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Yelp

Yelp

www.yelp.com
Founded July 2004 by Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons

The free online review service encourages users to rate and review businesses in over 150 cities throughout the U.S. Business owners can respond directly to customers that post positive or negative reviews. The site makes money through its sponsorship program: Businesses can add photos and promotions to their listing for a fee; it also sells ads. A company's paid advertisements feature its customer rating, regardless of whether it's good or bad.

Traffic: Yelp said it had 13 million unique visitors in July 2008, vs. 4.7 million the previous year. The site features 3.3 million reviews, 2 million of which have been posted in the last 12 months.