This post was originally published on November 13, 2014.
Being on Angie’s List puts your service business front and center with a highly curated audience. Take advantage of the exclusive, paid-membership community, which is a breath of fresh air in the dog eat dog world of online reviews. Just claiming your business is a step in the right direction: businesses with consistently bad reviews don’t stay on Angie’s List for very long.
In the second of three posts on do-it-yourself marketing in local services, we’ll show you the pros and cons of signing up for a service like Angie’s List.
Pro: It’s free for businesses / Con: They need you to advertise on their site
While Angie’s List does require a paid membership fee for its users, businesses can claim their page for free. Having an account shows potential clients basic information, and also what specific areas of service your business does and what neighborhoods you cater to. But Angie’s List emphatically suggests companies advertise on their site; that’s how they make most of their revenue.
Pro: You have the ability to respond to customers / Con: Customers can write whatever they want
Just like with any other review site, clients can write about their own experiences with your company, but there is an added element of accountability, as users have to post under their real name. Reputation management will be crucial once you’ve claimed your business. If nothing else, Angie adds another way to hear from customers and to learn what is and isn’t working for your company … and a chance to respond in a professional manner.
Pro: It caters to a mature tramadol 50 mg buy uk demographic / Con: Only members can see reviews
According to the AL site, most of its users are in the 35-64 age range, married, and have a college education. While most social media sites cater to a younger demographic, Angie’s List could be a way to put your business in front of an older audience. Older clients might be coming to the site because it seems more reliable: there’s a threshold that users have to go though to be able to review and reviews aren’t anonymous (and therefore not being posted by someone at the company). While company info is available to the public, the reviews and grades given are only available to paid members.
Pro: Consumers see Angie’s List as a reputable source of information / Con: Competes with free review sites
Although Angie’s List competes with free review sites, like Porch or Yelp, it is seen as a reputable source of information because of the paid membership and because reviews are double checked for verification purposes. Plus, the site agrees to help mediate any disputes.
Consumers are turning to review sites, especially for service industry businesses. They want to see from other people’s experiences so that they don’t have to feel uncertain about spending significant time and money on a company that won’t live up to their expectations. Angie’s List is one of the longest-running review sites on the internet—use it to your advantage.
In our Google My Business post, we talked about how to make a Google search engine results page work for you. Next, we’ll talk about what it takes to succeed on Yelp.
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