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YELP.COM INTRODUCES NEW SUITE OF FREE TOOLS FOR
LOCAL BUSINESS OWNERS
“Yelp for Business Owners” Makes It Easy for Owners to Participate in the Word-of-Mouth Revolution Happening on Yelp.com
SAN FRANCISCO – April 29, 2008 -- Today, Yelp.com, the leading local business review site, announced the launch of “Yelp for Business Owners” (http://biz.yelp.com), a suite of free features that allows business owners to be an integral part of Yelp’s vibrant online community.
“Every day thousands of consumers discuss local businesses on Yelp.com, and until now it has been difficult for business owners to constructively participate in the conversation"said Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s co-founder and CEO. “With the launch of Yelp for Business Owners we’ve completed the positive feedback loop, so local businesses can connect with their most vocal customers in a positive and productive way.”
By logging on to http://biz.yelp.com business owners can now:
· Message customers who have reviewed their business
· See how many prospective customers viewed their business page
· Update business information instantly (i.e. hours of operation, categories)
· Receive new review email alerts
Prior to this launch, Yelp’s vibrant community of reviewers had already been a positive force for local businesses in cities around the U.S., in some cases enabling small mom-and-pop operations to become overnight successes. For example:
“80 percent ofKeetsa's total business each month is directly attributed to Yelp, whether they discover us on Yelp or utilize Yelp as a research tool when searching for the best business in the market. In fact, we generate so much traffic from Yelp that I currently do not have to utilize any ‘traditional’ or more expensive forms of advertising, such as radio, television and newspapers.
I am a very active member of the Yelp community and enjoy having a medium to communicate with past, present and future customers. No other advertising medium gives me the ability to interact with customers. It is the single most powerful tool I have found to grow and maintain my customer base. We carefully track all of our traffic, and I can directly attributeKeetsa's success to Yelp and our customer service, which reflects in our five star rating and numerous positive reviews.”
Joe Alexander, Director
Keetsa Mattress
San Francisco, CA
“We had never heard of Yelp before and were surprised to see people talking about our business. To be honest, we were skeptical about the site at first, but after seeing a 30% increase in our business and roughly 70 reviews later, I’m happy to say we love what Yelp has done for our business.”
Jacob Twig and Elaina Bender, Owners
The Professionals Inc., Moving Specialists
Chicago, IL
“I recently stumbled across our reviews on Yelp and noticed that some of our regular customers were writing great reviews about us. We have folks who have been shopping with us for 60-70 years, and now we're starting to see much younger customers come in through our doors. I’m sure that it's due in part to our great reviews online.”
Niki Russ, Co-Owner
Russ and Daughters, Market
New York, NY
“As a small business owner there are moments in time when you realize that all your hard work is about to take hold in a big way, and the day that the Yelp community started to talk about my shop was a defining moment in the history of my business. I have no doubt that the reviews on Yelp, were an important catalyst inmy amazing success.”
Christopher Hall, Owner
Splitends Salon
Orange County, CA
And now “Yelp for Business Owners” connects the business owner to his or her most vocal advocates. On Yelp it's all about Real People, Real Reviews, and Real Business Owners.
About Yelp! Inc.
Yelp is a website where locals read and write about their favorite neighborhood businesses. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004. Since then Yelp communities have taken root in major metros across the U.S.; Yelp.com drew an audience of more than 9 million unique visitors in March 2008. Yelpers have written more than 2.7 million local reviews, making Yelp the leading local guide for real word of mouth on everything from boutiques and mechanics to restaurants and dentists. For more information, please visit Yelp.com.
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Media Contact:
Stephanie Ichinose
w: 415-908-3679