Angie’s List turns the model on its head: Consumers have to pay a membership fee to access the site.
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Unlike most of the sites in this roundup, Angie’s List doesn’t cover restaurants–the bread and butter of most user-review sites–and it isn’t free for users. This Columbus, Ohio-based business started back in 1995 with the goal of building a clearinghouse for users to provide commentary and reviews on local service businesses. Upgraded users can also respond to reviews (via email to the site).Ĭonsidering its size, Judy’s Book may not offer a compelling argument for upgrading your account, but there’s no reason not to claim your business’s page for free. If your store has multiple locations, you can list up to five addresses under a single name with an upgraded account. It’s free for businesses to claim their page on the site, and upgrades ($50 to $150 per month) get you a deeper profile with no ads on it, submission to search engines, and other perks. In fact, in a half-dozen sample searches in cities across the country, we didn’t find a single review originally written for the site. While the site has about a million user-written reviews, the vast majority of Judy’s Book’s content comes from partner sites, namely Citysearch and Demandforce. The company covers the gamut of services, but is most popular for (its words) “businesses that serve moms and families.” Ignore its reviews at your peril.Īlthough this Yelp-like business reportedly has had financial trouble in recent years, Judy’s Book continues to operate on a national scale. Yelp may not be the final word in customer-review sites, and upgrading can be exorbitantly expensive in comparison with the costs at other review sites, but its clout is undeniable. A Groupon-style Yelp Deals service is available.
Prices range from $300 to $1000 per month.
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Business owners can respond to any review, as well.īut even paying members can’t remove negative reviews, and instead can only upgrade their pages and sponsor search results. Yelp defends against these accusations by saying that it actively polices reviews through an automated filter system (which protects against both malicious content and shill reviews), and that all businesses can claim their account on the site free of charge. Yelp has long been under fire, however, for a host of perceived slights, including accusations of phony reviews (both good and bad) and predatory practices that allegedly goad the recipients of negative reviews into upgrading to a higher tier of service. And although some small-town shops may not have any reviews, Yelp will often have those companies in its database. While Yelp is best known for its reviews of restaurants, it covers the gamut of the service industry.
Restaurants and other service businesses go out of their way to cater to prolific Yelpers, to curry those coveted five-star reviews. The 800-pound gorilla, Yelp has massive power in this industry. Read on for a sense of the size and relative reach of each of these sites, as well as a look at the costs and benefits of becoming a member, and the policies that protect the site from spam and shield the business owner from abuse.
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Many sites also license reviews: A site may look stuffed to the gills with user-written restaurant reviews, yet the posts are actually borrowed from Citysearch or OpenTable.Ī full comparison of user-reviews sites.We analyzed the biggest, most popular websites that let users review service-based businesses. Navigating this landscape of user-review services is tricky, since it’s hard to tell at a glance how popular or comprehensive a site is. Assorted competitors–some from the giants of the Web–also give consumers a soapbox upon which they can express their views about all manner of service providers. Today, however, Yelp is only part of the puzzle. Many restaurateurs have watched their free time vanish along with their hair as they tried to massage their Yelp star rating and appease every last customer unhappy with the crème brulee. If you want to find a restaurant, a plumber, or even a lawyer, Yelp probably has you covered.Īs a consumer, you likely use Yelp and similar services all the time but as a business owner, you realize what a double-edged sword it is. After Google, Twitter, and Facebook, Yelp is arguably the Internet company next in line to have its name converted into a verb.
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