Yelp Official Blog

Get Your Gym On, Yelpers

We all have our vices. Some of you are likely polishing off the last remainders of 75-percent-off post-Valentine’s Day chocolates. Others were perhaps recently treated by their sweetheart to a delicious romantic dinner, likely accompanied by a tasteful bottle (or two) of wine. Or maybe your weekend was filled with a feast of take-out Chinese food accompanied by the mighty accomplishment of watching every episode of "Downton Abbey" season three in one sitting. Either way, I hate to break it to you, but you probably have a few extra calories laying around and it might be time for a trip to the gym.

I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but the truth hurts sometimes. Maybe you’ve kicked up your gym routine a notch lately and aren’t too concerned about falling off the wagon. I beg you to reconsider. The data says Yelpers check in to fitness-related businesses drastically more starting in January and the activity starts to decline right about now. And the data doesn’t lie. It’s clutch time, baby, and the gym is calling your name.

Check it out - when dividing check ins for businesses in the fitness category by check ins in the pizza category, we see that the ratio is much higher at the beginning of each year, dropping steadily through December. So basically, when compared to pizza check ins, people are checking in to gyms and fitness businesses way more often in the beginning of the year, with the frequency of check ins plunging into an abyss devoid of treadmills by December. The beginning of February has Yelpers hitting the gym three times for every two visits to pizza joints.

Review activity shows a similar pattern, but with a noticeable bump in in the summer. Maybe bikini season is motivating Yelpers to renew their fitness goals. (Sun’s out, guns out...am I right?!) And when fall rolls around, it’s possible we throw in the towel on healthy aspirations in favor of beer drinking, football watching and the mystery that layers upon layers of fluffy clothing provides.

All we know is that Yelpers are the best around - nothing’s gonna ever keep you down! (Yes that was a "Karate Kid" reference) Whether you maintain a Paul Ryan level of pump or hit your maximum activity level on a leisurely stroll through the mall, keep on checking in to and reviewing your favorite fitness businesses. We have high hopes for 2013, and we’re off to a good start so far. 

Yelp.com Welcomes 100 Million Unique Visitors in January 2013

I’ve got some good news to share. Pretty fantastic news actually. For the first time in Yelp history, over 100 million unique visitors came to the site in a one-month period. That’s an all-time high for traffic to the desktop and mobile site and a clear indication that people are looking for local businesses and finding them on Yelp. While that number is huge, it doesn’t even include the 9.4 million unique mobile devices that used the Yelp mobile app in January alone.

Even more staggering than 100 million unique visitors using Yelp.com in January are the millions of contributions Yelpers made to the community in the same time frame. The 4.6 million calls and 5.7 million directions generated through the Yelp mobile app and nearly 2 million bookmarks created by Yelpers are the connection between searching for a specific local business and making a spending decision. And spending they are! A recent survey of business owners on Yelp reported that the average customer across all categories surveyed spends $101.59 in their first visit. That's everything from hiring a roofer to buying a new mattress and even your morning cup of joe, and it all adds up.

For a closer look at these 100 million unique visitors, we broke down this record breaking month into a visual party of an infographic. If you were one of them, thank you for supporting local businesses, and we’ll see you on Yelp again soon!

Day in the Life of a Yelp Scottsdale Account Executive

Based in Yelp's Phoenix office, Account Executive Charles Z. beats the AZ heat with a stay-cool attitude.  His hard-work-pays-off approach has brought him much success as part of the Yelp Sales Team, and he doesn't plan to kick up his heels any time soon.  Although I'm sure it would have been fun to be a globe-trotting volleyball superstar, we're glad Charles made the decision to join the Yelp team - and so is he!

What did you do before coming to Yelp?

I was a college volleyball player at Northern Arizona University and worked small jobs on the side in a variety of industries.  It was difficult to find something that worked with my schedule because I played volleyball year round and was traveling so much.

How did you first hear about Yelp and the job opening?

Funny story: I thought I had applied for Yelp Summer Sales Internship but was actually in the interview process for the full-time Yelp Account Executive.  Since I was still a junior in college I wasn't eligible for the position so I waited a year to be able to interview for the AE role.  I got a job offer from Yelp to start in the summer of 2011 and actually turned it down to play volleyball in Europe.  When the Europe thing didn't pan out I reached out to Yelp to start my career.

