Business owners always ask me, what is the best way for me to advertise my business on internet? Here is my advice to current and future businesses interested in increasing their online visibility and “Ad Value”.

First of all, what do I mean by “Ad Value”? It refers to the effectiveness of your overall advertising campaign online. For example, Business A and Business B are both paying the same amount of money for the same service provided by an online yellow page provider like CityWaboo.com. Business A follows the steps outlined below and increases his “ad value”, Business B has not even looked at his listing since his initial sign-up. Business A has a higher ’Ad Value’ and hence a higher customer response from CityWaboo.com then Business B.

Follow these steps to make sure you have an effective online campaign.

1: Make sure all of your contact information is correct. If your customers can’t reach you, you can’t sell to them. You can do a business directory search to find your business and check information.

2: If you are offering a discount or a promotion, it needs to be clear and explain what the customer has to do to redeem it. If they need to print out the page and bring it in, make sure you specify that.

3: Do you have all of your pictures loaded and updated?

4: The special comments section should have all of the important information you would like customers to know. It should include a hook, something that sets your business apart from everyone else in the directory.

5: Web sites are an everyday part of operating a business. A comprehensive business profile is the next best thing if you don’t have a website.

6: Tracking is an important element of a successful ad campaign. Each business needs to know where their customers are coming from: Referrals, Friends, Repeat Customers or Advertising (New Customers). You will be surprised if you track your customers for one month. It will give you a valuable insight into your operation and at the same time dissolve some of the myth that “…I don’t need advertising…”

7: Know your sales or marketing representative. Keep in contact with them periodically. They will evaluate your advertising campaign and make recommendations on how to better it. Our marketing advisors make sure they contact all our advertisers every 60 days.

If you take the steps above, you should be able to increase your “ad value” and effectively reach new customers. As always if you have any questions or concerns please contact us.

CityWaboo is a Community-Built City Guide to help you share your opinions about the businesses and services you’ve tried. Just go to the business you want to rate and click the “Write a review” link. Here we will give you tips on writing great reviews of local businesses. You’ll find guidelines along with examples of well-written reviews to rouse the writer in you.

Be objective and truthful. Tell us how you really feel and why. Useful reviews are detailed and specific, and give the reader a feel for your experience. Think about what kind of information you want when you ask a friend or coworker to recommend a restaurant, service, activity, or business. Here are some of the kinds of questions you might want to answer in your review:

• Did the experience meet or exceed your expectations? Are you planning to go back soon?
• How did this store compare to other, similar businesses in your area? Do you feel like you got what you paid for?
• What did you like or dislike? If you had to wait in line, was it worth it?
• Would you recommend this to your friends? Your parents? Your boss?

Stay “on topic”.Present facts, not fluff. Did the cashier smile and say thank you? Were the towels in the gym clean? Was the salesperson well-informed and helpful? Did the contractor finish ahead of schedule? Was your soup lukewarm? Did the roof really stop leaking? Did the delivery arrive on time? Did the performance knock your socks off?

Please: Don’t spoil it for others. Don’t abuse the service. Reviews should not harass, abuse, or threaten another’s personal safety or property, make false statements, defame, impersonate someone else, contain profanity, sexually explicit, illegal or otherwise objectionable content, as determined by CityWaboo. Don’t post personal information. Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts. Reviews should not include personal information, such as email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers or credit card numbers belonging to you or others. Don’t post multiple or commercial reviews. Reviews should not include multiple posts by the same user or posts that have spam, commercial or advertising content or links, otherwise it will be reported by other CityWaboo members. Don’t copy or otherwise infringe others’ material, trademarks or other intellectual property. Reviews should include your own, original thoughts. We want to hear from you! Don’t upload HTML, viruses, or other malicious code. Reviews are for text only comments. Please help to protect the CityWaboo Community-Built City Guide. Reviews are for CityWaboo users only. Our rating system is for CityWaboo users to help other CityWaboo users. Businesses listed in CityWaboo are not allowed to post reviews about themselves or other listed businesses. For additional information or questions please feel free to email us feedback@citywaboo.com