Is Citysearch effective?

October 19, 2008 9:53 PM

Should I pay to advertise on Citysearch?

I have to make a decision this week on whether to commit about $1000 to do a three month advertising campaign on Citysearch.com. I'd like to hear about any experiences you have as a retailer signing up to use their pay-for-play service. Did it bring you increased business?

If you use CS to search for goods and services that you need, why? What do you like about it? And if you don't I'd like to hear why not.

I'd love to hear suggestions on what services I might consider instead of CS. I do use Google Business Solutions but that's about it.

posted by vito90 to work & money (4 comments total)

That answer's likely to vary depending on what city you're looking to market at. In San Francisco, for example, Yelp is pretty much the undisputed king of the local listings sphere. Google a few local places that are in the business you're in -- how far up the results page is the Citysearch listing vs. Yelp, Yahoo local, etc, etc.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:22 AM on October 20, 2008

I think most people act like I do, use Google with a city name affixed. Once in a while, I end up on CitySearch when a restaurant doesn't have a website or has an all Flash website that doesn't get indexed well or doesn't show up on my iPhone.
posted by advicepig at 6:16 AM on October 20, 2008

I'm in Seattle...I've never used Yelp, I don't hear people talk about Yelp much around here but I'll check it out.
posted by vito90 at 8:20 AM on October 20, 2008

My manicurist advertised on Citysearch and now she hates them, though I am not privy to the details.
posted by Maisie Jay at 12:27 PM on October 20, 2008