Advertise on Yelp: Proven Methods for Transformative Business Impact

As a local business owner, you're likely aware of Yelp and the value it offers in connecting potential customers with local businesses. And if you've already claimed your business on Yelp and seen some positive results, you may be considering Yelp Advertising.

Yelp Advertising can be a valuable tool for your business, given that Yelp has over 100 million users, many of whom are affluent and educated adults with high purchase intent. These users are more likely to seek a business to fulfill a specific need and are, therefore, more likely to purchase.

Why Advertising on Yelp May Be Good For Your Business

Yelp Advertising is worth considering if your goal is to drive more leads and sales. Here are some things to know about advertising on Yelp:

• Yelp offers several ad packages, including sponsored listings, messages, and display ads.
• Yelp Ads are pay-per-click, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
• Yelp Ads are highly targeted, allowing you to reach potential customers based on location, search keywords, and other criteria.
• Yelp offers a variety of reporting and tracking tools to help you measure the effectiveness of your ad campaign.

Overall, Yelp Advertising can be a valuable tool for local businesses looking to reach potential customers and drive more leads and sales. By understanding the different ad options and using the available tracking and reporting tools, you can optimize your campaign and get the most value from your investment.

Here are some things you should know about advertising on Yelp:

1. What are targeted Ads?

Yelp has two significant products: Targeted Ads and Profile Upgrades.  

With Targeted Ads, you have full control over your budget, so you can set a daily or total budget and adjust it whenever needed. You can also set a bid amount for each click to control how much you're willing to spend on each user who clicks on your ad.

You can set up your ads on the Yelp for Business Owners website under the "Yelp Ads" section. These ads have your business name, contact information, category, overall rating, photo, and a review fragment. You can tweak them in the "Customize Ad" option. It would look something like this:

Your Targeted Ads will be charged through Cost Per Click (CPC). This means that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, and you can determine the budget you are willing to spend. Yelp explains CPC as follows:  

"The price you pay per click is based on competition and relevance, but you'll always pay the least amount needed to win the click. We aim to maximize the number of clicks you get for your budget over the course of the month, and you should plan to have 100% of your budget fulfilled. Occasionally competitive demand prevents this, but you'll only be billed for the cost of the clicks you received in that monthly billing period."

Overall, Yelp Advertising can be a valuable tool for local businesses. By using Targeted Ads and Profile Upgrades, you can increase brand awareness, attract more customers, and ultimately drive more sales.

2. What you need to know about Upgraded Profiles

3. You get control over your budget

As a small business owner, you know the importance of maximizing your budget. A crucial part of achieving this is having a solid marketing strategy. If you plan to advertise on Yelp, you'll be happy to know that you can choose your daily advertising rate without committing to a long-term contract.

Yelp allows you to start your daily budget at just $5 and manage your campaign from biz.yelp.com. This allows you to run your advertising all year or start and stop as needed. You can easily set up or change your campaign from their website or app. Gone are the days of needing a 12-month agreement to use Yelp Advertising.

Here are some key features of Yelp Advertising:

• Daily advertising rate: You choose how much to spend each day
• No long-term commitment: You can start and stop your advertising as needed
• Easy to manage: Set up or change your campaign from their website or app
• Flexible budget: Start as low as $5 per day and adjust as needed

With these features, Yelp Advertising offers a convenient and flexible way for small businesses to advertise on their platform. This allows you to reach new customers and grow your business without breaking the bank.

4. Track your Advertising performance

To measure the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns on Yelp, you can use the tools available in your Business Owner's Account. This allows you to track the performance of your ads for all of your locations or view them individually.

In the top left corner of your account, you'll find two tabs that can help you measure the efficiency of your ads: "Reports" and "Yelp Ads."

The "Reports" tab allows you to set a date range and receive an Aggregate Report that includes information such as how many users visited your listing and what they did from there.

The "Yelp Ads" tab provides an Aggregated Yelp Ads dashboard that shows your overall budget for all locations in the campaign and how much has been spent in the current month. This tab also includes a graphical representation of metrics such as ad impressions, clicks, CTR (click-through rate), and cost per click. You can select a date range and view the breakdown of specific campaign data.

By tracking these numbers, you can see if advertising with Yelp is working for your business and make any necessary adjustments to your campaign setup.

5. What Yelp Advertising doesn’t include

One of the key reasons consumers continue to use Yelp is their trust in its ratings and reviews. As such, advertising on Yelp does not include the following:

• More reviews: Using Yelp Advertising does not exempt you from the platform's review policies. This means you will not receive additional positive reviews or reviews your customers are not generating. You can learn more about Yelp's review policies here.
• Changing your rating: Your ratings will remain the same and evolve organically. However, advertising can help increase the traffic to your Yelp listing.
• Organic search results: Remember that targeted ads will appear before the organic search results and be labeled as ads.

With these limitations in mind, you can effectively use Yelp Advertising to reach new customers and promote your business without violating the platform's policies.

So, is Yelp Advertising for you?

If you have a lot of competition in your area, advertising on Yelp can likely benefit your business. Despite Google's efforts, Yelp remains the most relevant user-generated review platform for local businesses.

One of the best things about advertising on Yelp is that you can customize your plan to meet your business's needs. It's important to have a solid strategy to do this effectively. If you need help with ideas, feel free to contact us.

Some key benefits of advertising on Yelp include:

• Reaching a large, relevant audience: Yelp has millions of active users who are looking for local businesses like yours
• Customizable advertising plan: You can choose the features and budget that work best for your business
• Increased visibility: Targeted ads on Yelp can help your business stand out from the competition
• Easy to manage: You can set up and manage your advertising campaign from Yelp's website or app

Overall, advertising on Yelp can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to reach new customers and increase their online presence.

Let Us Do The Heavy Lifting

At gardenpatch, we are a growth agency that helps businesses implement scalable systems that drive more internal and external customers through a "wow"-worthy buyer and customer journey towards advocacy, resulting in exponential growth.

Our team of fearless risk-takers will create a marketing and promotional plan unique to your brand, from web design to personalized text message campaigns. Together, we can explore new ways to reach prospective leads in the digital landscape.

Contact us today for a complimentary consultation to learn how we can help you reach your target audience, nurture leads, and grow your business with Yelp and other digital strategies. Let us do the heavy lifting while you propel your brand into a bright future.

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