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Think Local : Resource Directory Advertiser's
Job Advertisers:
Special Features
PLEASE READ
Advertiser's FAQ and Help
PLEASE check for answers to your questions here. The Resource Directory is
designed to be a self-managed advertising opportunity. Most other questions will
answer themselves as you go through the process of placing your listing.
New questions, corrections, omissions, comments - please
contact us
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Video and Advertorial
FIRST 5 Companies to Order Video and Advertorial pay
only $99.00 (Resource Directory Ad included) Value
$349.00Email us
for more to make arrangements. |
Q: How does Pay Per Click
Advertising work?
Q: What are Credits?
Q: What about
confidential contact information?
Q: How do I pay for my
listing?
Q: How do I control
how much I spend?
Q: How do I get the most
out of my listing?
Q: Can I change my
listing?
Q: Can I list in
various locations?
Q: Can I list in
various locations?
Q: What is the
benefit of placing more than one listing?
Q: How much space am I
allowed in the description?
Q: Can I add photos and
what is wrong if I have difficulty adding photos?
Q: How do readers
contact me?
Q: How do I get
started?
Q: How do I add more
credits after I place my listing?
Q: How does Pay Per Click Advertising work?
A:ThinkLocal.ca Pay-per-Click advertising gives you the most cost
effective way to reach local and environmentally conscious customers. Placing
your listing in the ThinkLocal.ca Resource Directory offers you an opportunity
to consumers when they are ready and willing to buy. It enables you to target
geographically and by product or service. Because it is Pay-per-Click you are
only paying for results. You bid your position. The higher your bid, the closer
your listing will be to the top of Resource Directory searches for your product,
service or location. If your listing shows in the results of a Resource
Directory search, you only pay if the reader clicks to read listing details. The
system also prevents duplicate clicks from the same IP address. If the reader
visits your listing, then visits other listings and comes back to your listing
you are not charged a second click as long as the visitor returns within two
hours. Essentially, you have a lot of control and depending on your bid amount
it can cost no more than it would cost you to provide a prospect with a business
card.
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Q: What are Credits?
A: The Pay-per-Click advertising is dependent on the purchase of
Credits to calculate and process your payments for advertising. You purchase a
number of credits in advance, and bid your rank. If for instance you purchase
100 credits for $100 and bid to pay 10 cents per per click, you will get 1000 to
see your listing before the credits will be used up. When the credits are used
up, you will be sent an email reminder to purchase more credits. You also
control how many credits can be used on any one day. Obviously, you do not want
to limit it too much, as that would be like installing a turnstile in your store
and after you hit 100 customers in a day locking your doors.
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Q: What about confidential contact information?
A: When you register we do collect information such as your email
address, phone number and address. This information is for internal use only. We
do NOT sell or share your information. When you place your listing content you
will be asked to provide a contact, an email address, a phone number and your
website URL, this information does not need to be as detailed as the information
you provide during the registration process. However most people in business
need to share this information with potential customers, it is an essential part
of enabling the customer to contact you to purchase your products or services.
We recognize there are times, or businesses, that do not want the customer to
think they need to reach a specific salesperson. If this is the case, you can
type "See Website" or "Email Us" in the space requiring a "Contact". The
listings are enabled to email from within the listing, and a live link is
provided to your website, if you provide a website link. In the space requesting
a phone number you can repeat the same action. We are conscious of the need to
protect our readers from scams, and blind ads
will be deleted without recourse by the advertiser - if we are not able to
make contact or have reason to believe customers could not contact you if they
had problems with your products or purchases.
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Q: How do I pay for my listing?
A: Ads are paid for through an online payment gateway. The information
provided to during the payment process is not shared with us. Our payment
options include Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode, or as an alternative
we also offer Paypal. The charge on your charge statement will read "2Checkout:"
or "2CO.com" as they are our outsourced payment solution. Once your credit card
is processed, we receive confirmation that your credit card transaction has
passed "Fraud Check". If your card is rejected for any reason, we reserve the
right to remove your listing without notice if it has already been posted.
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Q: How do I control how much I spend?
A: You have complete control of how much you Pay-per-Click. You bid
your rank. The higher you bid, the more sure you are to rank at the top of your
location or category. We do not reveal how much other advertisers are paying per
bid. This is to protect you from bidding wars. In most cases, it is not
necessary to bid more than the minimum bid. You can change your bid amount as
often as you want. You can also place a ceiling on the amount you are willing to
pay per day. Once you have reached your daily bid ceiling your listing will not
show. Placing your bid ceiling too low can work against you on higher traffic
days, such as weekends. Our traffic is very targeted and unlike search engine
pay-per-click advertising the majority of readers are already searching for a
product or service in our Resource Directory. It is cost effective.
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Q: How do I get the most out of my listing?
A: If you place keywords in your listing title, and again in
the first three lines of your listing "Description" you will maximize your
traffic by attracting readers from search engine searches in addition to
Resource Directory searches done by people who are already in our site. In fact,
if you do a good job of choosing the words in your title and the first three
lines of your listing, there is a high possibility of your listing showing on
the first page of Google and other search engine searches. This of course,
depends on the popularity of the keywords you choose. A title such as, "BC :
Vancouver : Organic Food - Mornings Naturally Cereals" is likely to rank better
and reach readers than a title saying "Mornings Naturally Cereals".
Do not forget to add photos. A photo makes a lot of difference to your
success.
Create a well worded listing. Your listing should contain a call to action.
What do you want the reader to do? Do you want them to email you? Remember, if
they email you it gives you more ability to follow up than you have if you send
them to visit your website. The key to internet advertising is capturing
information about who is visiting your website.
