When I went to Citysearch today, I noticed a wee something on the homepage:
Citysearch has been in the reviews game for years. But this is CS’s first attempt at creating a program akin to Yelp’s well-known “Elite Squad” and Google’s lesser-known knockoff, “Local Guides.”
CS’s twist is that die-hard reviewers get Amazon gift cards.
Here’s the full announcement:
Citysearch users want to know what businesses you like and why. They want to know what businesses to avoid. And we want to reward you when you take the time to provide your opinion, photos and more. We also want to provide you opportunities to earn rewards for supporting local businesses. The points you earn can be converted to an Amazon Gift Card at any time, once you’ve earned at least 1000 points. To start earning points all you need to do is create an account and verify your email address.
There are lots of ways to earn points.
- Be the first person to review a business.
- Be the first person to upload a photo for a business.
- Write a review that is helpful.
- “Send” a business to your friends.
- Support a qualified business (COMING SOON).
Have you done the following before?
- Review a business.
- Vote a business “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”
- Upload a photo.
- Create a Guide.
It’s nice to see a general local directory get more serious about reviews, and not simply sit ringside while Yelp and Google slap at each other.
A few problems:
a) Not many people use CS. Its troubles are well-documented.
b) It’s not as prominent in Google’s search results as it used to be.
c) It’s riddled with bogus reviews.
Also, the fact that Citysearch is offering Amazon gift cards for reviews may mean that people crank out thoughtless reviews just to score some of that Monopoly Money. (Not that CS would be the only site with that problem.)
Still, CS has long been a site that I and others have recommended scaring up some reviews on, partly because those reviews get syndicated far and wide.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the Local Rewards program takes off, and whether it brings somewhere Citysearch with it.
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What do you think of the program? Will this change your reviews strategy at all? Leave a comment!
