Yelp has been around since 2004 and has caught on with consumers who want to rate local businesses. But are customer reviews good for small business? Furthermore, do sites like IHateYelp add much value?

TechCrunch says the Yelp haters are good, that it means Yelp is doing something right. I agree. Knowing that customers are reviewing your business and telling other customers the good and the bad, you’ll spend more time trying to do the right thing and please them.

The part about the anti-Yelp sites that I find disturbing is that the businesses that go public with their disgruntlement over Yelp’s policies could be shooting their own foot. Public comments will be scrutinized by your customers. They will find them. And whether they agree or not with your statements, they will scrutinize those comments in light of customer criticisms of your business. So if you’ve been reviewed by customers and you have public statements criticizing the website that makes those comments possible then it could be construed that you are criticizing, and afraid of, the review process. In the end, that won’t look for your business. Like it or not, customer reviews are here to stay. You’re better off just focusing on improving your business.

Caroline Melberg
Melberg Marketing
Blue Chip Marketing Tips
Small Business Mavericks

Tags: local reviews, small business, yelp

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 8:48 am and is filed under Blue Chip Marketing Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Tools for Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.