Press Advisory
Insider Pages soars past 100,000 reviews of local businesses nationwide
Local search service connects networks of friends to share reviews, creating a personalized Yellow Pages for every member
Company on path to amass one of the largest collections of detailed business reviews on the Web
Pasadena, CA - June 21, 2005 -- Local search engine Insider Pages announced today that the company has amassed more than 100,000 detailed reviews of local businesses and services nationwide since the company opened the site for business in May, 2005. The company started with a beta test in the Los Angeles area and last month opened the site up for national reviews. Since the national rollout, the company has been collecting detailed reviews at a rate of thousands per day from Insider Pages users, spanning product and service categories as diverse as plumbers to dog walkers to florists to general contractors.
Insider Pages is built around the concept that the best way to find a local business is through a personal recommendation. Unlike the Yellow Pages or other search sites, Insider Pages offers users the ability to search business reviews written by friends and other people in their local area or a specific city or zip code. Today, Insider Pages has created one of the fastest growing communities of online customer reviews.
"We set out to create an online community where people could connect and share information on local businesses and services with people they know and trust. We are thrilled at how quickly we have reached the 100,000 review milestone and we're looking forward to hitting the 1 million mark," said Stu MacFarlane, CEO of Insider Pages. "Although online directories and search engines have existed for years, the qualitative difference between an online detailed written review of a plumber in your area from someone you know and trust compared to a star rating from a stranger is significant. We also know from our advertisers that our members are acting on the recommendations they receive on the site."
Insider Pages couples customer reviews with a proprietary pay-per-telephone-call system, allowing advertisers to measure the number of customers that Insider Pages drives to their business. The system drove more than $1 million in new business to local advertisers in the first few months of the service. In fact, according to feedback from advertisers, Insider Pages' referral leads are five times more likely to convert than typical marketing leads. The company's platform has proven to be a powerful way to attract the traditional Yellow Pages advertisers online.
Advertisers on Insider Pages are able to generate word-of-mouth marketing by promoting their customers' reviews across the Insider Pages network. Ads are displayed as sponsored "Featured Businesses" at the top of search result pages. Since most local advertisers are phone-based as opposed to Web-based businesses, Insider Pages connects prospective customers to advertisers via the telephone. Advertisers are then charged on a per-telephone-call basis. Insider Pages also generates web leads for businesses that have an online presence as well.
About Insider Pages
Insider Pages is a local search engine built around the concept that the best way to find a local business is through a personal recommendation. The company was founded in 2004 and is located in Pasadena, California. The company is a network company of Idealab, a creator and operator of technology businesses. Bill Gross and Idealab have founded companies such as Overture Services, Inc., CitySearch, Picasa, CarsDirect and X1 Technologies. For more information on Insider Pages or customer or advertiser testimonials, please visit www.insiderpages.com.
Press contacts:
Teresa Bridwell
Idealab for Insider Pages
626.535.2886
teresa@idealab.com
Stephan West
Idealab for Insider Pages
626.685.4934
stephan@idealab.com