What's your title at Yelp and how long have you been with the company?

I started with Yelp in September 2011 and have worked my way through the Yelp Sales Development Program (YSDP).  I am currently an Account Executive and have my eye set on moving on up to a Senior Account Executive.

What comprises a typical day for you?

I get into the office, check my emails from the day before and then immediately hit the phones: setting up my calendar for the week with appointments and pitches.  I always try to have at least two appointments on my calendar for each day to speak with potential clients.

Each day, I make a high volume of calls to local businesses within my territory to explain the ins and outs of Yelp.  Every call is different.  In one, I might continue a conversation with a business that I have previously spoken with or I might be connecting and educating a decision maker who may not have much exposure to Yelp advertising.

I try to keep the energy up on my team by finding new and creative ways to share the Yelp story with business owners.  I love telling my clients about experiences with small businesses that I have encountered in my travels across the United States.

Throughout the day I focus on showing business owners how people are searching for local businesses and how, in turn, Yelp can help the small business grow.

What's the best part of working for Yelp?

Hands down the best part of working for Yelp is the people that work around me.  They are all passionate, smart, creative and helping the foundation of small businesses grow both online and within their own communities.  Since I moved here from California, working at Yelp has made it easy to make great friends and build relationships.

The second best is hearing a business owner say, "Yelp has transformed my business."

What is your favorite perk at Yelp?

Besides working in the beautiful sunshine of Scottsdale, Arizona, it has to be eating as much as I can from the five different kitchens.  Yelp also has a gym subsidy that helps me stay active and work off all the Yelp-wiches!

What has been your favorite memory at Yelp?

My most memorable time at Yelp was at the end of the last day of the month.  While everyone else was packing up their desks for the monthly move (we like to switch up our desk arrangements to keep things interesting in the Phoenix office), I closed my final deal for the month, giving me my best month ever (BME) at the time.  That earned me a promotion to Junior Account Executive, so the next day I started making commission. 

What separates Yelp from other places you've worked?

Other places don't radiate the same passion as everyone in the Yelp Organization.  There is one goal at Yelp: to connect people with great local businesses.  With this mentality, everyone is working towards the same goal of helping the company continue to grow.  In other environments I have been a part of, it was difficult to get everyone on the same page.  I think this is one of the reasons Yelp is so successful.

Finally, what would be your one piece of advice for someone interested in your role?

Challenge yourself.  Challenge yourself to become a better person in every aspect of your life.  Learn to set a schedule, learn to work hard and learn how to create a career out of an opportunity when it is presented.  Yelp can provide all of this for you.

Now on Yelp: Restaurant Inspection Scores [UPDATED]

Yelp's mission is to connect people with great local businesses; along the way, we hope to enrich lives of consumers and small business owners. In pursuit of this mission, we want to provide the most helpful information possible about local businesses. While ratings and reviews are incredibly powerful ways to guide spending decisions, we're always looking for new ways to supplement the information to provide a better experience for consumers.

Today, we're excited to join San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee in announcing that restaurant hygiene scores from the City of San Francisco will be imported onto Yelp business pages. This is huge news in itself, but perhaps the bigger news is what we’ve created to enable this new business attribute: a new open data standard -- the “Local Inspector Value-entry Specification” or, simply, LIVES.

The LIVES standard was co-developed by Yelp and the technology departments of the cities of San Francisco and New York. The standard was created with the guidance and encouragement of the White House.

You can already see some live examples on the site today: here and here.

 

LIVES enables local municipalities to display their hygiene inspection data as a business attribute on Yelp. Consumers in SF and NYC will be the first to benefit from this program as it rolls out in the weeks ahead. San Francisco users will be able to click through and view the inspection history of a local establishment.

Public/private partnerships like this don't necessarily provide a direct contribution to Yelp’s bottom line, but evidence suggests the LIVES open data standard will have a positive impact on society.

According to a study of the Los Angeles restaurant industry, when consumers have better exposure to restaurant hygiene scores, the number of hospitalizations due to foodborne illness drops. The LA study also demonstrated that when restaurant scores are posted conspicuously, best practices improve across the industry.

We hope other cities will join San Francisco in fully embracing this new open data standard. If you work for a city hall and are interested in learning more about implementation, visit http://yelp.com/healthscores.