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Q: Can I change my listing?
A: You can change the listing as often as you want. In fact, if you
update your listing it keeps it more current and it attracts more traffic. Each
time you change your listing you show up in the "What's New" category. Add
photos, or update photos as often as you wish.
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Q: Can I list in various locations or categories?
A: Yes, you can list in several locations and categories. We encourage
you to do this. If you are in a major city, duplicating your listing to show
under the suburbs is beneficial. When readers are doing searches they usually
start closer to home and then if they don't find what they want, they expand
their search. You want them to find you and duplicate ads increase your
exposure. Seeing as you are paying per click it doesn't cost you any more and
clicks from the same IP address to several of your listings does not cost you
any more because the system recognizes it is the same IP address and that both
ads are your account. The system doesn't bill for repeat clicks from the same
IP, unless at least two hours has lapsed since the listing was viewed. If
you offer a service or product that you are seeking to market to consumers, no
matter where they live, you may benefit from Banner Ads on article pages on
ThinkLocal.ca. Our Banner Ads are reasonably priced and we can give you a quote.
Please send us an
email briefly listing your
goals, a description of your product, your website address, and your budget. We
will contact you with a proposal.
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Q: How do I choose categories?
A: Many advertisers can benefit from running listings under several
categories. For instance, a fitness trainer may also sell a fitness DVD.
Choosing to place a number of listings to target a number of your services or
products can increase your sales. Taking care to reword titles, and the first
few lines of the listing "Description" improves the benefits you reap.
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Q: What is the benefit of placing more than one
listing?
A: Yes, you can benefit. If readers are searching by location if you
are in a major city, they may miss your listing if they search only within the
suburb they live in. If your business offers a number of products or services
you can benefit from placing listings that are directed to consumers of
different products and services. You are not charged for space. You are
charged per click and the number of clicks from a single IP address is limited,
therefore if the reader visits two of your listings in a session, you will only
be charged for one click.
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Q: How much space am I allowed in the description?
A: The description allows about 1500 characters. This area allows
choice of font size, color, allows bulleted lists and several other word
processing features. However, this area of your listing does not allow email
addresses or website URLs. The opportunity to add directly linked email
access and your website URL comes immediately below the "Description" section of
your listing. This is done to enable active links.
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Q: Can I add photos?
A: Yes, you can add up to five photos. Most common formats are
acceptable (gif, jpeg, jpg, png ). File sizes are also restricted. If it rejects
your photo, you will need to reduce the resolution or size. The photos show as
thumbnails and can be clicked on by the viewer, enabling the viewer to see a
larger version. You are also able to place a short title for the photo. This
title shows in the thumbnail view of featured ads.
If you are having problems adding photos here are some solutions:
- 99% of the time problems with loading photos is caused by using photos
that are too large -- too large both in dimensions and in resolution. The
system makes a thumbnail of your photo, which readers can double click to
see at full size. The full size photo should not be larger than 3 inches x 3
inches (10 cm x 10 cm) on your screen.
- If your camera is a newer high resolution camera your photos are likely
too high resolution. You need to lower the resolution and downsize the size
of the photo. It can also help to change the photo from a jpg to a gif.
Changing the file to a gif loses some of the color clarity, but it will
still be adequate for online. Change your resolution to
640x480 or lower.
- Try loading one photo at a time. If you try to upload more than one
photo at a time, your computer may timeout before the upload is complete.
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Q: How do readers contact me?
A: The Resource Directory enables direct email contact and access to
your website, when you properly complete these fields when placing your listing.
The success of internet advertising increases substantially when you can acquire
some information about the people who are interested in your products or
services. Therefore, it is far better to encourage them to email you, than it is
to get them to visit your website. While it is great to get them to visit your
website, it still allows them to remain anonymous. Nevertheless, consumers like
to exercise control over their choices and they often do not want to provide
their contact information until they are really ready. Therefore, assuming
eliminating your website URL in an attempt to get them to email you is usually
counterproductive.
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Q: How do I get started?
A: Click on "Ad Listing". It may or may not require you to confirm
your email address to set-up your account. If it does ask for email
confirmation, you will be emailed a link to your email address. You will need to
go to your email to activate the email confirmation before you can "Register"
for an account. Once you have confirmed your email address, you will be asked to
"Register" and upon completion the system will walk you through step-by-step.
NOTE: Do not be concerned if you are not asked to confirm your email address
before you "Register". Once you "Register" you will be taken through the
process of placing the listing.
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Q: How do I add more credits after I place my
listing?
A: You can login to your account anytime to change your listing
or to add credits. You can find the link to login to "My Account" by clicking on
the link to the right of the "Resource Directory" "search bar" (just above the
"Advertiser's Help").
Once you have logged in you can see your listings. You will also see
links to "My Listings" "Add Listing" "Profile" "Payment" "Favorites" "Buy
Credits" "Reports" and "Logout"
You will also see the following Key: To modify listing
click on listing link below.
Actions: [R] - Renew/Upgrade, [C] -
Copy/Duplicate, [P] - Preview, [D] - Delete, [B] - Bid/Details, [E] -
Enable/Disable
Note: there is a tick box beside this list BE CAREFUL - it is
possible to accidentally "Delete" or "Disable" your ads here.
Below the key you will a brief outline of the status of your ads. In this
list the "[B]" leads to the page where you can adjust your bid rates. The "[R]"
leads you to the "Buy Credits" page.
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Most other questions will answer themselves as you go through the process
of placing your listing.
New questions, corrections, omissions, comments - please
contact us
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