What is Yelp? Yelp Review
Yelp – Finding Local Businesses Has Been Made Easier
Are you visiting a city you haven’t been to before? Do you know where you can find the best burger in town? Or, are you looking for a specific service, say a massage? If finding the best local business is what you need, Yelp can be the best friend you need for this.
What is Yelp?
Basically, it is a business review site where power is given to visitors to leave comments about an establishment that they’ve been to. Other than being a review site, Yelp is also described as an “online urban guide.” And that’s not far from the truth either as the site does provide more than just the reviews of visitors. Yelp also has a blog where they share lots of very useful information.
History
Jeremy Stoppelman and Russell Simmons founded the company in 2004. Yelp actually began as an email service for exchanging local business recommendations. Later on, they evolved by introducing new features, such as social networking features, discounts and mobile applications. Since then, the reach of Yelp has extended beyond the US. They now cover other countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and parts of Europe.
- Beginnings
Yelp was born out of the business incubator MRL Ventures. Stoppelman proposed the development of a site that would allow users to ask their friends for recommendations regarding local services through email. Max Levchin agreed to invest $1 million for the project. David Galbraith, co-founder of MRL and the one who wanted research done into a Yellow Pages style product for the internet, was the one who came up with the name Yelp.
- Expansion and Buyout
Yelp was able to obtain $5 million in venture funding from Bessemer Venture Partners in October 2005 to finance their expansion the New York City, Boston and Chicago markets. The company received much more financial help over the next years. Google wanted to acquire the company in 2009, but both parties failed to reach an agreement.
- Acquisitions and Public Stock Offering
In November 2011, Yelp filed for an initial public offering with the Securities Exchange Commission. Stock for the company began public trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 2, 2012. Yelp acquired their largest rival in Europe, Qype, for $50 million. They also acquired a start-up called SeatMe, which is an online reservation company.
Yelp Features
- Business reviews – Visitors to the site can search for a specific product or service within an area and get relevant results. Reviews are based on a 5-star rating system.
Find useful business reviews at Yelp
- Check in features – Much like Foursquare, users can “check in” to the establishment that they are in.
- Restaurant reservations – Users can make reservations at restaurants thanks to the partnership with OpenTable.
Use Yelp to make restaurant reservations
- Food ordering & delivery – Allows users to order food for delivery and pickup.
Hunt down food delivery for your location on Yelp
- Hygiene inspection scores – Great for users who want to know how clean the establishment they want to visit is or how safe the food is.
- Mobile app – Lots of people rely on their mobile device and Yelp has an app that lets you search for local establishments and leave reviews.
Go mobile with the Yelp mobile app
- Compliment Feature – Allows users to thank other users for the review they made about an establishment.
- Private Messaging – Send direct messages to other users when you want to ask more questions or make friends.
- Fan Feature – Just like any other social network, other users can follow a particular reviewer whose reviews they find insightful.
- Friend Feature – For those you want to interact with. With fans, you can’t see who they are.
Find and add friends on Yelp
B2B – B2 Consumer Marketing with Yelp
Yelp is not just everything we already mentioned. It is also a viable option for enhancing your B2B and B2 consumer marketing efforts. With Yelp you can register your business and include all of the important details. Did I mention this is FREE!
Using Yelp for local marketing
If you are looking for even more bang with Yelp they offer enticing advertising options. Depending on your monthly budget spend you can decide how to best reach your target audience. Yelp advertising comes with knowledgeable and helpful telephone support just in case you have questions or need assistance. You can visit the Yelp advertising page at http://yelp.com/advertise/
Yelp advertising opportunities
Now that you know more about Yelp – buzz on over there and create your profile. Then you can start making use of the many features. If you own a business you should still buzz on over there and maximize your business listing and check into the advertising options.
Video: Yelp Explained