Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Theresa Parish on February 10, 2011 at 3:44pm

I just started doing this for my business. Of course, technically, since I'm brand spanking new, I just started doing everthing :) I'm using Yelp and Insider Pages, and one of my first clients wrote me a nice review! Yay! I'd love to hear what others are doing too.

Permalink Reply by Laura Cooksey on February 10, 2011 at 4:09pm

@Theresa - good for you! You are probably doing more than most veteran esthies out there!

Permalink Reply by Kristin Ballantine on February 17, 2011 at 6:46am

I've been using Citysearch since October, and I have gotten about 3 clients from it since then, so I guess it's paid for itself, but I'm not blown away by it considering how high the monthly rates are.  Calls have really slowed down since the new year, but I guess that could be the season.  I'm doing 4 different online group buying coupons this year, first one gets sent out tomorrow.  I like the idea, we'll see what kind of retention rate I get from it.  If you've done any of these or know anyone who has tried them, I'd love to hear about how it went!

Permalink Reply by Laura Cooksey on February 17, 2011 at 11:37pm

@Kristen - why don't you start that as a separate discussion to people will see the title of it?

Permalink Reply by Denise Ivers on February 26, 2011 at 9:32pm

Hi Laura! I'm using Yelp, Yahoo Local and Google Business Search. I  have a few reviews on Yelp that were placed by clients within the past 12 months and so far those few reviews have attracted  several clients.  Yelp is pretty popular in the bay area.  Yelp has a few advertising programs.  One is a pay per click.  You set the number of clicks per day and have control over your advertising dollars. Another program they have is minimun of a yr contract.  They do a video and a slide show on your Yelp page and guarantee a minimum # of search views.  It ranges from $350-1500 per month, but the drawback for me is the yr long committment.  I also have a FaceBook business page  which attracts clients.

Permalink Reply by Heather Capitanich on February 26, 2011 at 10:23pm

I am using Facebook & Yelp.  Just signed up for Yelp, so we shall see what happens.  Other business owner's I know say they get a lot of their business from Yelp.

Permalink Reply by Laura Cooksey on February 27, 2011 at 10:54am

We get ALOT of business from Yelp.  We have a video on there as well - it's not a great quality video, but it didn't cost that much either...

Face Reality Yelp Page

 

I also have a Facebook business page and put my online scheduler on there, plus a sign up for my Constant Contact newsletter.  I would love ideas on how to make that page more interactive and how to attract more "likes".  Can't seem to get that one off the ground... moves pretty slowly.

 

Face Reality Facebook page

 

@Kristen - Citysearch seems to be pretty dead compared to Yelp in the SF Bay Area.

Permalink Reply by Cyndi Lilkendey on August 2, 2011 at 7:16pm

I love Merchant Circle, Google seems to think their listings are important and pick you up. It got my website up to the top 10 for my keywords and because of this I was able to get clients.  Google Maps is also very important, and best of all it was free.  I have since decided to work closer to home and took a commission job.  The first thing I did was get them listed on these two resources.  

Permalink Reply by Cora Ariella on August 11, 2011 at 10:10pm

I didn't use this myself but I'm thinking about it. I saw a local esty put on her web site "like me on FB" and you get 10% off your next purchase". I think is pretty clever, no big deal, make client go to FB page.. What do you think? You really have nothing to lose, but the 10% of a product purchase.

Permalink Reply by Cat Tunick-Cabeche on August 12, 2011 at 6:39am

We advertise on Facebook, Yelp, Where and Gayborhood.  I find that we get some success with them because when someone starts a search for Spas, facials and massage our name comes up.  What we offer our clients, if they write a review about us we give them an extra 15 minutes of service.  Also, if they referred a friend, the friend gets $10 off their first service and our client gets the extra 15 minutes.  This has been very successful. Our clients love this.

A funny thing, one of my clients wrote a really lovely thing about me on Yelp and they took it off because they thought it was a fake review.