I hope I'm not creating a thread that may already be here, but I searched and did not find one. I have been providing a professional service for over 34 years. I am in the twilight of my career, but as long as the body and mind stay sharp, I will continue with my service. I never really had the need to spend much money on advertising because of the number of satisfied clients I have had over the years. But my son is taking over the majority of the business and could use a little advertising exposure.
Anyway, I want it to share my experience with Yelp. I have had several conversations with a few of their sales reps, concerning spending money to "boost" the business exposure. My (non-paid) listing had several 5 star rated comments and nothing lower. Shortly after I refused to give Yelp money for advertising, all but one of my 5 star rated comments disappeared to the "not recommended" section on my Yelp listing. When I complained to Yelp, they gave me the BS response that they don't manipulate the comments.
I did some research and couldn't believe the number of businesses getting hurt by Yelp. An extortion theme was quite prevalent. One of those web sites that shows the dark side of Yelp can be viewed at
www.yelp-sucks.com