Judy's Book Blog

Judy’s Book is a consumer site first but we do focus on helping local businesses too.   Part of that includes working with Marketing and SEO firms to help their clients.  I recently chatted with Erin Everhart a Marketing Executive at a digital marketing and web design company and avid SEO blogger to discuss Judy’s Book renewed focus on Moms and Families.  Here’s the blog she wrote on the 352media site.  Do you agree with our direction?  Have a kid friendly feature you’d like to see?  Let us know by commenting.

Ali Alami

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One of the questions we get often from business owners is how can I get my business on Judy’s Book without subscribing to a paid listing.  We did not want to block out places that consumers are interested in so we allow new listing to be created by a customer submitting a review.  This allows our consumers to give feedback and discover great places while allowing a business to list basic information (Name, Address, Phone, Web URL without the SEO benefit, and Google Street view) for free including their reviews from Judy’s Book and our partner sites.

If one of our upgrade options isn’t an option the way to get listed on Judy’s Book is to ask one of your customers to write a review, as part of the review submission process if you business is not listed we allow the consumer to add it.  We strongly discourage business owners or other non-customers from writing reviews, this can backfire on the businesses and if a review is identified as fake Judy’s Book will filter out or remove it.

If your business is new or you don’t want to ask customers to write a review,  our average paid subscription has been shown to pay for itself 4 times over through more customers, better targeting, conversion, and SEO value.  Find out more at www.judysbook.com/Biz.

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As a consumer review website Judy’s Book is an influencer of consumer decisions.  Like Yelp, Citysearch, Angie’s List and most other review sites we have our share of businesses and other 3^rd parties trying to game the system either to make themselves look good or a competitor look bad.  We take authenticity very seriously and have implemented numerous processes and code features to prevent, identify, and remove fake reviews.  While we don’t share most of our methods for identifying spam and fake reviews, we do think some basic hints for identifying a fake deserve a warning and will help our consumers, not only on Judy’s Book, but other review sites also.

Here are our top 5 tips for identifying a fake review:

1. Paying a subscription service does not guarantee authenticity of a recommendation or review.  Some contractors will pay people to create memberships on sites like Angie’s List to write rave reviews. Just because you’ve paid a membership fee isn’t a guarantee of authenticity.
2. The most trusted reviews and recommendations come from people you know or someone they know.  Use the social features on sites that integrate into and have sharing tools with social networks like Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.  See our earlier blog post on levels of trust in reviews.
3. Look at trends and volume of reviews then compare to how many bad ones there are (1 or 2 stars out of 5 with 5 being the best).  Many times a business will post 1 or 2 fake reviews on themselves, and then have friends or family do the same.  While it’s normal for great places to have some bad reviews (you can’t please everyone and the customer isn’t always right) the worst places will have many with the same theme.   On a 5 star scale a higher percentage of real reviews will be 2, 3, and 4 star reviews.  Look at the three samples can you tell the business with the most reliable reviews?
4. Look at the profile of the person submitting the review.  Are they anonymous?  If not do they live in the same city as the local establishment?  Do they have an image loaded to their profile?  The more info a reviewer is willing to upload the more trusted they become.  Spammers tend to go for quantity over quality.
5. A telltale sign is the same user posting multiple reviews on the same business?  Many times in the same day or week.  Has the reviewer written a review on just this business or others with different categories?  Authentic reviewers tend to write multiple reviews across many categories over time and they usually don’t review the same place twice unless their 2^nd experience is drastically different.

Ali Alami

General Manager

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Amazon recently released a new mobile app that pays users to snap a picture of an item’then buy on Amazon.   Amazon says this is transparent pricing.  Local retailers claim it’s unfair since many of them put time into staging the product, providing personalized customer service, and allowing the customer to touch and try out the product in the store (bicycles for example).  Local retailers also have to pay rent and other expenses which Amazon can get around.

Here’s the full story of the App:  http://www.king5.com/news/135219348.html

We’d like to hear your thoughts on the fairness of this and what can local businesses do (calling out Amazon’s shipping rates, etc…)?  What if a local business setup a computer kiosk and became an Amazon affiliate?   The customer could buy the product in store and get it now or order from Amazon through the kiosk after trying it out and the store can get an affiliate commission?

Tell us what you think by replying to this thread.

The Judy’s Book Team.

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With IntegrityID Certification, Service Providers Put Customer Safety First!

SEATTLE, WA – November 29, 2011 – Judy’s Book, the premier Social Search^® site that helps consumers get the trusted scoop on local businesses, announced today that it has teamed with IntegrityID to help keep people safe when they search and contract for local services, especially services performed in their home.  Ali Alami, General Manager of Judy’s Book says, “Safety is especially important to our mom and family user base. Judy’s Book customers can now gain an additional level of trust beyond value and quality of service when researching local businesses.”

Judy’s Book Social Search is dedicated to helping consumers make informed decisions about the services and businesses they choose. By offering IntegrityID membership to individuals who provide services, or who work for service related companies, Judy’s Book is helping these individuals demonstrate a commitment to safety, honesty and integrity to their customers.  Judy’s Book will display the IntegrityID badge on the business profile page of businesses that have individuals who are IntegrityID certified.

IntegrityID helps answer some of today’s most concerning questions, “Can I trust somebody I just met online or in person?” or “Can I trust someone I don’t know to enter my home and be around my family?” People can feel safe in knowing that the individual they are working with has passed the rigorous background screen required for IntegrityID certification.

Tom Broetje, President and Founder of CFO2Go Inc. says, “At CFO2Go our people are our product. Our customers need to know that our principals have the experience needed to help insure their business is in sound financial shape. But we also want them to know that we are trustworthy, honest individuals. IntegrityID certification lets us easily demonstrate this to our customers and prospects, and distinguishes us from our competition.”

IntegrityID is leading the way in Internet safety with a unique “screen-in” service.  Rather than screening people out, as in typical background checking, IntegrityID allows people of integrity and honesty to screen themselves in via a rigorous background screen—and members have an easy and credible way to let others know they are safe.

“We are thrilled to announce our alliance with Judy’s Book. IntegrityID certification is valuable both for individuals providing services and for the consumer looking to hire a service provider.  With this alliance we can help consumers make smarter choices when they find and choose service providers through Judy’s Book.” says Joe O’Neill, CEO of IntegrityID.

Service providers can take advantage of Judy’s Book special pricing for IntegrityID membership by visiting www.judysbook.com/IntegrityID.

About Judy’s Book

Social Search® to get the trusted scoop on local places. Local reviews, recommendations, deals, and coupons from people like you, including those you know. With Judy’s Book you can read reviews on a business before deciding to buy a deal. Find and discover great places and avoid the not so great. Judy’s Book makes it easy to share places and businesses with friends and family.

From franchises to small businesses, whether you’re a plumber, lawyer, or own a cafe, we know local. Get noticed and discovered.

About IntegrityID

IntegrityID envisions a world where it is safe for people to build personal and professional relationships with those they meet via the Internet.  The company provides a membership service to individuals who meet their qualification criteria, and it is completely free for anyone to verify that an individual is a current IntegrityID member.

IntegrityID recently was awarded the 2011 Online Trust Leadership Award in the “Excellence in Consumer Trust” category from the Online Trust Alliance.

Founded in 2009, IntegrityID is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.  For more information about IntegrityID, visit www.integrityid.com, or call 800-881-7710.

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Additional information or set up an interview with a Judy’s Book or IntegrityID executive:

Judy’s Book Contact: Ali Alami, (206) 388- 3760, ali@judysbookteam.com

IntegrityID 

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