MF Strong’s Yelp journey—from starting her Yelp Page to getting her first client
Personal trainer Miriam Fried built her business MF Strong primarily by posting how-to videos on her personal social media channels. As an independent personal training business, Miriam wasn’t sure she was a big enough business to justify creating a Yelp Page. But once she sat down with Yelp’s Small Business Expert Emily Washcovick, Miriam saw the benefits immediately—and even got her first client from Yelp within two weeks.
Follow along to see what Miriam’s process was like to claim her page, update her business information, and get her first client from Yelp without spending a single dollar—and learn how you can achieve the same results for your small business.
Miriam’s story
Miriam founded MF Strong to fill a gap in the fitness industry. “We offer personal training from a more inclusive, positive approach. It’s fitness without the diet culture, the shame, and the guilt that we see perpetuated through so much of the fitness industry,” she said.
Sharing her own workout advice to combat the misinformation she saw online, Miriam began growing a large Instagram following and client base from her personal social media channels. As MF Strong grew over the years—from a freelance personal training business to a full-fledged training studio—she continued to have the most success with social media as her primary marketing channel. It wasn’t until recently that she began to explore other options, like Yelp. “I’d love to have a Yelp Page. I just had never really sat down to do it,” she said.
Then she met Emily Washcovick, Yelp’s small business expert, who is also Miriam’s mentor through the Yelp for Business x Luminary Fellowship. One of Miriam’s goals as a 2023 fellow is to build enough demand for the business to hire another full-time trainer. “I’m always happy to have as many eyes on the business as possible, whether that is through a Yelp Page or through social media or literally just talking to people,” she said.
How Yelp helps
Miriam opened MF Strong’s first brick-and-mortar studio in 2022—and although she could have had a Yelp Page before for her personal training business, launching a physical location gave Miriam a renewed interest in Yelp and a need to claim her page.
“Having our own physical space, a lot of people in the neighborhood don’t know we exist, so having a really quick way to search [is important],” she said. “If anybody lives in the area and they’re searching for personal trainers, I always want to be the first one that shows up for people, and Yelp is a really good way to do that.”
Filling out a Yelp Page can also help boost exposure for your business outside of Yelp. When information about your business is accurate and consistent across multiple online platforms, it builds trust and authority with search engines, meaning your website and other listings are more likely to appear higher in search engine results—and your Yelp Page will appear in other prominent places throughout the web as well.
“What a lot of business owners don’t realize is that your business information on Yelp is pulled on to tons of other platforms like Apple Maps, Yahoo, and Bing,” Emily said. “So if your Yelp Page is up to date and accurate, it can help you be found by customers searching across multiple online platforms, in addition to the 33 million unique device users who come directly to Yelp every month.”
Setting up your page in less than 30 minutes
It took Miriam just 30 minutes to set up her Yelp Page—and Emily believes any business owner can do the same.
“Everything we needed, Miriam already had,” Emily said. “That’s true for every business. You’ve already written an about you somewhere. You have an iPhone or another smartphone, and you probably already have great pictures on that. How can we leverage that? We don’t need to start from scratch.”
In her session with Emily, Miriam updated the following five sections of her Yelp Page. These particular areas help customers find your business, and they share more information about who you are, what you believe in, and what you offer. Join Miriam’s journey to fill out her Yelp Page below:
Business categories
There are more than 1,500 categories on Yelp to choose from, and you can select up to three. Miriam chose “trainers” since it best describes her business. Since she now has a brick and mortar, she also added “gyms.” She’ll be able to get more granular about her specific services and specialties—such as “strength training”—in the “From this business” and “Services Offered” sections.
Emily’s tip: Search for other businesses like yours in your area on Yelp, and see what categories they’ve selected. Plus, you can always go back and change or add new categories.
Business hours
Even if you’re appointment only, like MF Strong, it’s important to list your hours so Yelp users searching for your business at specific times can find you. Miriam added all hours that she would potentially see clients to help set expectations. “Sometimes people are like, ‘It might be too early, but I wanna do 7:30.’ They don’t know that’s normal for us—in fitness, you have to be ready to get up early and stay late,” she said.
Emily’s tip: Put hours that you would be open to taking a client—even if you’re not going to always be able to accommodate that time—because you want to show up when people are searching for businesses that are open at a specific time.
Amenities
Here you can add unlimited amenities—also known as attributes—to identify your business and tell customers what type of experience to expect. Miriam selected Open to All and women-owned, which can help capture the interest of Yelp users who love supporting businesses that share their values. You can also add amenities that tell customers more about how your business operates—perfect for Miriam, who wanted a way to signal that she offers 1:1 sessions.
