Comments on: Melbourne’s word on the street http://www.frontiering.com.au/blog/2007/09/03/melbourne_s_word_on_the_street/ Listen, Engage, Influence Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:43:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Mark http://www.frontiering.com.au/blog/2007/09/03/melbourne_s_word_on_the_street/#comment-30 Mark Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:03:31 +0000 1962343572#comment-30 Hi Ian,<br /> <br /> You're spot on - regarding the conflict that these traditional websites face; charging businesses for a premium/sponsored list and then allowing for a negative review to be posted.<br /> <br /> US-based Yelp, through a bit of magic of their own, have managed to get businesses to purchase a 'Sponsored Result' and let people post negative reviews about that business (if they so wish)<br /> See the business listing for the restaurant Taqueria Zorro in this result, for an example <br /> http://www.yelp.com/search?find_loc=San+Francisco%2C+CA&cflt=restaurants<br /> <br /> One of the reasons that I think Yelp were successful in doing this is that the site was founded by a couple of guys who weren't from the traditional business directory/media space. From day one they envisage a consumer-centric business directory and it succeeded (it also helped that US defamation laws aren't as stringent as they are here in Australia)<br /> <br /> How would this work with small businesses in Australia? <br /> <br /> Well, in my opinion, its going to take a long to change the current sentiment of " what if my business gets a negative review " to " I don't mind getting a genuine negative review, as long as I can learn from my mistakes ".<br /> <br /> Beneath the surface, there is a bit of action happening in the reviewing space, as you indicated with Nook and WhereIlive. I wrote a fairly detailed summary of some of the other sites in the reviewing space in Australia here:<br /> http://raveaboutit.blogspot.com/2007/08/local-business-search-review-scene-in.html<br /> <br /> Cheers for the interesting post (and blog in general :) ),<br /> <br /> Mark<br /> Hi Ian,

You’re spot on - regarding the conflict that these traditional websites face; charging businesses for a premium/sponsored list and then allowing for a negative review to be posted.

US-based Yelp, through a bit of magic of their own, have managed to get businesses to purchase a ‘Sponsored Result’ and let people post negative reviews about that business (if they so wish)
See the business listing for the restaurant Taqueria Zorro in this result, for an example
http://www.yelp.com/search?find_loc=San+Francisco%2C+CA&cflt=restaurants

One of the reasons that I think Yelp were successful in doing this is that the site was founded by a couple of guys who weren’t from the traditional business directory/media space. From day one they envisage a consumer-centric business directory and it succeeded (it also helped that US defamation laws aren’t as stringent as they are here in Australia)

How would this work with small businesses in Australia?

Well, in my opinion, its going to take a long to change the current sentiment of ” what if my business gets a negative review ” to ” I don’t mind getting a genuine negative review, as long as I can learn from my mistakes “.

Beneath the surface, there is a bit of action happening in the reviewing space, as you indicated with Nook and WhereIlive. I wrote a fairly detailed summary of some of the other sites in the reviewing space in Australia here:
http://raveaboutit.blogspot.com/2007/08/local-business-search-review-scene-in.html

Cheers for the interesting post (and blog in general :) ),

Mark

]]>