UPDATE: We're very pleased to share that Code for America is supporting this initiative with a dedicated push to their community members. Go to foodinspectiondata.org to get involved and pledge to implement the LIVES standard in your municipality.

Keep Calm and Have a Nice Yelp

(Video not working? Click here.)

A recent sketch on the show Portlandia highlighted a humorous series of events that began when bookstore owners Toni and Candace discovered they have a dreaded one-star review on Yelp. After scouring the user profile of the offending reviewer for clues, the two business owners stake out a local sports bar hoping to confront the unhappy customer face to face. Beneath the witty humor, however, the clip highlights a perfect example of what not to do if you happen to get a negative review.

While 80% of the reviews on Yelp are three stars or higher, every business out there will likely receive negative feedback at some point because it’s impossible to please 100% of the people you deal with 100% of the time. That being said, don’t lose your cool when it happens to you. Instead, take some time to think about what customer service policies you have in place in the offline world and apply that same logic when dealing with online reviewers. To be specific, consider implementing constructive feedback when appropriate and get in the habit of addressing the concerns of critical reviewers (diplomatically of course) using the private message or public comment feature at biz.yelp.com.

How do we know this approach is effective for business owners? We went straight to the source. Over the past year we held numerous town hall meetings with business owners and members of the Yelp Elite squad (some of our most prolific reviewers) to learn what resonates with consumers. Yelp users consistently mentioned that they appreciate getting a response from business owners after leaving reviews, whether positive or negative. We also continue to see examples of how a well thought out response to a negative review can result in a return visit from the customer, as well as a bump in star rating.

So the next time you get a less than stellar review, remember that you have a suite of tools at your fingertips to address your critics so you won't have to go to the extreme of stalking your reviewers like our friends in Portlandia.

Here's to 2012!

To say 2012 was a big year for Yelp is an understatement. Our team members across the globe worked hard to make this year a momentous one for Yelp. Looking back on all we’ve accomplished, I’m even more excited to get started on 2013. Some moments from the past year worth remembering:

• Launching abroad in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Singapore, Poland and Turkey, bringing Yelp to a grand total of 20 countries
• Deepening our presence in the US with community efforts in metros like Albuquerque, Chicago North Shore, Atlanta OTP, Hampton Roads, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City and Buffalo
• Welcoming Qype to the Yelp team in October
• New tools and product releases including Yelpy Insights, new metrics for business owners, a homepage redesign, Yelp Gift Certificates and Yelp Menus
• Introducing our mobile app monetization efforts and seeing 45% of search traffic coming from mobile
• The Yelp IPO in March
• Integrations with Siri, Apple Maps and Bing local search
• Growing our Yelp employee count by almost 40% and opening a sales office in London
• The creation of the Yelp Foundation and its matching of employee donations to give more than $100,000 to charity
• Hitting a whopping 84 million monthly average unique visitors and seeing 8.2 million unique mobile devices use Yelp's mobile application on a monthly average basis during Q3 2012

That list is nothing to sneeze at, and I’m just skimming the surface! As we start into next year, we’ll work just as hard to bring you the best possible experience on Yelp, whether you are sitting at a desktop computer or out and about with your smartphone.

We look forward to spending time with the Yelp community and hope to see you online and at upcoming Yelp events in your city. Yelp wouldn’t be here without you and the local knowledge you’ve shared in over 33 million reviews to date.

I’m very proud of what our team has accomplished over the last year and am so thankful to be surrounded by people that share the same vision of connecting people with great local businesses.

So there you go, my moment of waxing poetic on 2012. Happy holidays everyone, and cheers to the new year!

On the Road with NYSE & Accion

Some of the top issues that challenge growth for small businesses and entrepreneurs are access to capital, access to a network of qualified leads and access to mentors or experts that they can learn from. As part of NYSE's Big Startup Initiative, Yelp was able to join forces with microlender Accion to develop the Small Business Connections Tour, a nationwide series of free workshops aimed at providing business owners with high demand education to address these issues.
(photos courtesy of accionusnetwork)

Small Business Connections just wrapped up in San Diego, CA after hitting 10 major U.S. cities. The curriculum shared during these town hall style meet-ups provided business owners with an opportunity to:

• Learn how to attract more business through Yelp, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Learn how to access capital via microlender Accion

• Hear from other local business owners who have developed successful operations

During the tour, Yelp’s Business Outreach team spoke to over 650 business owners from a variety of industries and answered questions from the basic (“What’s Yelp?”) to the more in-depth (“What’s the best way to address online critics?”). Given 85% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last 12 months, Yelp also gave a detailed overview of how businesses can take advantage of the free tools available on major social media platforms.

