ChoiceVendor, a Yelp-like review service aimed at the B2B space, has left beta and officially launches today.ChoiceVendor aims to do what peer-review services like Yelp and Angie’s List do in the consumer space, but with denizens of the business sphere. The B2B space is actually an area where peer-driven recommendations can really come in handy, beca... | DigiMoe - Digital Community

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ChoiceVendor Brings Yelp-Like Reviews to Businesses

Posted in Tech News by Editor 127 days ago (http://feedproxy.google.com)

width="51" height="61" src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://mashable.com/2010/05/04/choicevendor/" align="right"/> src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-digg-this/i/gbuzz-feed.png" align="right" />src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/choicevendor-top.jpg" alt="" title="choicevendor-top" width="260" height="190" class="alignright size-full wp-image-267271" />ChoiceVendor, a Yelp-like review service aimed at the B2B space, has left beta and officially launches today.ChoiceVendor aims to do what peer-review services like Yelp and Angie’s List do in the consumer space, but with denizens of the business sphere. The B2B space is actually an area where peer-driven recommendations can really come in handy, because if you are trying to find an IT consultant in your area, a business attorney or a place to rent office furniture, it can be hard to get started in that process unless you already have connections to make referrals. This is exactly the type of problem that ChoiceVendor aims to help solve. Businesses can add or claim their business on the service and then request that clients rate them there. Customers can rate their experience and also provide context about the working relationship.src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/choicevendor-company.jpg" alt="" title="choicevendor-company" width="640" height="779" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-267273" />Keeping Things RealI talked to Yanda Erlich, co-founder of ChoiceVendor, who explained that keeping things authentic and useful is a big goal of the site. To that end, when you leave a review, you have to state what your relationship is with the vendor or company — i.e. whether you hired the company or have direct contact with their customer service team, etc.Furthermore, ChoiceVendor reserves the right to request proof of engagement as evidence that a reviewer actually did have contact with the company they are reviewing.ChoiceVendor is free to use and vendors do not have to pay to be included in the database. Furthermore, vendors cannot pay for better placement or for ratings.Lots of PotentialChoiceVendor has a lot of potential for both businesses and B2B customers. Right now, the only limiting aspect of the service is its scope. Because it has just come out of beta, a limited number of geographic regions have collected a useful number of reviews.If ChoiceVendor can amass more broad adoption, both from businesses that claim their profiles and from users who leave reviews, we think this is an idea that is absolutely prime for growth.ChoiceVendor uses micro-formats and semantic data in its listings and in its database; in theory, this means that if you search for a B2B category like you would search for a type of restaurant, Google should be able to show you results along with user ratings for various B2Bs. That’s one reason that services like Yelp have been so successful; the data isn’t just encased in the Yelp network, it can be accessed from traditional search engines too.How do you currently find B2B firms and vendors online? Let us know in the comments.For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter, YelpTags: b2b, choicevendor, peer review, review services, yelp

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http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://mashable.com/2010/05/04/choicevendor/" align="right"/> src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-digg-this/i/gbuzz-feed.png" align="right" />src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/choicevendor-top.jpg" alt="" title="choicevendor-top" width="260" height="190" class="alignright size-full wp-image-267271" />ChoiceVendor, a Yelp-like review service aimed at the B2B space, has left beta and officially launches today.ChoiceVendor aims to do what peer-review services like Yelp and Angie’s List do in the consumer space, but with denizens of the business sphere. The B2B space is actually an area where peer-driven recommendations can really come in handy, because if you are trying to find an IT consultant in your area, a business attorney or a place to rent office furniture, it can be hard to get started in that process unless you already have connections to make referrals. This is exactly the type of problem that ChoiceVendor aims to help solve. Businesses can add or claim their business on the service and then request that clients rate them there. Customers can rate their experience and also provide context about the working relationship.src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/choicevendor-company.jpg" alt="" title="choicevendor-company" width="640" height="779" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-267273" />Keeping Things RealI talked to Yanda Erlich, co-founder of ChoiceVendor, who explained that keeping things authentic and useful is a big goal of the site. To that end, when you leave a review, you have to state what your relationship is with the vendor or company — i.e. whether you hired the company or have direct contact with their customer service team, etc.Furthermore, ChoiceVendor reserves the right to request proof of engagement as evidence that a reviewer actually did have contact with the company they are reviewing.ChoiceVendor is free to use and vendors do not have to pay to be included in the database. Furthermore, vendors cannot pay for better placement or for ratings.Lots of PotentialChoiceVendor has a lot of potential for both businesses and B2B customers. Right now, the only limiting aspect of the service is its scope. Because it has just come out of beta, a limited number of geographic regions have collected a useful number of reviews.If ChoiceVendor can amass more broad adoption, both from businesses that claim their profiles and from users who leave reviews, we think this is an idea that is absolutely prime for growth.ChoiceVendor uses micro-formats and semantic data in its listings and in its database; in theory, this means that if you search for a B2B category like you would search for a type of restaurant, Google should be able to show you results along with user ratings for various B2Bs. That’s one reason that services like Yelp have been so successful; the data isn’t just encased in the Yelp network, it can be accessed from traditional search engines too.How do you currently find B2B firms and vendors online? Let us know in the comments.For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter, YelpTags: b2b, choicevendor, peer review, review services, yelp