From food to pet sitters, local Web site has the answers

Looking for a pet sitter, good Chinese food or a reputable dry cleaner?

Hanford residents now can find ratings and reviews at Web sites geared toward providing consumers with advice that isn't influenced by advertising dollars or coworkers with bad taste.

Yahoo Local, Yelp and several others are starting to gather more users and more reviews, allowing Kings County residents to gain input on everything from flower shops to pet waste removal throughout the Central Valley.

Called user-generated content, these reviews have increased in popularity.

"User-generated content is taking off at Yahoo Local, we're approaching three million business reviews nationwide," said Kryssa Guntrum, public relations manager for Yahoo Local, based in Sunnyvale.
"It adds a whole new layer of information from people in your community to help you make better decisions, whether it's a shoe repairman or a nice restaurant for dinner," she said.

While users still should be leery of taking advice from strangers, most reviews will be honest, for better or for worse.

"After living on Guam we had a hard time finding good Asian cuisine until now," writes a reviewer named Sher about Chinese Kitchen in Hanford on Yahoo Local.

"I think when a person sees a 'spicy pepper' on the side of a menu item which usually stands for 'spicy plate' - it should mean spicy," writes lizzabeth93230 about the same restaurant.

Hanford resident Elizabeth Coehlo wrote the above review.

"It's horrible that we've become so reliant on the Internet, but it's much easier than getting in my car and going to buy a paper," she said in an interview.

As online business reviews in Hanford are just starting to gain momentum, some business owners said they have gotten referrals from sites like Yahoo, while others said they have yet to hear from customers referred by online reviews.

Both sides agreed that having an online presence is becoming more important to building new customers.

"Through Yahoo I've gotten quite a few," said Elaine Kelso, owner of Elaine's Pet Sitting in Hanford. She estimated about 50 percent of her customers heard of her business through Yahoo Local.

Elaine's had three positive reviews on Yahoo and is rated four and a half out of five stars.

"I hope people would see us using Google and Yahoo and say, 'I want to go see them,'" said Tanya Fulghum, part-owner and designer with Bella Donna's Custom Floral in Hanford.

Her business has seven positive reviews on Yahoo and is rated 4 and a half stars.

Still, as with any other review, be it from a professional critic or an amateur typing away in their living room, users should always be cautious. Some savvy business owners will create several profiles in order to boost their business's rating or lower that of a competitor.

Guntrum said Yahoo takes steps to make sure this type of abuse doesn't occur, such as filters that look for overtly negative reviews or include explicit language. They also can detect multiple ratings on one business from the same computer.

Most review sites like Yahoo Local and Yelp require users to register with the site before they can write their own reviews. But if you already have a Yahoo account for email, fantasy sports or Yahoo games, you don't need a new one.

Yahoo Local can be found at local.yahoo.com, and yelp is at www.yelp.com. Google and insiderpages.com also have some Hanford reveiws as well.

source: www.hanfordsentinel.com