What are your thoughts on yelp!?

[DaVinciAutoSpa]

I'll save my opinion for later but I wanted to see what others thought about it.


Are you on yelp!?

Do you advertise with yelp!?

Have you had reviews 'blocked'?

Does your competition use yelp!?

[wrb_subie]

I'm on yelp. It's free but I get calls all the time from them trying to sell me advertising. It's annoying.

[VP Mark]

I'm on Yelp but won't pay the mafia money.

[DaVinciAutoSpa]

wow, what a massive response.

I thought for sure more folks would chime in. Apparently not. Props to Subie and Mark.

My feelings are the same as both of you. I'll never advertise with them. Ever. I had a friend with a business, (not detailing), and they basically said to him. 'If you advertise with us, maybe all of your reviews will show up'.

Their guy calls me up, I ask him why my reviews are blocked, I already know the answer. Their algorithm. One review posters, don't put a picture in their avatar, blah blah blah.

So I look at some random businesses, also some detailers in my area, and I notice a trend. Those that advertise with yelp, their 'one review, no picture avatar reviews' seem to miraculously appear.

So clearly there's some sort of collusion on yelps part. They're a complete joke.

When people ask me about yelp I tell them my honest opinion and what I think it really is.

[rbss]

They call me almost every day it's annoying!

[WillWashesCars]

Be careful. It works great for some and has been nothing short of hell for others. I have no real experience with them, just what others told me when I went to sign up.

[hernandez.art13]

I go on Yelp all the time, I love to use it to find restaurants.

(I'm a foodie :) )

As far as other businesses go.I use them. That's how I found a local window tint guy that did my Windows.

As far as Detailing. Idk actually, I've called some to see what they offer (always respectfully)

I ask them how much to clay, compound, polish, wax. They then tell me $200. I then ask what you guys think here and they are never really encouraging what AGo thinks about those prices (fair enough)

As far as the business side of detailing, I'm still confused.

I've been told to read the books, so I did. I then came out with my own package based off the book. I then get told that a lot of local guys charge a lot cheaper then what I advertised.

However, I then get told that my local guy prices are way to low. So idk
:dunno:

I went to 2 car shows on Saturday. I talked to a guy That is selling his classic. (I think it was a Camaro) I then talked a guy That had a 55 2dr. Bel Air,

Other car show the guy had a Honda SI slammed to the floor, on some really nice Rims (yes I said Rims lol)

I offered them to do there cars, and offered them to put it on my YouTube channel.

I told the guy selling the classic I could do a quick polish to raise the value of the car some. He seemed interested.

The SI guy did too, I told him I could show him how to detail his car properly. That sparked his interest.

What do you guys think?

[Gurge]

I'll save my opinion for later but I wanted to see what others thought about it.


Are you on yelp!?

Do you advertise with yelp!?

Have you had reviews 'blocked'?

Does your competition use yelp!?

Never - Ever - Pay Yelp to advertise

In fact they called me last week, and I gave them an earful AGAIN

Yelp says I have 2 positive reviews. Not such a big deal really. But most people have no idea about the hidden or 'filtered' reviews which is supposedly done by some computer generated algorithm. Thats to protect me, the small business owner from fake reviews

Last I checked I was up to 9 filtered / hidden reviews. all of them positive. Thats 9 legit people, happy with my service, who went up there and said something nice. Then yelp hides it. And there is no recourse for me to dispute it.

So why should I advertise? So people can see my 2 positive reviews? or maybe if I pay they will be a little more lenient as to what they do or do not filter? (smells fishy doesn't it)

google does not filter reviews. I tell anyone interested in leaving an online review to do it on google. (and I don't use adwords - just rely on google places as a legit spot to host positive online reviews that wont hide them)

/rant

[Pureshine]

I'm on Yelp but won't pay the mafia money.

:iagree: If you don't advertise with them they will filter all your reviews. You may get one or two up but most will be filtered out unless you pay.

[AutowerxDetailing]

Yelp is a horrible and completely unethical business that needs to go away. From what I understand they are actually going through multiple class action lawsuits right now due to their shenanigans.

Get Information on the Class Action Lawsuit Against Yelp For Extortion (http://yelplawsuit.com/)

[Jean-Claude]

I think going to car shows to get business is not a good investment of time. That is not to say you can't get business from it. I just think the ROI/T is a huge let down.


I go on Yelp all the time, I love to use it to find restaurants.

(I'm a foodie :) )

As far as other businesses go.I use them. That's how I found a local window tint guy that did my Windows.

As far as Detailing. Idk actually, I've called some to see what they offer (always respectfully)

I ask them how much to clay, compound, polish, wax. They then tell me $200. I then ask what you guys think here and they are never really encouraging what AGo thinks about those prices (fair enough)

As far as the business side of detailing, I'm still confused.

I've been told to read the books, so I did. I then came out with my own package based off the book. I then get told that a lot of local guys charge a lot cheaper then what I advertised.

However, I then get told that my local guy prices are way to low. So idk
:dunno:

I went to 2 car shows on Saturday. I talked to a guy That is selling his classic. (I think it was a Camaro) I then talked a guy That had a 55 2dr. Bel Air,

Other car show the guy had a Honda SI slammed to the floor, on some really nice Rims (yes I said Rims lol)

I offered them to do there cars, and offered them to put it on my YouTube channel.

I told the guy selling the classic I could do a quick polish to raise the value of the car some. He seemed interested.

The SI guy did too, I told him I could show him how to detail his car properly. That sparked his interest.

What do you guys think?

[hernandez.art13]

I guess I should have stated what my intentions were.

I wasn't going to them for business purposes. I was going up to the nicest cars their. To put it in my YouTube video blog that I make.

[hernandez.art13]

These were the the cars and owners of the cars that I went up to.

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w506/ScreamKingArt/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00108_zpswgl60y07.jpg (http://s1079.photobucket.com/user/ScreamKingArt/media/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00108_zpswgl60y07.jpg.html)

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w506/ScreamKingArt/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00109_zpswz17js39.jpg (http://s1079.photobucket.com/user/ScreamKingArt/media/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00109_zpswz17js39.jpg.html)

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w506/ScreamKingArt/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00113_zpsosthtgey.jpg (http://s1079.photobucket.com/user/ScreamKingArt/media/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00113_zpsosthtgey.jpg.html)

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w506/ScreamKingArt/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00116_zps3ekor1xy.jpg (http://s1079.photobucket.com/user/ScreamKingArt/media/Mobile%20Uploads/CAM00116_zps3ekor1xy.jpg.html)

^ These type of cars would be my dream cars to work on and be known for doing detail work on. I have owned 2 in the past and They do always say to chase your dream. :)