13 replies
Hey Friends,
As I was looking into some local niches that I'm in the process of setting up for lead gen sites I keep seeing
  • Angies List,
  • Yellowbook,
  • Yellow pages
kind of results at position 1 or 2/3 below the 7 pack or even in and above the 7 pack here and there.

I'm just curious what kind of results you guys have had when it comes to ranking "city+keyword" and "keyword+city" kinda stuff where angies and yellowbooks are hanging toward the top.

There are some local websites in the mix so it can be done(some aren't all that optimized at all). Just wondering what those of you that have tried have seen.
Thanks for any info
#angies #beating #list
  • Profile picture of the author Ethan F.
    That's an instant winner if you see those pages at the top. I rank #1 in those every time.
    Signature

    "Money grows on the tree of persistence"

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    • Profile picture of the author soontobefishing
      Well that makes me feel better. I figured they couldn't be too locally seod and a little strategy could take em over. Glad to hear a positve on that.
      Does it take anything special or just the normal onpage/offpage stuff? Thank You.
      Anybody else kickin Angie's and yellowbook
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  • Profile picture of the author CandyxLand
    Those listings are usually not optimized for the keyword, which is a good thing. They are 'general sites' and it is an indication that competition is fairly low for that keyword. I'd be much more worried about beating the EMD sites that are perfectly optimized. You beat them like you would any other site, good backlinks and unique onsite content.
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    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      When I read "Angies List" I immediately thought of a country tearjerker... Derrick Hampton Songs | ReverbNation


      The difficulty of ranking for search terms does vary depending
      on how competitive the term is and other factors.

      But as Ethan already said the sites you mention usually aren't
      too difficult to compete with...except when they are (lol).

      It's best to just run with it and see what results you can get.

      Sometimes your results will amaze you and ocassionally
      nothing you do seems to get you the results you should be
      getting.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
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      • Profile picture of the author soontobefishing
        Thanks for the responses everybody. Kinda what I was hoping to hear. And like Andrew said just run with it. But build more than one keyword/city in case one decides it wont rank for whatever reason. Makes great sense. Now Im happy.
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  • Profile picture of the author NickSimpson
    You know it may be tricky to outrank larger sites with more authority in some cases. From my experience if you can get close enough, taking the time to have a proper title and description can still sway a searcher to clicking on a lower ranking result. This may be a good approach if you are having trouble trumping these bigger guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
    I'm willing to bet that almost everyone here on this Offline section makes more money than Angie's list.

    Why? Because in 18 years, they've never turned a profit. Hell, I've built site's that were profitable in a few hours.

    Ain't It Time To Say Goodbye To Angie's List? - Forbes

    Not to mention... they charge companies $12,000 to $15,000 to actually move up a list into a better position.

    I think it's criminal to burn through millions and millions of investor dollars, not turn a profit in 18 years, and yet LIVE like a millionaire on the investors' dime.
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    • Profile picture of the author ronr
      that's quite an article about Angie's list. I knew very little about them other than when they first started. Never realizled what they have grown into with shady practices and never earning a profit.

      Originally Posted by shawnlebrun View Post

      I'm willing to bet that almost everyone here on this Offline section makes more money than Angie's list.

      Why? Because in 18 years, they've never turned a profit. Hell, I've built site's that were profitable in a few hours.

      Ain't It Time To Say Goodbye To Angie's List? - Forbes

      Not to mention... they charge companies $12,000 to $15,000 to actually move up a list into a better position.

      I think it's criminal to burn through millions and millions of investor dollars, not turn a profit in 18 years, and yet LIVE like a millionaire on the investors' dime.
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    • Profile picture of the author BillyParadise
      Originally Posted by shawnlebrun View Post

      I think it's criminal to burn through millions and millions of investor dollars, not turn a profit in 18 years, and yet LIVE like a millionaire on the investors' dime.
      Hold on, what site am I on?


      (Actually I agree with you, but couldn't resist)
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    • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
      I read about their unprofitability a few months ago and was shocked. After seeing all the advertising I'd a thought they were doing well.

      Wonder why there hasn't been a management shakeup a long time ago?


      Originally Posted by shawnlebrun View Post

      I'm willing to bet that almost everyone here on this Offline section makes more money than Angie's list.

      Why? Because in 18 years, they've never turned a profit. Hell, I've built site's that were profitable in a few hours.

