    The minute I started intentionally working on getting reviews, I went to the first page on of search results for the important keywords for my business. The reason is that MOST business do not ask for reviews and therefore do not have any. So, the minute you get 10 review you are miles ahead of your competition … TRUST ME ON THIS!
    I started using the handout from Phil Rozek for clients that come in the office. Then I created an email template with links to Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc (but I focus a lot on the Google reviews) for my virtual clients. You can get your customized handout.
    You want to continually ask for reviews to stay relevant to the search engines. Also, you don’t want your reviews to be old and therefore perceived as irrelevant.

  • Stick The problem that I see with the review site industry as nobody’s wanting to take the lead to educate or inform the public what could happen to them after they post slander or defamation about any business of their choice One lady in New York wrote a one star review on the website of her choice and the doctor sued her he took her to court he said it was about the principle of the issue and he was not going to sit back and look the other way She had to pay him $7600 in damages and she also had to pay $10,000 of his legal bills I’m sure that if she was informed about what could happen to her she would’ve spent 10 minutes on the review site that she chose to use.

    I have a plan to reduce the number of negative reviews to get posted on the Internet And trust me it will work I’m sure that businesses are tired of reputation management cost every month We are going to charge businesses based upon their size $500-$1000 a year they will place our website on their website and there will be a link to our site in the signature of all outgoing emails regarding the business that subscribes to the service All negative reviews and positive reviews will get sent directly to the business

    This time businesses have true reputation protection and it’s also time for them to get a chance to deal with customer issues privately

  • This post is for everybody that runs or owns a business. Businesses need somebody to stand up for them gift between the business and the consumer and do something that I believe your typical review site will not want you to do bud it’s not illegal and it’s not disrespectful.

    You have to remember consumers don’t think before they do something that could cost them a lot of money. There was a lady that posted a one star review about a doctor This was a very prominent surgeon and he was not going to sit back and look the other way. So he filed a lawsuit against his patient.

    Bottom line is she had to spend $7600 in damages that’s what the court awarded him in the defamation case that he filed. She also had to spend $10,000 paying his legal bills. The court awarded him the doctor $17,600 because of what she did on the Internet using a review site of her choice

    Can you imagine getting your credit card out and paying somebody 17,600 to spend 10 minutes on the reviews site ?

    I don’t think that there’s a person on this planet that would spend $17,600 to spend 10 minutes on the review site of their choice.

    The key thing is the consumer has to be informed about the world of slander and defamation. Think about any review site of your choice do you think they would want to inform the consumer what could happen to them before they post any content on their website ?

    I believe a lot of review sites love the negative content that’s what gets the attention to the website. In the media/news rooms they love negative content

    If it bleeds it leads That’s the motto of a lot of news reporters.

    Communications decency act section 230 prevents review sites from being held liable for hosting slander and defamation.

    The communications decency act section 230 does not protect the consumer from posting slander and defamation

    The consumers are not being told that. Businesses are so focused on making money they don’t have time to understand what’s going on in the review site industry I do as well as defamation lawyers

    I’m going to bring two websites to life that are going to be placed on businesses websites that subscribe to a $500 year service They will be the guard dog of your business Trust me I know what I’m doing and it’s going to come to life

    It’s going to be a special website for the American businesses and there’s going to be a special website for Canadian businesses

    Canada does not tolerate slander and defamation like America does Don’t worry you business owners it’s coming

    I’m going to charge businesses $500 a year if they are a small business if they are a large business and they get a lot of traffic and a lot of emails that come into our website they will be charged $1000 a year and it will be complete reputation control With very unique tools

    Will have a very unique suggestion box that businesses to that subscribe to the service will be able to tell us some ideas that we might want to activate to better serve the business community

    I personally will be reading those suggestions if anybody suggests a great idea and I like it I will pay that person I will write them a check so I personally own the idea I will be more than happy to buy unique ideas if I like them.

  • I wanted to reach out to let you know that I am working with a locally based business law firm to look into the feasibility of fighting back against Yelp. Yelp has been filtering out authentic, positive reviews, while permitting illegitimate negative reviews to be factored into the aggregate review score for our business. Yelp’s tactics in our view disproportionately hurt small businesses and it’s time for small business owners to collectively fight back and organize a response.

    We are interested in challenging the legality of Yelp’s business practices and are seeking likeminded small business owners to join forces with. We are organizing a meeting between small business owners and our legal counsel to talk about how we, as business owners, may be able to fight back against Yelp. For years Yelp has hid behind the excuse that they are a passive billboard to avoid legal responsibility, but it has become clear to us that they are shaping and directing the conversation, to the detriment of small businesses. If you are interested in participating, please provide me with your email address so we can connect and learn more about your situation. We will then email the interested business owners with some proposed dates for a meeting. Thank you for the time, and we look forward to joining forces to protect our businesses. Email me at matt@craftsmanautocare.com

  • As a small business owner Yelp is the bane of my existence. In my last business I was lucky enough to have my first that i wasn’t expecting be from an experienced Yelper..that got things off to a good start. After 4 years I had 26 reviews…13 hidden..and they were are authentic client reviews. IN my new business I have 15 reviews 13 hidden..so basically they are hiding almost all of them. I am seriously considering leaving Yelp in the dust. The only reason I am hanging on is because it actually did get me clients at my lasy business, but usually only when I did the paid advertising. Any ideas?

  • Yelp is a very powerful company that is a reputation mafia, that uses bully tactics. They are a nightmare come true. It is an absolute wonder, why are they not sued out of business? They call and call and call. I have to block them. They have hidden all my reviews and I have researched on how I can fight back. There is almost very little that can be done. As of 01/14/2020 their stock is doing well. I would like for Yelp to be taught a lesson.

  • They had deleted my Experience with an Xbox One S from Retro Game Trader within Hillsboro! That was Offensive!

    I had left Good Skin a complaint about their Website and Yelp had deleted that!
    What do you want from me, Yelp?!
    I Hate Yelp!💢😤

Leave a Comment:

Your name and email are required to post. We will not publish or share your email address.

*

Call or Text a Marketing Consultant 1-800-628-1804

Related Content:

40 jobs and counting, resulting in $5,600 in revenue!
30 new jobs and $360,000 in revenue!
With DirectMail2.0, GutterBrush received 80 new leads!
325 people responded and they converted 65 of them!
Call or Text a Marketing Consultant 1-800-628-1804
PostcardMania