Continue reading »]]> After getting more requests than I can handle I have decided to personally interview attorneys who have experience helping clients with Yelp, so I can refer victims to them.

If you have a great attorney that has helped you, let me know.  Soon I will post reviews of the ones I think can tackle the issues.

Spread the word.

Thanks!

plus.google.com/100959901782345597097 Adryenn Ashley

Continue reading »]]>

The results of the study, which looked at 712 reviews of 455 doctors in four large urban areas (Chicago, New York, Atlanta and San Francisco) surprised the researchers, based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH).

The study looked at specifically reviews posted at the sites at Yelp.com and RateMDs.com about doctors in those four cities.

“Physicians are very concerned about having unfiltered, anonymous reviews out there on the Internet,” said Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, an assistant professor at UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine and the Center for Vulnerable Populations at SFGH, who led the study.

Compounding the fear of negative reviews online, said Sarkar, is the fact that the 1996 federal law known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prevents doctors from responding substantively to comments posted anonymously from patients. Doing so could be considered a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality and a violation of the HIPAA act.

Doctors are also aware, she said, that information posted online can take on a life of its own, existing permanently for colleagues and future employers to see. Prospective patients may use such information to select their physicians, and reports from the Pew Internet American Life Project have found that a majority of Americans who have access to the Internet seek health information on there.

While the ratings the team reviewed ranged widely in style, sophistication and level of analysis, approximately 63 percent of the reviews were positive and went so far as to recommend the physician.

What Matters to Patients is Also the Experience

There were negative comments about doctors—including one that simply stated “I wouldn’t take my dog to him,” but these were an exception. Moreover, it generally was not the doctors’ own expertise and bedside manner that drove negative ratings, though bedside manner was important to patients.

Instead, it was the whole healthcare experience that stirred patients’ ire. Common complaints included difficulties parking and booking appointments, long waits in waiting rooms and perceived discourteous manners of receptionists and staff.

“These elements are as much a part of the health care experience for patients as the time they spent with the doctor,” said Sarkar, and there is an important lesson for doctors, group practices and medical centers in this.

While any specific statement posted online should be taken with a grain of salt, she said, anonymously posted doctor reviews can nevertheless reveal the unfiltered perspectives of patients that could be as relevant to doctors as they would be to any business discussed in a public forum.

“To the extent that people are revealing specific information that is relevant to you, the reviews are useful,” said Sarkar.

The article, “What Patients Say About Their Doctors Online: A Qualitative Content Analysis” by Andrea López, Alissa Detz, Neda Ratanawongsa, and Urmimala Sarkar appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

This work was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and by the National Center for Research Resources, one of the National Institutes of Health.

More information: http://www.springe … 0311k6wr737/

Provided by University of California, San Francisco (news : web)

<!–
–>

plus.google.com/100959901782345597097 Adryenn Ashley

Article source: http://www.physorg.com/news247477136.html

Continue reading »]]> Few things are more heartening than when Yelp admits what we’ve been saying all along: Their review filter sucks!  In short, in their own words, “determining the credibility of reviews is difficult, and we cannot guarantee that our efforts will prove to be effective or adequate.”  If I were the SEC I’d make them rewrite it again! The filter doesn’t work, there is no intelligence behind it, to my knowledge they have no PhD statisticians designing the scoring algorithm…

“While we have designed our technology to filter content that we believe may be offensive, biased, unreliable or otherwise unhelpful, we cannot guarantee that our efforts will be effective or adequate. In addition, some consumers and businesses have expressed concern that our technology inappropriately filters legitimate reviews, which may cause them to stop or reduce their use of our platform or our advertising solutions. If the performance of our filter proves inadequate or ineffective, our reputation and brand may be harmed, users may stop using our products and our business and results of operations could be adversely affected.”

Now there’s the smoking gun!  And my hunch is that the word “IF” is going to have to be removed and replaced with “WHEN” to meet the stringent SEC requirements for full disclosure and perhaps that is why the rumor mills are churning about the cancellation of the IPO.  That is one (of many) great thing about the SEC and disclosure requirements. They can often dig up what us mere consumers have been saying for years.

And why the rush to IPO?  In Feb. 2010, private-equity firm Elevation Partners bought $25 Million in stock in Yelp and allowed six Yelp founders and executives to cash out a portion of their stockholdings to Elevation. Jeremy Stoppelman cashed out $15 million in the deal, so it’s not like he’s only a paper millionaire.  With all the hoo-ha going on behind the scenes and the requirements involved in being a publicly traded company, I’m not holding my breath.

plus.google.com/100959901782345597097 Adryenn Ashley

Continue reading »]]> From a great candid review by Raymond Fong:

Maybe you know and maybe you don’t… but Yelp (a local search and reviews online service) offers paid advertising for businesses called the “Yelp Sponsorship Program“.

