• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, August 1, 2007

I started getting allergy shots a month ago because of two reasons. A) It sucks not being able to have a pet and it sucks not being able to be around everyone else's pet. B) My fiancé would really love to have a pet sometime soon!

While I was at the allergy doctor's, we got to chatting about what I do for a living (Internet marketing, in case you hadn't noticed) and the doc mentioned he saw a dramatic increase in his business because he recently signed up with Yelp. As a direct result of being on Yelp, the office saw 100 customer inquiries in just five days, which blew away any previous advertising efforts (none ofwhich had resulted in more than five to eight new customers as a direct result). This blew my mind, but upon thinking about it I started to realize that Yelp is, all of a sudden, everywhere, and may actually be taking over the world (at least the world of San Francisco for starters)!

Everywhere I go I see Yelp stickers and signs posted in windows of stores and restaurants. Yelp this, Yelp that... Yelp has become as important to San Francisco residents as Craigslist or Fandango. I noticed that Fortune magazine started writing about Yelp, so it's only a matter of time before it shows up In Time magazine or on CNN.

Yelp has found a unique way to deliver value from user-generated content. However, when I first heard about it, I had my doubts. I was unsure how it would amass a large enough database of comments and input from users for the reviews to be valuable -- but the company did it and they did it quickly, which once again speaks to the value of virility and word-of-mouth marketing. I have yet to see an ad for Yelp, other than the stickers and the cards in the windows, but each of these was placed by a fan or a friend of Yelp -- and as a result, the tool has gained credibility just by being in existence and spoken about by the influentials in the community.

When you use the tool to search for "music," you come to the world-famous Amoeba Records. Amoeba is known everywhere as one of the best, if not THE best, independent record store in America. Yelp verifies that and speaks highly o f the staff there. When you search for "dinner," you end up with a veritable bevy of restaurants and hang-outs to choose from, all recommended by people like you. How could you possibly go wrong?

It's a simple idea, much like Craigslist, and one that might have enough legs to expand to other markets. I hear New York and Los Angeles are starting to Yelp. I imagine other major cities will do so as well, because just like Craigslist before it, I was amazed at how quickly the tool is becoming useful to people outside the Bay Area. The innovation that begins here expands digitally in an exponential fashion to other cities. Other cities may bring us fashion, but we bring them cool technology!

As Yelp grows and its reviews become more and more important, the advertising will become even better. There are name-brand advertisers in there now, but it is more than just a contextually relevant ad opportunity; it is a local ad opportunity, and one that could be as important, if not more important, than the yellow pages. This model was never embraced by Craigslist (to their own benefit), but Yelp appears to be poised to take advantage of this ever-expanding area of online.

So go Yelp your local dive bar or your favorite coffee shop, or my allergy doctor and see what your peers have to say about it!

Rock on!