Let’s Talk About Concord Business
Categories: Bay Area News, Focus on Concord, Mayor News
Written By: Mayor Concord California
As I mentioned in the last post, I have been working on a new section of the site that took a bit longer to build than I first anticipated. I wanted to do something for the businesses of Concord that will highlight their hard work and get them in front of the community in a different way. It may be a bit premature since I’m not completely done with it but I couldn’t contain myself any longer.
I strongly believe that businesses are what keeps a city strong. You can tell a lot about a city by the number and types of businesses that take up shop there. The problem with that is that many small businesses starting out in a city have a difficult time getting the exposure they need to grow and thrive. Typically bigger businesses take all the spotlight and the small businesses struggle. With the internet being the primary source people find information, many smaller businesses can not keep up with larger ones in amounts of exposure. I wanted to help change that on some level.
I have a couple businesses in the area that support the blog in different ways. I was getting emails from other businesses in Concord that asked about getting some free advertising on the site. I did a few but then more emails would flood in asking for the same. I want to keep the Mayor of Concord for news and events of the area and though I do not mind highlighting a company that stands out to me, I couldn’t accommodate all of the businesses in the area that wanted a post about them, so I got creative.
Small businesses especially in these economic times are watching every penny and advertising is not always a top priority. Many businesses still rely on the Yellow Pages for advertising and I’m not going to be the first to say it but the Yellow Pages are archaic. I haven’t looked for a business in the Yellow Pages for about 10 years. I’m sure some of you will disagree but when I need something, I look online for it.
Announcing Concord Business Reviews
I built on an extension of this site for Concord Businesses. I have scowered the internet looking for businesses in Concord both big and small and started cataloging them all. This isn’t your run of the mill directory for local businesses though. I wanted to highlight the Best of Concord within these businesses so I set up a system for that.
Review a Local Business
There are other review sites out there but they try to cover a mass audience. I want to focus locally, on Concord businesses and the immediate area. Companies like Yelp have been getting stung recently because they are manipulating user reviews. When you’re as big as Yelp I guess you can get away with it to some point.
I want to get real feedback from the community on where the best places in Concord are to shop, eat and get my car fixed. I know the rest of Concord would like to know also. By reviewing a local business you help bring attention to them and in effect help grow their business. I sent emails to some of my most active readers to look and initial feedback was great..
Currently I have several categories set up and a dozen more to add.
In the business listing you will be able to leave a comment and rate them through a series of stars. Both Positive and Negative feedback will be allowed. We want this to be an open forum for people to rate local businesses on their actual experiences. If someone has a bad experience and puts that in the comments, we will allow it.
Your rating will be calculated and show up at the top of the listing as an average and show number of positive and negative reviews given. The higher the rating the higher up the list it will go.
All in all I have about 200 businesses that will be featured on the site. But that’s just the beginning. I want YOU to help by letting me know other businesses in the area to highlight.
Add a Local Business
If you have a small business in Concord or know someone that does, you should have them listed here. Many small businesses can’t get enough exposure to their communities and I want to help change that. I want every small business in Concord to have as much exposure to the community as possible so I am allowing any of your businesses to be listed for free.
Since many small businesses do not have a website, finding them online is difficult. Since I will make sure each business listing is listed in major search engines like Google and Yahoo, finding them will be that much easier.
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March 6th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
This sounds pretty cool. The 21st century local yellow pages. I can’t wait!
March 6th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
why reinvent wheel? we have yelp. there are other review sites. there are yellow pages. there is google.
March 6th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
this is just like yelp what is the point?
March 6th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
The point is that there are many small businesses in the area that want the additional exposure. More avenues online to a small business gets them recognized faster. The list will grow.
Concord Blogger’s last blog post..Let’s Talk About Concord Business
March 6th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
There’s already a few restaurants that i think would be great. i’m sure the owners would love it.
March 7th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Looks like you are already getting some decent comments on the site. I think it’s a bit redundant but I like the idea and I think it will grow. There are many businesses in Concord that could use some extra attention. I already added a few to your form.