Kudzu.com

There's a new (ok fairly new) website called Kudzu where you can post reviews for Atlanta businesses, or advertise your own business. Here is my Kudzu listing. I have 3 reviews so far. Kudzu is owned by Cox Communications, the same people who publish the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

It is $50 a month if you want a paid listing with bold type, photographs, a higher ranking on their site. Or try it for free and see what happens. I get my customers from all over the world, so I don't need to specifically market to the Atlanta area, but for businesses that need to only market locally - ie hairdressers, construction, real estate agents, etc...I think the $50 would probably be a good investment.

With some knowledge as to how to use the site effectively, Kudzu can be a good source for referrals to businesses.

However, a drawback the site has is that someone could easily have their friends (or even themselves) review their company.

When you use the site, I advise you to look for reviewers who have reviewed at least 4-5 times. If a reviewer has only posted ONE review, then chances are, a company approached only their happy clients or friends and asked them to post a review for them. When I see a company with 20 great reviews, but each reviewer has only reviewed one time - and that time was for only that company, I don't consider the reviews to be entirely valid. I would be more likely to do business with a company that has 2 good reviews by reviewers who have reviewed 5 or more times. Two good reviews by such reviewers hold more weight than two dozen good reviews by one-time site visitors.