Yelp is an online review website that I have featured in the past. I believe that small business owners in the metro area need to get on Denver Yelp and own their listing immediately.
Unfortunately, Yelp has recently been accused of extortion. Business owners are accusing Yelp of pressuring them to advertise on Yelp in order to get negative reviews of their businesses removed. This is an extremely serious accusation for one of the premiere locally oriented review sites. Some business owners are suing and demanding that Yelp be much more transparent with their review algorithms.
Take Review Sites with a Grain of Salt
I have mentioned this previously - while I believe that review websites are in general helpful, all reviews that you see on the Internet should be taken with a grain of salt. High ranking reviews could very well be family members of the business owner. Low ranking reviews could be competitors looking to get an edge in the marketplace. People can set up multiple fake accounts and maniuplate review websites fairly easily.
How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?
As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, control your brand reputation on the Internet. Doing brand management through Google Alerts is a bare minimum to know what people are saying about you and your company. You may find some bad, but you'll also probably find some people saying nice things about your business that you weren't even aware of.
Do I Still Get Listed at Yelp Denver?
I would absolutely still head over to Yelp and control my small business listing. Regardless of whether or not the alleged shady business pracitces were true, everything will definitely be above board for the forseeable future at Yelp, CitySearch.com and the rest of the local business review websites. Allegations of this nature can bring a company down, and I'm certain that these websites will avoid any appearance of questionable business tactics.