So the Hallmark holiday to celebrate the lady who popped you out and raised you is upon us. While you probably shouldn’t limit ‘thanks mum’ to one day a year here’s a few Mother’s Day gift ideas to make the day memorable.

A Mother’s Day breakfast in bed is a sure fire winner. If you don’t trust your culinary skills though maybe you need to find a good bed and breakfast, she’ll no doubt appreciate the relaxing weekend away.

Flowers and chocolates are clichéd but always work, and in some cases you don’t even have to visit a store to get them delivered.

Picking up a greeting card is the simple, easy and some might argue lazy alternative so something handmade offers a more personal touch, even if it turns our slightly warped.

Others may have a more adventurous mother who is up for a free fall, guerrilla warfare or getting high.

Really though, if you live in a large household, and want to show you care, pamper her with her own luxury Mother’s Day toilet.

We are pleased to announce the launch of truelocal.com.au on the Virgin mobile network.

The biggest advantage of course, is accessing over 1.3 million business listings Australia wide while you’re on the go. But that’s not all, check out these cool benefits too:

* Never get lost again. Get an onscreen map of your location to see where you are and where you want to get to.
* Instant connection. Place a call straight from your mobile with a single click.
* Get details by SMS. You can SMS yourself the result and save it for later.
* AND it’s totally FREE! Gotta love that..

Go to Virgin Vibe on your mobile, on the homepage click on ‘find it’ and then click on the TrueLocal icon.

TrueLocal Mobile
Virgin Mobile - The Vibe

Easter is virtually upon us and while many will brave the crowds at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, forking out for showbags and amusement rides while losing money on Sideshow Alley others will opt for a less intense Easter holiday.

Of course chocolate, of the egg variety, will play a major role over the break. Some places offer a healthy option, which depending on how you feel might totally defeat the purpose. Others promise a warehouse of chocolate egg delights, perfect for the excessive types. But if you’re after the real egg experience it’s probably time to visit the farm.

If stuffing the kids (or yourself) full of chocolate is out of the question perhaps a stuffed rabbit or similar Easter themed toy is a better idea? For those who prefer simplicity a custom made greeting card could be an option.

Still as you’ve got four days off you might want to avoid Easter activities all together. Wrestling anyone?

It’s time to put a dollar value on your opinions, $250 to be exact. Each fortnight until April 18 truelocal is giving away a Visa card with $250 credit on it. Any user who posts a review is eligible to win and if you post a review each fortnight you have the chance to take home all four cards, giving you $1000 to spend. Click on this link for draw dates and competition info.

http://www.truelocal.com.au/cms/competitions

Obviously if you’re lucky enough to win you’ll have plenty to review but if you’re stuck think along the lines of your favourite restaurant, a mechanic who didn’t rip you off or a café which knows your order and your name. An electrician who overcharged, a vet who saved your dog, a cleaner who removes mysterious stains or a gardener with extensive rose knowledge also works. These are just suggestions you deal with businesses everyday so you know who to review.

If you haven’t registered yet, follow the simple steps on the link below.

http://www.truelocal.com.au/login.do

When it comes to choosing between different products and services who are you more likely to trust - a fellow consumer’s opinion based on personal experience or slick advertising spiel promising the world?

Credibility is obviously a concern for any business – large or small – trying to get their message to market. A study by the Deloitte Consumer Product Group found 62% of US internet users read online reviews and 99% of shoppers find them credible. Chances are the same figures can be replicated here in Australia.

http://www.praized.com/blog/word-of-mouth/62-of-us-internet-users-read-online-reviews/

Thanks to user generated content the average consumer/web surfer can be heard and, apparently, trusted. The latest addition to truelocal’s business listing site is ratings and reviews, giving every user the opportunity to become a respected critic.

The new function allows users to rate and also share their experiences, both good and bad, with any business they’ve had recent dealings with. It’s not just a forum to gush about your favourite restaurant, or to vent when the dry cleaner loses your pants. Writing about the memorable experiences is certainly fun but R&R can also be used to document the everyday, even mundane, transactions. You can suggest small changes, comment on customer service, even the business décor. All this information can assist others in deciding which business to use.

No one probably ever really wants to call a plumber, and in an emergency situation do you really have time study their references? The ratings and reviews section is a quick and reliable way to gather all this info – submitted by people in similar situations - before making a decision.

The ratings and reviews benefit isn’t solely for the consumer. Businesses now have an easy way to gauge the customer’s experience with their service. From this perspective you can see which services are resonating with clients, which ones need work, which need to be abandoned and which need to be pushed further to the forefront. This info is easily obtained without a direct link to customers through surveys.

