Yelp-Sucks and Other things you might not know

Yelp and Your Small Business

You may not have heard it yet but , Yelp Sucks.  It Sucks so hard that there is an entire website with a whole lot of like-minded business owners who commiserate over the suckiness of Yelp .  Yelp's business practices are often compared to those of an even more well known organization , the mob .  The mob , in case you also didn't know, was infamous for earning money from businesses through extortion .  The mob was great at creating a problem ( robberies, arson, knee-breaking) and being the only solution- you don't pay and something bad is bound to happen to your business or to you.

How could a website that boasts over 100 million page views in a MONTH be extorting small business owners? ( I see you scratching your head over there ) well I could explain it to you , but Bloom or our clients haven't been victims of Yelp ( yet) .  It's much more telling to listen to the stories of those who were affected ; like the new small business owner whose competitors wrote their first reviews , all 1 stars.  Promptly creating a negative reputation of the new business , which Yelp should have corrected but refused.  How about the business owner who has a 3 star reputation because Yelp hid all the five star reviews in a section of his page which requires the viewer to click a link (greyed out) to view it? Did you know that a one star difference on Yelp can help your business by an increase in revenue of 9% ; what do you think happens to business when you lose a star on Yelp?  Yelp-Sucks.com has thousands of complaints about Yelp's business practices from business owners if you are interested in reading more about how (they think) Yelp hurts small business. the FTC has received over 600 complaints about Yelp's business practices, people are getting fed up with the review site.

Now that's not to say that some businesses aren't helped by Yelp, because certainly there are success stories.  Yelp, however, has cornered a certain niche of the review market which , according to their published numbers, is the Restaurant or Retail shopper in the 18-40 age range .  If this isn't your customers than may I suggest you avoid yelp like the plague. Here's why .

Yelp Tips 

• 1.  You can never ever remove your Business information.,  If a competitor in your smaller yelp niche wants to ruin you , by God he will use Yelp to do it.  Yelp is a WMD in the wrong hands.
• 2. If you are a NEW business , you are going to have some bad days, weeks or months; expect it.  What some people might forget after you have finally reached your cruising altitude will be immortalized on Yelp.  You'll never "live it down"  in fact you may not be around to live it down since most new business fail in the first five years anyhow, but rest assured that those 1 and 2 star yelp reviews will hasten your demise.
• 3. Yelp's magic show . One day you have lots of five star reviews and a great overall reputation , then those 5 stars disappear leaving your reputation hanging in limbo .  Come to find out if you click around a bit those 5 stars are hidden behind the Yelp curtain .  How do you get those 5 star reviews back you ask - Visa, Master Card, American Express ?  Some small business owners ( probably the majority of those 600 + claims to the FTC ) claim that Yelp promised to make those 5 star reviews reappear and those 1 and 2 star reviews buried if the business purchased yelp advertising at a $300 plus a month price tag. 

Yelp Complaints

Yelp is popular , there's no denying it .  Yelp can help your business too.  It's important to know that Yelp can also ruin your reputation and destroy your business , unapologetically .  If you feel your business has been harmed by Yelp due to unfair business practices report your experience to the FTC ,and on other online review sites .  We'd suggest you review Yelp on their Yelp page but , they don't have one and that speaks volumes to us.  Before you create a Yelp page for your business please consult a professional or do a lot of due diligence on your own so you don't become a victim yourself.  If you can avoid a Yelp page when your business is starting out , do.  Wait until you have built a positive reputation that is passed through word of mouth and on other more reputable review sites before you take your business to the masses on Yelp.