Submitted by Katie Hellmuth on | 0 Comments
Local businesses dread the bad review on Yelp. The screamer who had a bad day and wants to take it out on someone. I myself wanted to do this to a woman who owned a real estate shop in a wealthy Rhode Island town on their Main Street who marched out into a small gravel parking lot after I parked my car in it to run into a deli to grab a sandwich while my two hungry children were screaming. I was literally strapping on my 3 month year old crying son into my carrier so that we could dash in for food. She informed me I had to vacate the spot she pays $2000 for, and wouldn't grant me the 15minutes of a food rush.
I wanted to take it to Yelp!
Instead, I Yelped it in my mind, but didn't publish it. I'm sure she's a lovely woman who sells great real estate. But, these Yelp reviews are permanent, and you can't delete them as a business owner. They impact your SEO (search engine optimization) because they rank in the search engines when someone searches for you. What can you do if you get a bad review?
Take it to your sidewalk chalk board, like the Joe Dough Sandwich Shop did:
Brilliance. Embrace it. Get a thicker skin online, and fight back with your good food or product. It's ok. It's one angry reviewer, but it could really hurt your business. For this restaurant owner, after someone spotted his sign and eye-reported it to a news station, the store owner got major press and a huge viral spread.
Hurrah for his comeback! And not to mention a great SEO boost he's getting from articles like these linking to his website! Awesome! And I'd love to try that meatball sandwich.
