Yelpful in Seattle…
When I talk to real estate professionals about social media, newcomers to it are concerned right out of the gate about the time it takes. “How much of this do I need to do and what’s my return on investment,” are two phrases I hear often.
I honor those concerns. They are valid and worth questioning (over and over and over again).
My reply: “Well actually, you’re going to have to do quite a lot of it. And, not only that you’re going to have to keep it up.” But ask yourself, “What are the consequences if I don’t do it?” After all, where now days do people spend a great deal of their time? And, “Do you think more or less people will spend more or less time online in the future?”
Social Media is not a shortcut and we’re all looking for ROI, all of us.
If you want a good web presence it’s important the search engines know a few key things about you.
1. Who you are.
2. What you do.
3. Where you do it.
The better you accomplish this and the better the search engines know this, the faster and more succinctly they can index you.
That’s why hyper-local is so powerful…
I like Yelp.com, the social business directory. People search it all the time to figure out what other people like us think about businesses we frequent. Where do we like to hang, where’s our favorite burger joint, who has the best price and customer service?
It’s all about where it is.
My desk at The Talon Group - Eastlake office. This is one of my prized social media possessions, my own Yelp lunch box...
With a profile on Yelp there’s one more place you establish who you are, what you do, and where you do it. By writing reviews on local establishments you participate in the online conversation. Give and you shall receive.
Enhance the value of your hyper-local post on your blog by taking a minute to include a condensed version for Yelp. You give Google Juice to the business you review and you get it back. In your profile you can link back to your site/blog. Also, don't forget what a big door this opens to building relationships with the business community.
The dynamic difference between reviewing on a site like Yelp and blogging is the fact that thousands of people are searching the directory every day. These reviews are public info so they all get indexed in the search engines. Getting your review into the index creates a topical link back to you.
The best search engine ROI I’ve ever created was a review I did on Yelp talking about a hardware store in Renton. One small paragraph and I was on the first page of Google for almost a year using the search term: hardware renton wa
(I'm no longer page one, but what a heck of a ride for only 15 minutes of my time. And it's still in the index and my review is still on Yelp.)
I practice my social media golden rule on Yelp... the 3 C's - I don’t Criticize, Condemn, or Complain. It’s not in anyone’s best interest to use the site as a soap box to vent to the world. For me it’s about sharing things I like.
P.S. Don’t forget to add the link to your Yelp profile in your Google Profile...
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