Choosing a good service provider is a big challenge. That is why Mobile pet grooming company owners have resolved to use Yelp. Yelp is available for mobile phone applications and can be accessed from wherever they are. Yelp is a popular platform that helps consumers find and review various local businesses online. Local businesses include restaurants, dry cleaners, dentist and masseuses. Depending on the quality of your business services, you can earn a positive or negative rating. An excellent rating will improve and grow your business, and of course, a bad score will hurt your reputation.

If you are already on Yelp or if your business is new, this article will help you learn seven strategies to grow your mobile pet business on Yelp.

Why Yelp?

You may consider Yelp as an old site whose power should be going extinct by now. Now, more than ever, millions of people are relying on Yelp to make their choices on local businesses. About 147 million people visit the site with 67 million people posting reviews on the site. It is therefore correct to say that Yelp is the go-to review site.

Getting started on Yelp

Before getting started on the strategies, it is necessary to look at the basics. If you have not been using Yelp it is possible you are already listed. Therefore, you need to claim your business on Yelp. It is surprising that most small businesses haven’t claimed their listing.

Claiming your listing is easy. Simply search the name of your grooming business on Yelp. Once you find it select “work here” then on ‘unlock this business page.’

It is vital to claim your business fast because if you delay, people may post wrong information which in turn will hurt your business reputation.

Here is how you can improve your business through Yelp presence

  1. Create a great profile of your pet grooming business on Yelp

Your profile is crucial since it represents your brand hence; take your time to make it great. Before you complete your profile, take your time to go through your competitors’ profiles and keenly note what they have.

Compare Yelp profiles of those with a 3-star rating and below against those with 4-star rating and above. Analyze the impact of their photos and website links on their range of traffic. Be keen on what the market values and what prompts them to leave negative rates. Learn from this and use the knowledge to create an outstanding profile for your business.

To make your profile great, ensure you fill out all the essential details that will answer all your visitor’s questions. The following checklist will help you.

  • Add your mobile pet grooming business name in the right category
  • Include details of your grooming business such as address, phone number, and website link.
  • Create a picture gallery and add photos of pets and your grooming van.
  • If your business accepts booking from the open table, then connect your profile to Open Table to allow reservations from Yelp.
  • Add an article about your business. This part will convince your clients that you are what they need.
  1. Create a robust professional photo gallery

Adding quality photos to your profile enhances your business’s uniqueness. Customers are likely to be enticed by a company with photos than one without. If you add quality photos, your profile will stand out compared to others who have poor photos uploaded by reviewers.

You can hire a professional photographer or use a Smartphone under good lighting to capture high-quality photos. Take photos of your grooming van and those of before and after grooming pets. The images will let the customer know what to expect.

  1. Acknowledge the value of reviews

Positive reviews help in improving the rating of your business. These valuable reviews can be used in other meaningful ways to improve your grooming business. For example, take the positive reviews and feature them on your website to attract more customers.

Conversely, negative reviews are not all useless. If you look at them constructively, they may be beneficial too. Some of them may point to weak areas of your business that are neglected. Use the criticism positively to improve on the weaknesses of your business.

  1. Respond to reviews

As a business owner, you can either respond to reviews privately or publicly. If you strategically respond to your reviews publicly, it is a great way to improve your business through Yelp since other business owners don’t respond. Give responses to both positive and negative reviews.

It might be tempting to respond negatively to poor ratings. However, respond calmly and honorably.  Appreciate their review and highlight any plan to fix the complaint.

  1. Make your Yelp presence known

Yelp does not allow business owners to ask people to leave reviews since they are only deemed authentic if a person left them of their own free will.  You can, however, inform them that you have a Yelp page.  For example, you can display stickers on your vehicle that direct customers to find you on Yelp. Come up with creative ways to announce your Yelp presence.

  1. Make use of Yelp metrics

After using Yelp for a while, you will accrue a detailed analysis of your business’s performance. Some of the information you can get from the metrics include traffic, views from mobile devices, clicks to your website and much more. These give you an insight into what users are doing on your site. You can then use the information to make important decisions like the best day to offer a special.

  1. Use Yelp’s additional resources

There are useful resources on Yelp for use by business owners. You can find the resources on the business owners section and the owner’s blog.

One of the resources enables you to advertise your mobile pet grooming business on Yelp. You can buy advertising placements which will enable you to remove competitor’s ads from your page. Other benefits of the advertising include a video on your profile and a photo slideshow.

Another resource is the Yelp Deal. With a Yelp deal, you can offer coupons or special offers to Yelpers for checking-in to your business. This will make your business more attractive than your competitor’s.  For example, you can offer prepaid vouchers to your customers to use for using your pet grooming business.

Wrapping it up

While you cannot control the reviews that come in on Yelp, you can use it strategically to improve your mobile grooming business by staying ahead of the competition. Creating a strong profile, adding photos, responding to reviews and making use of Yelp’s resources are all ways you can stand out while engaging your clients fully. By using the best practices on Yelp, you enhance the marketing efforts of your website while minimizing the anxiety that comes with the mention of Yelp.

Before you start advertising and booking clients for your mobile pet grooming business it is important to get mobile pet grooming insurance to make sure your protect yourself with the right coverage.

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