Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Docstoc's ExpertCircle Looks To Become The Yelp For Business Services

Online business resource site Docstoc is in a big expansion of its services today, with the launch of a brand new service to help businesses connect with products and vendors. The Santa Monica site, which is led by Jason Nazar, said it has launched ExpertCircle, an online platform which lets businesses find recommended products and vendors, based on endorsements, critiques, and reviews around everything from business insurance to productivity software.

The new service is a big expansion for Docstoc, which has been slowly growing out its small business resource tools, which range from online legal and other documents to business licenses, from online education courses to e-books.

A key part of ExpertCircle is the peer reviews, from both other users and experts, on different vendors and products in a category. Docstoc said it is leveraging authenticated experts in each of the areas to help review those products and vendors, and also lets users search and view those endorsements and critiques. Docstoc said it is looking to provide a similar functionality for businesses that Yelp and Angie's List do for consumer reviews and services.

---