[hughesdan]

Many of the comments I'm reading here assume a much higher level of ignorance on the part of small business owners than is really the case. While it's true the average SBO typically does not understand internet advertising, they do understand ROI. They know how much they spend on various forms of advertising. And they know if they're getting a good return because they see the impact the next day in their cash register. And more importantly, they talk to their customers to find out what's working. The irony is, with all the sophisticated technological tracking we can implement with our startups, we often know less about what forms of advertising is producing results than does a supposedly unsophisticated restaurant owner. Ignoring Yelp's 'extortion tactics' for the moment (I'm not qualified to comment on those accusations), I don't think they could sustain premium prices for long if the ads were not yielding commensurate results.