      Ain't It Time To Say Goodbye To Angie's List? - Forbes

      Not to mention... they charge companies $12,000 to $15,000 to actually move up a list into a better position.

      I think it's criminal to burn through millions and millions of investor dollars, not turn a profit in 18 years, and yet LIVE like a millionaire on the investors' dime.
      Signature

      In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        You get 10 people to subscribe to Angies. Ask them to place a request for whatever it is you sell. Angies will call them back to ask them if any of the companies that showed interest responded and how pleased/unpleased they were with whoever they chose.

        If you get all 10 to say they chose you and you were great, you've got yourself a great source of leads.

        But Angie's list will also ask them what other companies (in any field) they used and how they would rate them overall and at this or that aspect.

        You train them to say something about their dentist, family doctor, 2 or 3 other random companies, and to throw in a bad mouthing of your main competitor, it works.

        As regards the OP's question:
        open the Manta, YP, Angie's list, right click on it, click on page info (that's how you do it with firefox). It will tell you whether they are trying to rank for that page or not (you already have the url, now you have keywords they're after, the description... ) If the keyword doesn't show up in url, keywords, description, odds are amazing that they did not mean to rank that page for that keyword... So, it should be quite easy to overtake them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Rob
    A L is a joke.

    An unscrupulous contractor I was unfortunate enough to choose from A L, has several accounts on the consumer side, created just to knock the negatives off his profile.

    He then boasts he is the top rated in the county.

    Kick their butts, OP.
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  • Profile picture of the author housewarrior
    I have done this for years and like the man said, it's an instant winner. Let me add, such as it is.

    First, it is a ton or work, and second, if you aren't really careful you'll earn the wrath of our friend Google.

    But thirdly, Angies List. I put in a LOT of work to rank them and I have been very successful and have made a good bit of money from them over time. But..

    About three months ago it started slowing down...and a couple of months ago it quit. Just stopped. So I went to take a look. Guess what? Angies itself offers an in house 40% coupon. That beats my piddly little 25% offer.

    I contacted them. The support person just didn't get it. I explained nicely that I have always had the best relations with them and could they at least give me a matching coupon. I have always been able to work with them in the past. But not this time. Nope. They are going to beat the best you can get by 15 to 20 percent.

    And while I'm at it, let me add that I showed them where some of MY competitors were offering up to 70% off! The support person gave me some kind of mumbo jumbo about how this was technically ok. Well bull crap. I explained back that it was a great example of bait and switch. They replied back that they had no intention of policing it. But they might contact some others with 40% coupons. Total clusterfarb. In translation, they had no intention of telling their top sellers to knock off deceptive practices because it was in some spreadsheet way explainable. Gimme a break! During the conversation I couldn't help but think if Angie herself knew about it she'd put a stop to it immediately. But it's not my job to go on a crusade.

    You know, I don't have any problem with this. They can do whatever they want. What I do have a problem with is using all those affiliates out there who can in no way compete with the in house coupon to popularize their blamed company. If they want to have the best offer then let them step up and shut down the affiliate program. That would be the honorable thing to do.

    So, I just took them down about five minutes ago and came here to see if anyone else had noticed this awful practice.

    Frankly I really expected better from Angies. They have always been tops with affiliates. I don't sense anything nefarious here. More, it looks like a massive case of juvenile marketing ignorance and I couldn't do a thing to wise' em up. So I quit.

    I could have done something snarky on my Angies pages, but I didn't. I just took them down.

    It's their company and their choice. I just don't care for the way they are screwing over their affiliates with their vastly better offer. We can't compete. We shouldn't have to compete. It's nuts.

    Do your due diligent research before going to a lot of work as an affiliate. Make sure you know who is on the other end too.

    Norm


    Originally Posted by soontobefishing View Post

    Hey Friends,
    As I was looking into some local niches that I'm in the process of setting up for lead gen sites I keep seeing
    • Angies List,
    • Yellowbook,
    • Yellow pages
    kind of results at position 1 or 2/3 below the 7 pack or even in and above the 7 pack here and there.

    I'm just curious what kind of results you guys have had when it comes to ranking "city+keyword" and "keyword+city" kinda stuff where angies and yellowbooks are hanging toward the top.

    There are some local websites in the mix so it can be done(some aren't all that optimized at all). Just wondering what those of you that have tried have seen.
    Thanks for any info
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