Feedback from the events was very positive with many attendees mentioning that they walked away with 3-4 concrete ways to improve their business through marketing. People also shared that they enjoyed the opportunity to network with their peers during the breakout sessions to swap ideas about what it takes to grow a successful business. Based on the feedback we received, we achieved our goal of providing business owners with actionable takeaways using real world examples. In case you’re interested, a copy of the full Small Business Connections presentation can be found here.

So what’s next for the Big Startup Initiative in 2013? You’ll have to check out our Blog for Business Owners in the near future to find out.

Turkish Delight!

Türk Lokumu!

Yelp Türkiye’de iş hayatına açılıyor

Duygularınıza memnuniyetle karşılayacağınız bir biçimde hücum eden, hayat dolu bir kültür, miras ve coğrafya mozaiği ile Türkiye, hemen herkese tanıdık gelecek egzotik bir dokunuşla hitap etmeyi başarıyor. Tarihinde Avrupa’yı kahve ile, Hollanda’yı lale ile tanıştıran, orjinal Santa Claus’un (St. Nicholas) ana vatanı, Nuh’un Gemisinin son durağı (Ağrı Dağı) ve en eski insan yerleşkesine (Çatalhöyük, 7500 M.Ö.) yurt olarak bilinen Türkiye, şimdi de Yelp topluluğunun yirminci ev sahibi ülkesi olmayı uzun başarılar listesine eklemek üzere.

Konu yemek, içmek ve paylaşmak olunca Türkler, her şeyin en iyisini bulmak için uzun yola gitmeye razıdırlar, sonra da bunu ortaya koyup aile, arkadaş ve gelen her misafir ile paylaşmaktan memnun olurlar. Türk kebabı yedim diyenlere bir sözümüz var, bir kez daha düşünün, bu konuda bildiğiniz her şeyi unutun ve mahalli bir İskender kebapçıda bir bardak ayran eşliğinde yemeklere yumulun veya bir kaç kadeh Rakı da iyi gidebilir, sonra bırakın dünya dönsün kendi ahenginde. Yalnız Rakıyı fazla kaçırmayın sakın ha, yoksa Boğaziçi’nde pembe filleri kovalarsınız.

Başlangıçta, topluluk oluşturma çabalarımız, sınırları iki kıtaya yayılan tek dünya şehri olan İstanbul’da yoğunlaşacak ama, Yelp’çiler, yurtlarının her yöresindeki gerçekten çok iyi olan veya pek de o kadar iyi olmayan iş yerlerini değerlendirebilecek, bunları hem hemşerileri ile hem de turistlerle paylaşabilecekler – onları nerede bir tavşan kanı çay veya bol köpüklü Türk kahvesi içileceğinden, Kapalı Çarşı labirentinde nasıl dolaşılacağına kadar bir çok konuda yönlendirebilecekler.

Bugünden itibaren Türkiye’de yaşayanlar, Yelp.com.tr adresinden profillerini oluşturabilirler ve mobil uygulamaları kullanabilirler. İş yeri sahipleri de kendi ücretsiz sayfalarını yaratabilir, biz.yelp.com.tr  adresinde profillerini oluşturmaya başlayabilirler.

Merhaba!

 

Turkish Delight!
Yelp Turkey opens for business

A vivid mosaic of culture, heritage and geography, mixed with a welcomed assault on the senses, Turkey manages to provide a touch of the exotic and the familiar to almost everyone. Having already brought coffee to Europe, tulips to the Dutch, being home to the original Santa Claus (St Nicholas), the final resting place of Noah’s Ark (Mount Ararat) and recognised as home to the oldest known human settlement (Catalhoyuk, 7500BC), Turkey can now add the accolade of being the twentieth country to host a Yelp community to its extremely long list of achievements.

