I ran a holistic wellness center for five years and one of the services I’d provide was booking appointments for our practitioners.  One day, a woman called to book a massage.  I recommended our best holistic massage therapist, and she said, “Can I get someone else?  I read a bad review of her online.”
 
I was a little shocked that someone would write a bad review about her, she was amazing.  As soon as I finished booking the appointment, I began searching for this mysterious review. I was so in shock I needed to see it, to believe it.
 
A quick Google search revealed the culprit: a one-star review on Yelp!  One bad review cost this amazing therapist an opportunity to book this client, and all future business this client could have brought her way. That day I had a wake-up call to the power of Yelp & how negative, word-of-mouth marketing can affect business.

Yelp has gone through several changes & in response to complaints from small businesses & even a class action suit. Businesses claimed Yelp was showing favor to its advertisers. Yelp has since changed its policies to become a more neutral platform, driven by reviews and not advertising.

As a business owner I know that customers are more likely to tell friends about a bad experience than a good one. Now that sites like Yelp are popping up all over the web, those unhappy customers can have more of an effect on your business than ever before.