To sum it up, according to the page advertising this opportunity, this Yelp Sponsorship program allows you to:

• Put up a slideshow of the images of your business.
• Highlight a user’s review that you like the most (as the business owner)
• Promote your business as a sponsored search result and on your competitors’ business pages. Target potential clients while they are making decisions about where to spend their money on a business like yours

It sounds all fancy spansy right? Sounds like you get even MORE control over your business listing which will help “put your best foot forward” and sneak attack your competitors, stealing all their would be clients.
But Stop the Music, Do These Yelp Advertising Features Actually Accomplish Anything? Or are They Just Fluff Designed to Lure You in so They can Zap You?
Suck Them in & Then ZAP Them!
Before we proceed, I’d like to first state that my experience and knowledge of this Yelp Sponsorship program comes from dealing with them on behalf of one of my clients. This client signed up with Yelp (despite my warnings – apparently Yelp’s salesman are SMOOOTH) and I got to learn all about this program.
Having said that, that’s only ONE experience which doesn’t make me an expert but it certainly makes me more knowledgeable of this Yelp marketing program than those who’s never experienced it.
Furthermore, in case you are not familiar with how Yelp works, anybody can post a business on Yelp, as long as it falls under one of their categories and is a “fit” per their policies. And the rightful owner can claim that Yelp page by jumping through some hoops and voila, you have a FREE listing about your business.

Read More…

plus.google.com/100959901782345597097 Adryenn Ashley

Continue reading »]]> The rumor mills are atwitter, did Yelp cancel their IPO?

61 million unique monthly visitors to the website in the third quarter of 2011, and five million unique mobile devices using the company’s apps.

The part of the filing that struck me the most talks about plans to expand Yelp onto “automobile navigation systems, web-enabled televisions and voice-enabled mobile devices”.

What say you? Comment below… Should YELP IPO or slink back into the mire quietly?

plus.google.com/100959901782345597097 Adryenn Ashley

Continue reading »]]>
It’s all over the news http://www.eastbayexpress.com/eastbay/yelp-and-the-business-of-extortion-20/C… and I am glad that people are starting to publicly question the system. You watch their video and tell me why are their comments disabled? It’s because they do not want to hear what the consumers have to say. They do not care. They don’t want to hear the truth of what people are saying. Yelp is not necessary to spread the word thanks to youtube people can still tell the truth.

plus.google.com/100959901782345597097 Adryenn Ashley

Continue reading »]]> “I didn’t even know until they alerted us that this Top 100 list existed,” Judy Aspesi said. “For the customers to think we have great food and great service is so rewarding.”

Dewz is in prestigious company on this year’s Top 100 list, including the world-famous The French Laundry in Yountville and Le Bernardin in New York. It is among only 10 restaurants in California to make the cut.

For the Aspesis and executive chef Vincent Alvarado, the accolade is one they’ve been slowly building to since the restaurant opened in 1997. Back then, Dewz was a simple casual dining spot with paper napkins and 25 wines on its menu.

Now, Dewz is one of the city’s premiere fine dining establishments with crisp tablecloths and cloth napkins and more than 1,000 wines from which to choose. The restaurant includes a full bar and seating for about 100.

“We didn’t have a business plan back then, other than have good food,” Scott Aspesi said. “It’s not what we envisioned when we started, but then we didn’t really envision much of anything. And then gradually we realized we were going fine dining.”

The restaurant has managed to survive and thrive as a gourmet destination despite a move from a high-traffic downtown corner to a more peripheral spot and the sharp economic downturn in the valley economy from the recession.

Scott Aspesi said the key to their success remains the food. Alvarado came on board at Dewz shortly after it opened and became a full partner about a decade ago. Alvarado said when the restaurant moved in 2007 from its prime corner spot at I and 11th streets near the Gallo Center for the Arts to its current spot near J and 15th streets, he made some strategic changes.

“Since we’ve moved, I’ve tried to take the food up a notch,” Alvarado said. “We also wanted to take it up a notch with the dining room and general ambience of the restaurant.”

The dinner menu has a selection of steaks, seafood, pastas and more, with entrees ranging from $28 to $38. It has also become a popular, if inadvertent, special occasion spot for many diners. Customers receive a free photo and bottle of wine on birthdays and anniversaries.

Scott Aspesi said one couple recently came in for an anniversary dinner and took home their 14th photo to hang on their wall.

Still, that reputation as a fancy dining spot sometimes works against them. The Aspesis said they often field calls asking if there is a dress code (no) and even whether the restaurant is a private club (no).

Dewz also purposely does not court the late-night bar crowd. While the restaurant has a full bar, it closes by midnight, with dinner service ending at 10:30 p.m. Scott Aspesi said that strategy has kept their clientele consistent and comfortable.

The owners and staff have closely monitored and been responsive to their reviews, both from diners directly and from online critics. Scott Aspesi said he reads reviews, particularly negative reviews, to look for ways they can improve their food and service. He has also contacted reviewers who were unhappy through sites such as OpenTable.com and Yelp.com to apologize and make up for their bad experience.

“We really learn from the bad ones, and if someone has a problem we try to address it right away,” he said.

It’s that kind of attention to diners’ needs that keeps longtime regulars such as Betsy Fillicelli of Modesto coming back. She brought a co-worker to Dewz for lunch Friday for his birthday.

“They’re just really gracious hosts here,” she said. “They sincerely care about their customers. They’ve got good food, an excellent wine list. They’re just good people.”

The Aspesis said most of their regular customers followed them the five blocks to J Street four years ago. They also hope the OpenTable Top 100 listing will help more new diners find them, and possibly help get the restaurant on the national map.

“The next step is a Michelin star,” Scott Aspesi said. “But really, I just love smiles. I love to see people smile and laugh, and that’s what it is all about.”

On the Net:

www.opentable.com/bestoverall.

Bee staff writer Marijke Rowland can be reached at mrowland@modbee.com or (209) 578-2284.

plus.google.com/100959901782345597097 Adryenn Ashley

Article source: http://www.modbee.com/2012/01/06/2014969/modesto-restaurant-dewz-top-list.html