A negative review isn’t the end of the world either. A site with endless positive reviews isn’t really going to cut the mustard credibility wise. If you register as a business owner you are entitled to a right of reply, expressing your version of event or clearing up misunderstandings. All reviews are moderated so nothing defamatory will even make it online.

Negative reviews can actually be helpful. They may point out certain areas where work is needed – no one runs an absolutely perfect business model free from hiccups. At end of the day you can’t stop people talking about their experiences – good or bad. What UGC allows is a greater interaction with this comment.

Hi there and welcome to the new blog from Truelocal.com.au!

Over the coming months, this blog will act as the voice of Australia’s fastest growing business directory. It will be the place where you can find out the latest updates about our site, read articles from our management team and of course leave your comments and feedback.

2007 has been an excitingly busy year for the team at Truelocal.com.au. In February we announced our Google partnership; with truelocal providing data for the local Google offering within Australia. In March we relaunched a new and enhanced site with an emphasis on easier navigation and predictive search functionality. In August we launched maps and directions – allowing users get maps of where they want to go as well as detailed directions.  Our biggest update to the site came in October when we launched Ratings and Reviews.

The launch of Ratings and Reviews marked a new era for our site, allowing users to search, find and transact with a wide range of businesses across Australia that have been recommended by a network of likeminded people. (It’s well known that the best way for people to find a business is via word of mouth.)

In November we also hit over 1 million Unique Browsers – which is a great achievement, so well done to the team and thank you for visiting us.

Of course, here at Truelocal.com.au, we’re never one to rest on our laurels – so here’s to more of the same good stuff in 2008.

Cheers,

Judy Pridmore
General Manager, Operations
truelocal.com.au

Businesses, are you not comfortable with having your email address displayed online? Ashamed of your hotmail account? Fancy a bit more privacy? Sick of spam?

The new email function overcomes these issues. Simply clicking on the email link – a pop over light box – in the business listing or search result page reveals an email popup form. Potential nuisance spammers can’t add your email address to their list and from a user’s perspective they’re given a direct and secure email direction to the service they’re after. A verification code adds the layer of security.

To avoid confusion and misunderstanding between truelocal.com.au staffers and businesses wanting any type of listing we’ve reworked the submission pages. Any business or individual after a listing will now be required submit their reason for choosing our search engine. At the end of the day if truelocal.com.au have some understanding of client expectations we’re going to be able to better service customers. The page facelift looks pretty swish too.

As part of Virgin Mobile’s new broadband product range truelocal.com.au will be powering the local search engine on their site. Check the search box: www.virginbroadband.com.au/myhome/.

Ever have trouble pinning down the route from point A to point B? The latest truelocal.com.au change should help the easily lost or directionally challenged. You don’t even need to be able to read a map.

Forging a link with Google Maps the truelocal.com.au site now gives users the ability to view business locations on a detailed map. The map allows you to see how many, say plumbers, exist in your local suburb and their distance from your leaking pipes.

Possibly more helpful is the directions function. Not only can you plot directions from your house to a business you can plan an evening out hitting various night spots across your city. The directions are highlighted on a map for you as well as simply described for those not into maps. It’s all the more easier if you’re with 3 Mobile, then the directions are in your pocket.

Just click on the maps tab to explore more. http://www.truelocal.com.au/maps.do

If random spelling mistakes and sudden loss of memory hamper your search for the right business the new auto suggest function will improve the search experience.

Based on the user’s search history a drop down, self-populating box will display useful word suggestions and hints. This function will also be guided by common keywords and actual truelocal business listings. Even if you can’t quite remember the business name you shouldn’t have any trouble locating it. Best of all the amount of frustrating ‘no result’ searches should be dramatically decreased, which is a plus for advertisers and users.

As users are more likely to click through on an organic listing rather then pay-per-click advertising we’ve been fine tuning our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Essentially these changes mean a client’s listing will appear further up the search rankings on Google or Yahoo. This in turn means more traffic to priority listings as users tend to avoid clicking on the sponsored listings which appear on the right hand side of a Google search. These changes don’t happen overnight as they need to filter through rather large data centres. Expect to see some notable improvements in about a month.

Ever try and give your listing out on a card and don’t have the space thanks to a long, nonsensical, mostly gibberish, listing address? Rewriting our business name URLs will give each listing and clear and meaningful address.

eg - http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/productive-plumbing/manly

Not only will the new address offer more exposure to outside search engines but you have an address you can actually send clients to, it may even fit on a card. It clearly indicates the business name and suburb.

Still on business names we’ve recently a browse tree to assist crawler bots in navigating our data. While this may conjure images of a Matrix styled robot trawling the depths of the internet it’s actually a methodical program used by search engines to provide up to date data. Unfortunately the truth is usually a lot more mundane.

Business names A - http://www.truelocal.com.au/browseupdated/A