Insider Pages expands community features

Insider Pages, one of the “other” local search marketing options I’ve profiled in the Local Search Marketing Guide, announced a new service today called Insider Advice.

It’s a community-based Q&A service that lets users ask and answer questions about just about any locally-relevant topic. Here are a couple sample questions from the official release:

— “Could you share your experiences at the labor and delivery ward of the hospital where I plan to deliver?” -Rachel S., Longview, TX
— “Who has the best cooking classes in Palo Alto?” -Marcelo C., Palo Alto, CA

Greg Sterling points out on the SEW blog that other local search/community sites, such as JudysBook, have similar services. And that’s smart, because the 2nd biggest story of the year in online properties (behind MySpace) has been the amazing success of Yahoo! Answers. There’s obviously plenty of interest in the Q&A format, but it remains to be seen if Insider Pages can approach the level of success that Yahoo! has had.

[tags]insider pages, local search, yahoo answers, judysbook, insider advice, greg sterling[/tags]