Yelp, the largest customer review platform, is a valuable tool for small businesses. As a business owner, you are always looking to reach new customers and maximize your operating costs. Yelp is so influential that it would make sense to spend some money on it to increase your visibility, right? Before throwing money at the platform, let’s take a closer look at how Yelp works and whether it may be right for you.
How Does Yelp Advertising Work
Yelp is a cost-per-click advertising platform, meaning businesses can put ads on the search results pages and once a customer clicks their profile, the business pays a certain amount of money. This price is based on various factors, including competition, relevance, and bid price for the ad. Yelp ads will be featured above competitor profiles that do not run Yelp ads. This isn’t the only ‘boosting’ feature you can get, though. Yelp offers enhanced profile features. Getting the customer to your profile is half the battle. To actually lock in the sale, you need a pretty impressive profile. Otherwise, customers may be led away due to a lack of relevant information or from a competitor’s profile being featured on your account. Yelp Connect, portfolios, and slideshows are all elements of the enhanced profile package that capitalizes on Yelp’s characteristically high-intent customers.
How Much Does Advertising on Yelp Cost
The beauty of advertising on Yelp is that your campaign is almost completely customizable. The actual cost of Yelp Ads vary based on industry, category and location. Some industries pay much more for a click because there is a higher revenue associated with a single lead, or they exist in a competitive industry in a given location. The cost per click can start as low as $0.50! With such low costs, Yelp stands out as a top choice for small to medium businesses.
Profile upgrades are another cost associated with having a successful Yelp business account. Yelp makes it easy for small businesses by offering upgrade bundles. If a business sets a certain budget for its CPC campaign, Yelp will reduce the price of its bundle package that gives access to logo display, portfolios, and more features. Yelp offers these deals exclusively to their partner agencies. At iCatch, we are honored to hold the title of Partner Agency of the Year. With this title, we have the knowledge, experience and perks to help business owners develop their Yelps. Our team can analyze the cost-to-benefit to find exactly what budget and what plan will help a given business.
Should Your Business Advertise on Yelp
So now for the question of the hour – should your business advertise on Yelp? In almost every case – Yes! Businesses thrive off of good reviews and audience exposure, and Yelp is the hotspot for this kind of growth. Without a doubt, every business should be on Yelp, but should every business advertise? It can’t hurt. If you are a business that provides any type of good or service, you could benefit from more customers or clients. To understand how to achieve your business goals and stay on budget, we recommend you consult a marketing agency. iCatch is a top marketing agency with extensive experience in Yelp ads.
Pros of Yelp Ads
- High exposure on Google: As well as boosting your profile on Yelp, your business will also have a higher Google ranking. Yelp sees that your business is in the top choices of Yelp and will then, depending on your industry, feature your business on ‘best of’ posts.
- Top positions on Yelp: When you pay for ads on Yelp, you are boosted to the top of the search results page so that you are one of the first businesses viewed for a related search.
- Easy setup: Yelp is one of the most user-friendly platforms, which means it takes relatively little effort to get started. However, we still recommend using a marketing agency to develop campaigns for your business.
- Targeting Key Words: When you begin ads, Yelp will help you choose optimal keywords for your business so that potential customers have the highest chance of finding you when they are searching for your keywords or something related. This lets you boost certain services or products that you want to promote.
- Geographic Targeting: location-based targeting lets you cast the net wide or keep it local depending on your goals and the nature of your business.
Cons of Yelp Ads
- Add-ons are pretty necessary: Unfortunately, without profile upgrades, your profile is nothing to write home about, you won’t have a logo, and you’ll be actively advertising your competitors. Only with a certain ad spend or monthly payment can you make your profile fully yours. Fortunately, partner agencies can offer some pretty killer deals on upgrade bundles!
- Not suitable for every business: Yelp is appealing to small businesses because it gives them a chance to build their reputation and find local clientele. However, it isn’t as helpful for a nationwide chain.
How to Find Success on Yelp
The most successful Yelp users are those who use a long-term marketing strategy and aren’t afraid to put a bit of money in. Throwing thousands of dollars at a short-term campaign may get you some leads immediately but will not create a lasting name for your business on Yelp. The truth is, Yelp is smart, they know who has fake reviews, and they know who is trying to exponentially boost their leads overnight. Yelp respects and favors businesses that show steady and consistent growth over time. The best Yelp advertisers have a clear plan and track results over time, tweaking their strategy as they see fit.
That’s a lot of time and patience. We get it—you’re busy running a business full-time and don’t have time to run a full-blown marketing campaign. That’s what we do! iCatch is Yelp’s Advertising Partner of the Year. What does this mean? Yelp sees us as the most equipped team to run successful ads and bring businesses the greatest ROI. In short, Yelp took a look at all the marketing agencies out there and deemed us the best.
Are you ready to start working with the best? Let’s start talking about how we can grow your business and leads through Yelp advertising.
