Yelp Official Blog

Im Bergland Erklingt Die Stimme Von... Yelp!

Österreich: Die Heimat der Von Trapp Familie, Mozart und tausenden erstaunlichen lokalen Unternehmen, die jetzt auch auf der österreichischen Yelp Webseite gefunden werden können! Obwohl wir keine tanzenden Nonnen aufweisen können (und die Gesangleistungen von Jeremy sind fraglich), haben wir jedoch über 38 Millionen Yelpers, die über 13 Millionen Bewertungen im neuen Yelp-Land schreiben, oder wie war das nochmal, Singen!

Nach Frankreich und Deutschland wird nun Österreich, mit seinem heutigen Start, neustes Failienmitglied der „Yelp Family“. Österreicher haben ab jetzt nicht nur Zugang zu Yelp.at Seite, wo sie Bewertungen zu den lokalen Unternehmen in ihrer Muttersprache miteinander teilen können, sondern auch zu der neuen, beliebten Yelp IPhone Applikation um nahegelegene Boutiquen zu finden. (Nebenbemerkung: Diese IPhone Applikation existiert jetzt auch in Deutschland!)

Wiener Schnitzel sind köstlich und wir wissen dass in Österreich unzählige lokale Edelsteine versteckty sind. Viele davon sind bereits von unser Yelp Gemeinde entdeckt und bewertet worden, so zB: Sax & Co, eine niedlicher Laden, die Vollkornbäckerei Kornradl, eine winzige Bäckerei, wo der Eigentümer noch vor seinem Kunden sein Brot bäckt oder auch Schon Schön, ein Unternehmen das drei Läden in einem bietet: ein Restaurant, ein Friseur und ein Bekleidungsgeschäft. Dies ist nur ein Vorgeschmack dessen, was Österreich zu bieten hat, und wir können nicht abwarten, zu sehen wie lautstark die  EinhEimischen  Yelp online nutzen und weiterführen werden!

Was uns betrifft, , werden wir uns nicht auf unseren Lorbeeren ausruhen und erwarten bald noch mehr von Yelp in Europa zu sehen! Und in der Zwischenzeit: Stellen wir ein!

Click below for those of us who can't read German...

Lights, Cameras... Community Managers!

We’ve always known our Community Managers are more than just pretty faces. They’re rock stars who throw massive events, write insanely witty Weeklies and everything in between to support the amazing locals in their communities! That being said, they also happen to have pretty faces that look good delivering pithy puns on camera (well, Ruggy’s debatable). But don’t take our word for it – check them out for yourself. Below are some highlights of several of our Yelp Community Managers from coast to coast and across the pond talking about Yelp in their cities on camera.

First up we have Elodie F., our charming Yelp Paris Community Manager. She tells Ma Chaîne Étudiante about Yelp and why it has that certain je ne sais quoi! 

 

Next we have the dashing Johnny T. reppin’ Chicago on the famous show, Check, Please! Watch Johnny as he talks about what makes hometown eatery, Isla Pilipina, rock:

 

Colleen B. of Orlando holds down the fort with Orlando Live! Rapping about everything but Disney World!

 

This Community Manager trekked from Boston to Queens, but that didn’t stop her from shouting out her event, Yelp Passport to South End, from the rooftops with Fox25. Watch Leighann F. in action:

 

And last but not least, we have the three amigos from the Bay: Ruggy J., Connie C. and Monica S. accompanied by a wealth of yelpers talking to ABC 7Live about, what else, Yelp!

 

Autographs after the blog post, please.

Five Yelp Business Listings We Like, And Why

Last week, nearly 1,000 business owners attended a webinar we hosted to describe the process of building a business listing on Yelp.

We’ve talked often about how and why businesses should take advantage of the free tools on Yelp, even if you don’t yet have any reviews. Why? To use an analogy, if the lights aren’t on, it looks like no one’s home -- or, if you aren’t providing photos, information about yourself or your services on your listing, consumers might be more inclined to frequent a business that is.

Many businesses get this, but aren’t sure what their first step should be. To help give you some ideas, we’ve picked the following five listings as great examples of businesses that don’t spend a dime with Yelp, but leverage biz.yelp.com’s tools to the fullest.

1. Eric Kent Wine Cellars (Santa Rosa, CA)

Why we like this listing: Compelling, recent announcement. Great descriptive bio of the business owner.

