SNAP Magazine

SNAP Magazine is a neat local magazine that is in many communities. http://www.snapbarrie.com/. What makes it interesting is they cover lots of local events and activities and then distribute the paper free of charge. It's always fun to see yourself and your friends in the paper and SNAP makes this happen. Here's an excerpt from a featured article on checkthetrades that is in the October issue of the Barrie paper:

Everyone has a story; a story of a renovation project gone wrong, of a contractor who never came back to fix his problems, of a service business that would never return calls. Finding reputable, quality businesses is not always easy and finding the time to do the research to source these businesses can be difficult. It takes time to review a company’s qualifications, to find out what type of insurance they carry and to call and check references. That’s were checkthetrades.com comes in. They are an on-line directory of reputable businesses that is free for consumers to use. Every listed member has met the 10 Point Standards process, which includes a site visit, the verification of references, a review of qualifications and insurance coverage’s and the requirement to sign the company’s Code of Conduct. By signing the Code of Conduct a business is committing to always treat customers in a professional manner, to never misrepresent their products or services and to deal with any concerns promptly.

Using checkthetrades.com is simple and free. You don’t need to sign up or provide any information, just click the Find a Business button to get started. You will find a wide range of business categories. On each businesses web page you can find a full listing of business information and qualifications, photos and a Google location map. Check the Trades slogan is “we check you choose” and it is just that, they check out the businesses and you choose which ones to contact.

I just finished reading the book "Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads". It is a collection of writings by Roy Williams and it is excellent. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in brand development and advertising, both online and off. You can find more about Roy Williams and his "Wizard Academy" at: http://www.wizardofads.com/
Here's a few great concepts from him on writing great ads:
use powerful words
be specific
repetition is key
create echoic lines
cause the listener to imagine themselves taking the action you want

Video's

We are partnering with Andrew Sorlie and Sorlie Arts to offer a video service to our members. We started off with a video of our own, you can watch it from our blog. Andrew was great to work with and made the process very easy for us.

I firmly believe that the good websites of the future will have lots of video on them. You can't beat the spoken word for communicating ideas. We are going to add more video to our site and encourage our members to do the same.

Welcome to my Blog!!

Rob and I started checkthetrades.com back in March 2009. The idea was Rob's, he moved here from England a few years ago and worked in Canada as a contractor. But he wanted to start a new business and was inspired by businesses in the UK that are similiar to checkthetrades. I have lots of business experience and love helping businesses grow and succeed. So we jumped in with both feet and launched the business!!

Here's what we do:

We sign up great businesses, with great reputations who want to grow

Every business has to be qualified by our 10 point standards process and sign our Code of Conduct.

Once they meet the standard we create a listing for them.

Consumers can use our site for free and search the members listing. They can get all kinds of great information on the businesses so they can make an informed choice. They can learn about the businesses qualifications, insurance coverage, see references (we follow up to make sure there for real), view pictures and more.

We Check You Choose is our slogan!!