While many of these directories are free for end users, they cost businesses money. Sometimes a lot of money. And often times the customer support for contractors is lacking. The internet has thousands of pages of complaints about these directories. Among the contractors I’ve spoken with, Yelp has a reputation for very aggressive sales tactics.

This article reflects my personal experience evaluating Yelp advertising options for my business.

Many years ago, we almost signed up for their services, but once they told me the cost, which took 90 minutes of beating around the bush, $7,000 per year for their basic advertising package. Yelp is widely associated with restaurants and hospitality services, not residential contractors.

Yelp Advertising: Profiles

Want to show off your best photos first? That’s $2 per day “average”.

Want your logo on your listing? Thats $1 a day.

How about a blog feed on your yelp listing? That will be an additional $6 per day

How about adding icons to your listing? Each one is $2 per day:

How about an extra Call to Action button? Another $2 per day

So if you get the basics, thats $11 per day with out icons. $330 a month for a yelp listing. or $3,960 per year. Which we think is outrageous. What do you get for $4000? You get a business listing with out your competition on it, and you get to pick which photos out of your portfolio are shown first, and maybe an extra button or two.

The $6/day Yelp Bundle

Now, yelp has a deal, where you can bundle all of these features together*, for a smoking deal of only $2,190/year on “average”.

As an added bonus, they remove your competitors from your listing:

Next, I get to choose up to 6 highlights:

I did 4:

Next is the CTA:

So you get these for $6 with their bundle:

If you want your logo on your business listing, that still costs extra. I didn’t go any further because I am not giving them my credit card. I expect their sales team will follow up persistently after this.

And I am sure, once you enter your credit card details, and are paying for these services, the yelp team will swoop in and feed you a ton of great sounding statistics to entice you to spend more!

It should be noted that this is only one small part of the advertising that yelp offers. I tried to get into their Cost Per Click section, but was met with a pay wall, so no idea what their other advertising verticals look like, but if their profile upgrades is any indication, it is anything but affordable.

We will not be signing up for any of this.

Pay less with
Carrigan Painting
716-697-3560

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