2. Cafe Manolo (Westport, CT)

Why we like this listing: Awesome, helpful photos. Captivating story about the restaurant’s history.

3. The Southfork Hotel (Plano, TX)


Why we like this listing: Full use of “About this Business” features. Rex, the business owner, nearly maxes out the character limit in every field. He also recommends five other businesses.  

4. Zanya Spa & Salon (Lambertville, NJ)


Why we like this listing: Compelling special offer presumably designed to increase business during slower days. Highly descriptive overview of specialities.

5. Landmark Theatre (Syracuse, NY)


Why we like this listing: In addition to great use of tools described above, this listing includes a great example of Public Comment feature: diplomatically addressing factual inaccuracies within reviews.

Have you done something unique with your listing? We'd love to see it -- share it with us via Twitter or Facebook!

We Want to Hear About How You Shop for The Holidays!

We’re interested in learning a little bit about how yelpers plan to shop for friends and family this holiday season. We’ve put together a lightening-quick survey with the hopes of gathering some data on how Yelp can better help shoppers navigate this crazy time of year.

There are only four questions, so it should only take a few seconds and we’ll be sure to share our findings once the survey is complete.

Thanks in advance for your participation!

Choose your location:

• US + Canada
• UK
• Ireland
• France
• Germany

Yelp Helps! Over 200 Non-Profits

Many people know that Yelp is a great place to find a restaurant, but Yelp is also an amazing resource to find any local business or service -- including charities!

So we ask: what do you get when you host an event for 35 local non-profits and the Yelp Chicago community? You get more than 1,500 volunteer sign-ups and one helluva party. We like to think of it as philanthropic speed-dating. Picture it: connecting people who care about the community the most, with organizations that are making a difference locally.

This year we want to amp up the awareness and support for non-profits and we’re kicking it up a notch -- or 13! Over the next two months, we have over a dozen Yelp communities participating in Yelp Helps! They’ll be putting the spotlight on over 200 local charities and non-profits where in true Yelp style, each city will be hosting a unique bash complete with sips and nibbles while attendees will have a chance to learn about and sign up for non-profits that match their interests.

If you’re interested in participating, check out the event listings in cities including: Chicago, Columbus, Denver, East Bay, Honolulu, Kansas City, Las Vegas, NC Triangle, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio and Seattle.

P.S. Did we mention that many yelpers like to date more than one cause at a time. Now that’s some respectable two-timing!

Yelp Me, Yelp You: A Review a Day Keeps the Empty Seats Away

Next up in our Yelp Me, Yelp You series, we bring you Dan Simons, Managing Partner for Founding Farmers, a well-known DC restaurant. Dan’s no stranger to Yelp and since his first experience with the site when Founding Farmers opened just over two years ago, more than a review a day has been posted for the restaurant. For those without a calculator handy, that’s a whopping 787 reviews in 730 days!

So what’s Dan’s secret to success? You could say engagement, but that might be an understatement: "We’ve responded to every single review,” he said. “If they had a bad experience, we often invite them back so we have a chance to rectify it. If they’ve had a good one, we thank them. We use every tool we know on Yelp to interact with our customers".

While it’s hard to pick from his hundreds (and hundreds) of reviews, his most recent soft spot belongs with Taryn A. Not just because this Cincinnati-native wishes Founding Farmers could make her wedding cake (and host her rehearsal dinner), but as Dan notes, "her review, and the many others I’ve enjoyed reading and learning from, make me so proud of my team -- that they would perform so well to inspire someone to write what they wrote”.

While the many musings of his customers have made a fan out of Dan, he actually had his Yelp "a-ha" moment on the first day he set-up his free business owner account and started to interact with the Yelp Community. As he puts it, “I set it up, responded to a review and I was in love".

In addition to the guidance we provide on Yelp for Business Owners, Dan also shares some of his own food-for-thought to businesses engaging on Yelp or any other online forum: "As a business owner, it’s vital to take a deep breath and step away from the keyboard. Create a list; ‘here’s things I’ll think about before I read or respond to a review' and on that list, inspire yourself to take the high road, value all feedback, set emotion and ego aside and don’t be offended no matter what -- after all, they are your customers."

We’ve known for some time now that engaging the Yelp community can have a positive effect; Dan and Founding Farmers are a true embodiment of this.

Do you have a Yelp story you want to share? Email us at yelpme@yelp.com!