Most businesses either love or hate Yelp – and sometimes a little of both. Out of all the review sites, Yelp is the only one I know of that actively filters reviews it doesn’t think as credible, so you know the vast majority of the ones you see are legitimate. More and more customers are turning to review sites to make their purchasing decisions, so it’s more important than ever to provide a flawless customer service experience if you want to stay in business. Yelp is not just for restaurants, either – a significant percentage of my clients either found me on Yelp, or it played a critical role in reviewing my company before they ultimately contacted me.
When I first took my photography business full-time in 2010, I would sometimes wake up in a sweat, dreaming someone had left me a 1-star review and panicking how it would affect my business. As I gained reviews slowly, my next concern was how many reviews would get filtered out – becoming “not recommended” and hidden from view. I had worked so desperately for each hard-won review, it was so disappointing to see them disappear. Once I got to 30 or 40 reviews, I stopped paying attention, though – knowing that there were enough “live” reviews for potential customers to get a good sense of the experience I strive to provide for each client, big or small.
Five years later, I have received my 100th 5-star review (OK, I have 67 more that are filtered out, but we’ve already decided not to stress over those). For now, I’m super excited to have 100 live reviews, and although tomorrow that number may be 99, the screenshot below will stand for posterity.
This past half-decade has been a wild ride as GoodEye Photography has really taken off. I still pinch myself that I get paid to live out my creative dream, and will continue to work my magic for many years to come. I’m humbled and grateful, and appreciate everyone that has helped along the way – family, friends, and clients turned friends. Thank you everyone!
