If you own a restaurant or cafe, chances are you probably dislike review websites, even if you achieve great results. Unfortunately it’s mostly because the reviews that stand out aren’t necessarily the glowing referrals praising your every dish and move, but more likely the 1 star complainers who didn’t like the person sitting next to them and decided to slam your store for letting said person in. The Internet has provided a playground for the “masses are assess” mentality where people who are completely unqualified, have been given the power to voice their lack of qualification for others to hear. Still, that’s not to say that all reviews are useless rants of drivel, in fact some can really offer excellent tips that may actually help your business.

Remember the days when people would offer you feedback by coming to your counter and suggesting that your coffee was excellent but the mugs were awkward to use? Well people don’t seem to do that anymore in fact, they are far more likely to go to Yelp and write it out for everyone to see, which is why you need to be looking there as well. Now, I’m not actually suggesting that you listen to all the reviews (in fact I’d probably consider maybe 1%, if that) but in doing so, you may get a sense of what your customers a saying. Maybe you’ll pick up on a trend. If everyone is complaining about the same thing, you may well have an issue to address. That’s why you should be trawling.

So where to go and what to do. Here are some tips:

Yelp – Probably one of the more popular review websites. Many suggest that recent changes are impacting their numbers and there are stats to support it but it still has a huge user base and you should find a number of useful reviews of your place (hopefully).
Chowhound – one of the better review websites. While they have a smaller user base, they tend to be more knowledgeable than other sites.
GAYOT (pronounced guy-OH) – I find the website to be pretty awkward to get around and the ads are a bit much but they have a decent amount of reviews that you may need to check out.
CitySearch – this one always surprises me mostly out of the fact that people actually use it. Generally not a great deal of insight but they do have numbers.
TripAdvisor – a slick site with a huge volume of reviewers. Less about locals and more about travelers.
Urban Spoon – this fairly new player seems to have really benefited from having one of the more interesting iPhone apps and continues to be highly mobile.

Other notables include www.opentable.com, www.menupages.com, www.menuism.com, www.boorah.com, www.frommers.com

Quickly becoming essential tools that help to monitor chatter online is twitter which allows you to add the name of your restaurant as a search and then check regularly to see if people are talking about you. Google Alerts can also provide some info mostly when someone posts a blog about you.
And finally, the latest trends are pointing towards foursquare and gowalla as being new players in this space.

Even if you’re not using Social Media as part of your marketing mix, you really should be paying attention to it as quite often, potential visitors may be swayed by these reviewers, like it or not.

I noticed that Google Maps had an additional feature at the start of the month that I simply shrugged off as an April Fools gag but several days later and it’s still there. The 3D Goggles view shows an icon indicating a figure with and without glasses.

Clicking on the icon gives you the typical blurry appearance with blue/red shadows. Certainly without the 3D glasses, the image looks pretty bad and I haven’t had a pair of 3D glasses to check the view but I can’t really see massive use for this feature and continue to treat it as an extended April Fools gag.

No 3D Goggles

With 3D Googles View Selected

I’ve certainly heard of walking tours of museums and cities but haven’t really seen an insider tips version in the form of an audio file. It’s most certainly overdue and Your Friend in Philadelphia does a good job to provide some additional sources that guides and websites don’t really tell you.

I like it and at about the price of a guide book, is a worthy investment.

I just came across an email suggesting that I need to click on a link to renew my adwords account. So I click on the link that says:
“Renew Now your Google Search Advertising services.”
It takes you to what appears to be the adwords login page but I notice the URL is for an unrecognized URL http://words-scr.com/sellect/source/Login.htm.

Quite obviously a very slick scam aiming to catch your login info for Adwords. My recommendation is that you DO NOT login. Instead go and blog about it so that folks don’t get caught up in it.

This fall, save some green (while everything else turns red, orange and brown) with Transit Systems’ moving tips.

To most people moving is an exhausting and expensive undertaking and that exhaustion and cost only increase with distance. But Transit Systems, an expert in moving and shipping services, has developed some tips for those long-distance moves. These tips, when properly employed, could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The following have been compiled through years of industry experience and customer feedback. Transit Systems proudly presents the Top Five Money-Saving Tips for Long-distance Moving:

Tip #1: Pay only for the space that is used. Moving companies typically dedicate a full truck to the move regardless of the space utilized. Consider a freight company that provides household goods transport. Each individual household load is sealed in its own section of the truck behind a locked divider. You will have to hire a separate moving crew, but even with this additional labor cost added in, the savings can be significant.

Tip #2: Take the DIY approach to loading and unloading. Although many moving companies do not allow customers to load and unload, contact the company and find out. Selecting a freight carrier (over a moving company) and using family and friends to load and unload can cut the total moving costs in half. If you cannot find a company that allows this, see Tip #1 above.

Tip #3: Pay for insurance. Yes, strictly speaking, insurance is an expense. But it is pennywise and pound foolish to move without it. Some degree of damage is practically inevitable during a long-distance move. Unless you are a furniture restoration professional, insurance will save you in the long run.

Tip #4: Do your own packing. Or at least the majority of it. Packing takes time, and time costs money. If you are willing to spend time upfront, your total moving costs will decrease.

Tip#5: Ponder, plan and prepare. A well thought-out move will create all sorts of savings, especially cost. Consider specifically what items should be professionally moved and what items are better off selling, giving away to friends or charity or simply discard. Create a detailed, written inventory and sort accordingly. This will prevent you from paying to move unwanted items unnecessarily.

Whether planning a move across the country, city or around the corner Transit Systems tips offer money-saving concepts to reduce common frustrations and moving anxiety. Removing some unnecessary costs from the equation will not only make your long-distance move more cost-effective, it will make your move more enjoyable.

About Transit Systems Inc.
Transit Systems Inc. is a nationwide provider of moving and shipping services to consumers and small businesses. They are available on the web at http://www.transitsystems.com. In business for over 19 years, TSI is licensed by the Department of Transportation and is approved by UPS and Mail Boxes Etc. for their centers to use.

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Keywords: Moving, Movers Small Moves, Moving Services, Long-Distance Moving, Freight Shipping, Moving Furniture, Shipping Furniture, Shipping Services

I keep getting this spam message. Mostly from different people and sometimes with different messages but it’s all about the damn pillows.

“From: janellesmom@embarqmail.com
Subject: Contact
Sent: 03/18/2008 at 08:36 AM from 71.0.98.4

Name: Vera Reed
Title:
Company:
Address 1: 498 RT 23
Address 2:
City: Franklin
State: NJ
Zip Code: 07416
Province:
Country: USA
Phone:
Fax:
Comments: I stayed at a Hotel that used your pillows and loved them. Can the consumer buy them? It was a polyester “New Generation” pillow. Thanks Vera

There doesn’t seem to be any benefit to the spam message. I’ll have to do some further digging I think.

This is a pretty cool little video clip from a very remote island off the Northern Territory.

I’m pretty sure I can place all the references in the video. Very clever stuff from Dan Meth et al.

Just as long as they help South Africa and Iraq and Asia and such….