I am so excited about creating NEW policies for turning the rating sites into a social media tool. I want to thank Mike Whaling again for his valuable advice and input into this discussion. Join me as a fan at http://www.facebook.com/30lines?ref=nf&;v=box_3

I am building plans with several firms to seriously attack these sites with positive messages and tons of great diplomacy. We need to be PRESENT EVERYWHERE!!!!!! I just set up TotallyToni.com as a new business on Rateitall.com, Yelp.com, Yahoo local, supermedia.com, mycitysearch.com and google neighborhoods. I established my business and my profile, gave myself a five star review, listed myself as the "World Greatest Apartment Trainer" and added meta tags!!! All for FREE!!!! Feel free to go give me another FIVE STARS!!!!! : ) LOVE IT!!!

I also just added more stuff to the discussion on my Fan page - that file has TONS of stuff!!
Blogs should be short, but my ideas are LONG!!! I posted the FULL CONTENT there so you can read what you are interested in.
ENJOY!!!

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=13699&;post=161282&uid=105901953703#post161282

Hello Eric - nice to hear from you!!! We have missed our phone calls!! I would appreciate you looking at the discussion page prior to commenting with "sounds as though you are gaming the system" - which is totally not the plan. Because blogs are meant to be short and the conversation on my fan page and friend page was so long, I posted it all and linked it to FB. I am in NO WAY suggesting anyone break the TOS or misrepresent themselves. Just the opposite!!! The power in this is created by showing up in the space AS THE OWNER/Representative and sharing strong diplomatic copy along with positive lifestyle messages in a calm environment when the negative has been properly resolved. This space is linked to GOOGLE and is FOUND my millions of Americans. I am talking about a clever plan to turn this space to our advantage and aggressively show up and be seen as - watching, responsive and positive!! Manager have put their heads in the sand, posted as a fake resident and it's time to come out of the closet, pay the silly fee and use the space to our advantage!!!!!! Are you feeling me???????

heehehehehehe

Toni

Well - sorry Eric for the misunderstanding! I sure hope listing my business results in more than "backfire". But I see things from the sunny side! Listing my business in a positive light didn't really feel like "gaming the system". However, opinions abound on-line and just putting yourself out there is a risk - but one I am willing to take.

Just like each time I blog and find your positive, supportive, happy thoughts posted in the comments!!! : )

Toni Blake
World Greatest Apartment Trainer ( as seen on Ratingitall.com) : )

These sites are really not for online business, I went on them to experience setting up a new business. I wanted to see first hand how to work the systems.

I want to be clear that it is NOT OK to promote yourself or misrepresent on these platforms. The only real benefit comes from the "authentic voice of the consumer". I was being funny, but getting great REAL reviews is a serious goal. I was in on the Yelp seminar put on by Apartment Finder and was able to hear from the creator of the service. He was asked about posting your own reviews or asking for reviews and I loved his answer. He said you should INSPIRE good reviews!

I am having a family crisis today and feeling pretty sad, but I wanted to share with my friends the importance of the inspiring your residents "authentic voice" in these online spaces. I wanted to be CLEAR and make sure no one felt like I miss directed them. Nothing is more powerful than the truth! When I get time - I am going to remove my "funny" attempt to show up in these spaces and work hard to INSPIRE YOU to share your voice about my business. Have a great day -

Toni
PS If you are a praying person - my family could us them. It looks like my niece is going to be medically released tomorrow and we are praying for the next steps to her healing! Thanks