Emily’s tip: You don’t need to select “yes” or “no” for every attribute—just pick what’s relevant to your business.
From this business
This is a space to tell customers what you’re most passionate about and why they should feel confident choosing to do business with you. Like Miriam, you might have already done this legwork on your website or social media posts, so make this section easier on yourself by adapting it here.
Miriam said: “I was able to take all of these things I’d already written about the business and just adjust to make sure it was really focusing on what we do offer—so inclusivity, welcoming, positive, weight-inclusive—just to make it really clear in case someone is searching for that. Or if they’re not searching for it and they’re just searching for personal training, they can click through and be like, ‘Oh! That’s amazing. That sounds great.’”
“From this business” consists of three sections: Specialties, History, and Meet the Business Owner. Here’s how Miriam filled out hers:
Specialties
In an industry filled with unrealistic standards and conflicting information, MF Strong aims to provide one-on-one training from a compassionate, and human-focused approach. We strive to empower and arm clients with knowledge and experience, while fostering a positive and welcoming environment for clientele to build strength, endurance, and confidence both in and out of the gym. MF Strong trainers hold advanced certifications and specialties in women’s fitness, pre/postnatal exercise, exercise for seniors, injury prevention and functional movement, and size-inclusive training. Inclusivity is always our number one goal and we welcome all!
History
Established in 2019.
MF Strong was founded by personal trainer and fitness expert Miriam Fried. After years of experience in the competitive New York City personal training industry, Miriam grew frustrated with the lack of inclusivity and elitism that was driving many folks out of gym spaces. She decided to steer the conversation by using her own platform: empowering her followers to get educated to cut through the misinformation, build confidence, and inspire self love; a positive perspective on fitness that doesn’t equate the gym to punishment.
Meet the Business Owner
Miriam holds a BFA from NYU, is a certified personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise, and has advanced certifications in Pre/Postnatal exercise, functional movement, nutrition, and size inclusive training as well as nearly 10 years of experience working in the competitive NYC fitness industry. She’s been featured in dozens of major publications including CNN, Elle, Popsugar, and Byrdie.
Emily’s tip: Think of the elevator pitch that you think sets you apart from the competition— then, using complete sentences, include keywords that people might be using to search for your business, such as “strength training.” Be sure to only include the keywords and phrases that describe the things you do. If you say something like “I don’t offer nail art,” you may end up appearing in searches for “nail art,” so stick to describing what you do offer.
Photos and photo captions
Photos showcase your best work, help customers visualize your business, and make a lasting impression. For example, with a hands-on business like personal training, clients want to see what the workout area looks like so they can plan ahead and picture themselves in the space—that’s why Miriam included photos of the lounge area, training studio, and herself in action with a client.
To make your photos discoverable and even more helpful, add photo captions that describe what you have to offer. One of Miriam’s captions emphasizes her small business’s advantage over larger competitors: “At our studio, under the watchful eye of an experienced trainer, learn how to properly utilize equipment without the stress of a big box gym.”
Emily’s tip: Don’t skip the step of captioning your photos. The keywords and phrases you use can help you appear in search results and are a great way to provide more information to the consumer who does a little more research. Let people know what they’re looking at—especially if it’s a menu item or a service offering.
Getting your first lead from Yelp
For Miriam, the results from claiming her Yelp Page were almost immediate. Within two weeks, she received:
- Her first client who self-identified as finding MF Strong on Yelp
- Her first Yelp review
When you log into your Yelp for Business account, you can see how many users have looked at your Yelp Page and clicked through to your website, directions, or phone number. Doing your own tracking with new clients can also help you see the value of claiming your page, without investing a single dollar in Yelp.
“When someone inquires about training, we ask them a few questions—where they’re located, what their goals are, what they’re looking for and a little bit about their fitness history, and then how [they] heard about us,” Miriam said.
Through this process, Miriam even discovered she was being found at a higher rate on websites outside of social media, and her marketing funnel expanded to include at least three major platforms.
“For anyone who thinks: ‘Well, I don’t have a Yelp Page, and I haven’t had one for years, so why do it?’ There is value. It’s not social media, so it’s not something where you need to be posting right multiple times a week, but setting it up and maintaining your page can really give you that organic SEO,” Emily said.
These lessons come from an episode of Behind the Review, Yelp & Entrepreneur Media’s weekly podcast. Listen below to hear more from Miriam and Emily, or visit the episode page to read more, subscribe to the show, and explore other episodes.