When it comes to eating, drinking and sharing, the Turks go out of their way to find the best of everything, bring it together and share it with family, friends and any misafir (guest) they stumble across. For those that think they have tasted a Turkish kebab, think again, clear your mind, forget everything you think you have ever learned about the subject and tuck in to a local İskender kebab, accompany it with a cup of Ayran, or swill it down with a few shots of Raki and just watch the world go by. But go light on the Raki, one glass too many and you’ll be chasing pink elephants into the Bosphorus!

Our initial community building efforts in Turkey will concentrate on Istanbul, the only city in the world to span two continents, but Yelpers can rate and review the great and the not-so-great businesses from across the country and share what their neighbourhoods have to offer both locals and tourists – from pointing them to the best cup of strong black çay or Turkish coffee to helping them navigate the maze of the Grand Bazaar.

As of today, people in Turkey can log on to Yelp.com.tr, create their profile, access and use the mobile apps, while businesses can claim their page for free and start building their profile at biz.yelp.com.tr.

Merhaba!

Building Back After Sandy

Like many of my fellow Yelpers, the Northeastern states are part of who I am: before moving to California this fall, I lived my entire life along Washington, DC, New Jersey and its shores, and New York City. So when Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast and ravaged my old stomping grounds, I felt like we had to help the Northeastern corridor get back on its feet. Our Community Managers on the ground in the tri-state area have led the charge with the Yelp Builds Back initiative, but today we’re excited to announce two additional campaigns.

1. Yelp is partnering with Speaker Christine Quinn and City Hall's "Support NYC Small Business" campaign to encourage patronage of businesses hit hardest by Sandy. We've donated banner ad space to drive traffic and raise awareness about these tools. Here are some neighborhoods with businesses that have recently re-opened in the wake of the superstorm:

Coney Island Brighton Beach
DUMBO
Financial District 1
Financial District 2
Lower East Side
Red Hook
Rockaway 1
Rockaway 2
Staten Island 1
Staten Island 2
South Street Seaport

The City of New York has also created a really helpful interactive map which will be updated frequently: http://www.supportnycsmallbusiness.com/

2. During times of crisis, predatory opportunism can rear its ugly head. Price gouging is still being reported in affected areas. To help raise awareness among consumers about resources available to combat price gouging, we’re encouraging Yelpers to report gouging to the New York and New Jersey Attorneys General offices. We've donated ad space to this effect, as well.


If you're in the greater New York City metropolitan area and want to learn about ongoing events and opportunities to join Yelp in helping local businesses, keep an eye on our Yelp Builds Back events page.

Whether you're simply making an effort to patronize these local businesses, participating in today's 12/12/12 concert, or volunteering at a relevant charity, we encourage you to join in the effort to build back.

How a Restaurant Critic Uses Yelp

If you didn’t know who New York Times Restaurant Critic Pete Wells was before, you probably do now after his famous (infamous?) review of Guy Fieri’s new Times Square restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar. Pete’s review spread through the interwebs like a case of mono in a college dorm, leaving many (present company included) clamoring to know more about Pete. What are his pet peeves? What is his personal taste in food? And...does he use Yelp?

Thanks to a recent reader-submitted Q&A published by the New York Times, we shall clamor no more! On the topic of Yelp, Pete says:

“I look at Yelp and some other sites with user-generated reviews all the time, particularly when I’m curious about a place that hasn’t received much attention yet from professional critics. I wouldn’t say they inform my reviews, but they might be one factor that helps guide me when I’m deciding whether to check out a place I haven’t heard very much about. I don’t put much stock in the individual reviews but I do scan the bulk of them to look for common areas of delight or disapproval. I do wish there were a way to filter out all the Yelp reviews that are based solely on brunch, but that might not leave very much content.”

With the exception of excluding brunch (why would you ever want to do that?!), Pete’s method is one we see a lot of users employing. Crowdsourced content on the hottest local spots often leads Yelpers to places that haven’t yet made it into the headlines of major media, and scanning the reviews on a business page will reveal fan favorite offerings as well as things you might want to avoid. Yelp’s review highlights feature (see below) makes finding these commonalities a breeze, and for restaurants, our new Explore the Menu feature calls out the most popular items Yelpers can’t stop talking about.

So there you have it. Pete Wells: New York Times restaurant critic, wordsmith and expert Yelp user.