Article as published in The San Diego Realtor® magazine, pages 29 & 31.
My Experience as told by Jennifer St. Clair with contributions from Regina P. Brown, members of the SDAR Business Development & Technology Committee
“Find a San Diego Realtor®,” I asked Siri recently. My iPhone quickly came up with a list of agents… and it was based on their yelp reviews! I was amazed.
How do I get to the top of this list? I too want my brand at the top of the search results, with my happy clients raving about me. To create a positive public image for my real estate business, I wanted to find out more about Yelp so that I would be on the iPhone/Yelp radar.
Besides using Yelp to confirm my contact info, I know that prospective clients will be viewing my page to see what others have said about me. They read the reviews to verify my professionalism, credibility, and reputation. So I decided to set up a Yelp page.
First, I started my Yelp business page at www.biz.yelp.com. Beginning a Yelp business page is a great idea and costs nothing. To bolster the page, I added photos, hours of operation, and office address (Yelp pinned our location to an interactive map).
Then I noticed is that Yelp shows competitor ads on my page! Other agent ads are misleading to my prospective clients. These competitor ads are a downside of the free page.
Next, I wanted to get clients and colleagues to write positive reviews. Although you can ask people to visit your Yelp page, you cannot request that they write a positive review. Yelp considers that “soliciting reviews”.
I also found out that a new user’s first few reviews will be hidden. At the recent WCR meeting, social media expert John D. Reyes from Social Networx advised that your clients set up their Yelp account and write 4 – 5 reviews BEFORE they go to your page to write a review for your real estate business. That way, your review will be more likely to land on the top of the first page and count towards the high ratings, instead of being suppressed.
After I set up my free Yelp page, a rep contacted me to sell me a paid advertising spot. The Yelp rep seemed knowledgeable and was extremely friendly, enthusiastic, and responsive. I was excited by his presentation, which showed paid advertising would put my page at the top of the Yelp search results.
I was seriously considering signing a contract. But Yelp advertising is quite expensive (typically ranging from $300 to $2,200 per month) and they require a minimum one year contract. Therefore, I wanted to talk to current paid Yelp advertisers before I made the plunge.
At the end of the presentation, I requested referrals from the Yelp representative. His response was basically "your competitors don't want to share their experiences with you" and he discouraged me from reaching out to anyone advertising on Yelp. This, of course, made me very curious.
So I picked up the phone and called two of the top local Realtors® I saw advertising on Yelp, both of whom I know to be fine upstanding professionals.
The first agent had received a negative review from a disgruntled person, who had a vendetta and “flagged” the agent’s positive reviews. So Yelp suppressed dozens of satisfied client reviews as "not currently recommended". Because the agent had purchased a one year contract with Yelp, she was now paying to advertise and draw attention to this negative review. Obviously, she was not pleased with her Yelp experience and could not wait for the year to end.
Yelp receives millions of reviews and does not have the staff to personally monitor the reviews, or respond to requests. Their system is based on automated computer algorithms and input from Yelp users. Only the “legitimate” reviews are shown and included in the 5-star ratings calculation, according to the rep.
Since they don’t have the manpower to determine if reviews are legitimate, Yelp hides some of your reviews by suppressing them. Hidden reviews can be found through a very faint, hard to locate link at the bottom of the recommended reviews.
What makes the difference on whether a review is shown or whether it is hidden? It’s based on an algorithm. Yelp will hide the reviews on your page if:
- It was written by a new Yelp reviewer
- They think you have solicited those reviews
- Another Yelp user “flags” the review
- The computer thinks it’s a fake review
This algorithm is written to weed out false reviews, solicited reviews, and reviews from people not deemed part of the "Yelp community", according to the Yelp rep. A review can be flagged by your competitor or just a grumpy person. Yelp doesn’t know if they are fair or not. This is a drawback of their system.
Another disadvantage is that it can be difficult to ignore a bad review, even if it’s not true. Anyone can post a negative review. If you get one, you will have to respond online carefully because you will be judged by your attitude and customer service response. Refer to www.biz.yelp.com/support/responding_to_reviews for suggestions.
The best way to combat a negative review is by having a lot of positive reviews – both before and after the bad one. This will help push the cranky person’s review to the bottom, and elevate the good reviews to the top. That’s why it’s important to begin building your online reputation now.
The second agent that I contacted had dozens of raving Yelp reviews and an impressive splash page. He had a positive experience with Yelp, but had not received any leads because people don't typically go to Yelp to find a Realtor®, he stated. However, it added credibility to his team because real estate buyers and sellers use Yelp to research a Realtor® they are considering hiring, he said. This agent stated he would consider renewing his Yelp contract for that reason.
After my research, I opted not to sign a paid Yelp contract because:
- New review-writers will have their reviews suppressed
- Any reviews yelp deems “solicited” will be repressed
- Competitors can flag your reviews and get them hidden
- Anyone can flame you for any reason
I feel my advertising dollars are better spent elsewhere. When I conveyed this to the Yelp rep his friendly demeanor turned quite unprofessional, leaving me with a very negative final impression of him. As I hung up the phone, I wondered if I could yelp about Yelp!
Will I still use Yelp for suggestions on local businesses in the future? You bet! I'll just exercise more caution and read those "not recommended" reviews to get the whole picture of the business.
And now that I understand how Yelp works, I’ll use the free features to help me build my business. By using Yelp wisely, I can get my business found at the top of the iPhone searches when a buyer or seller is looking for a top Realtor® in my area. I’ll focus on getting positive reviews so that prospective clients who “Siri” me can read testimonials from satisfied clients and recommendations from fellow Realtors®.
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