dLook Update

Nearly half way through the year and what an amazing journey it’s already been.

Can’t help but wonder if, like us at dLook, you are wondering where the year has gone.

There have been numerous changes to dLook this year including change of management, revamp of website, relaunch of reviews, the redesign of our dLook blog, Aus Advertising and the GM’s blog. We’ve called it ‘Year of the RE’.

Then there’s the Panda algorithm rippling through the Google landscape … causing a fairly significant upheaval of search results – this will continue to impact businesses over the coming months. We also believe the next Pagerank update is underway so keep a look out for updated PR on your site and ours.

dLook has a number of exciting development projects underway – you can expect to hear more in the next few weeks about our iPhone app, our new directory services and enhanced features to improve page performance and results in Google.

Well that’s it for now. As more news comes to hand we’ll keep you posted!

dLook has moved back in!

The dLook news post is back online, with a new look and feel and will be updated over the coming weeks and months.

As we make upgrades to our site, add new videos and tutorials and create a FAQ page we will start promoting via this page.

Just added an old add to our Contact Us page which is a dLook ad done up quite some time ago … but hey it’s worth appreciating the past.

A few bits and pieces, our business and our site has recently undergone significant change both in management and within the online environment.

Google released a Panda algorithm in February which re-ranked sites on Google search, this has significantly changed results and has undergone a number of tweaks and will continue to do so. Good link if you want to get a cursory understanding is Matt Cutts (Head of Google Webspam) on You Tube.

dLook has responded in a number of ways and is already seeing improvements in its search engine rank for unique premium listings.

You can keep updated by subscribing to our RSS feed (www.dlook.wordpress.com/feed) and receiving updates direct to your email.

dLook News has moved!!

Just a quick note to let you know that this blog has moved.

It now has a fresh new design at dLook Discount Coupons.

The new feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/dLook.

August Edition dLook Discount Coupons

Please note the current list of coupons can now be found at dLook Coupons.

Welcome to the August edition of our dLook Coupons. In this issue we are proud to offer you over 120 fantastic offers from some of our Premium businesses across Australia. There are 100′s of thousands of dollars to be saved in this issue and we hope there are at least a couple of offers which will allow you to share in the savings.

If you have a business and would like to make an offer to the many thousands of Australian’s who receive our monthly specials please let us know. We are always on the lookout for great offers for our subscribers.

This month we have offers on dental work, leather coats, free restaurant meals, website development, real estate listings, massage, cosmetic tattooing, aerial advertising, jewellery, skincare products and much much more. Just click on a heading of interest and you can see the full details of that offer.

Computers & IT

FREE Webpage For Your Business National

FREE Real Estate Listings National

Cartridge Depot. Free Offer National

PrintSmart. FREE Cartridge Offer National

FREE Business Health Check National

10% OFF Phone Memory Cards Sydney

HGWS. 50% Discount on Website Hosting National

$2,497 for GOOGLE Front Page National

INTEL Hardware Package from $899 National

Payroll Software National

6 Months FREE Hosting National

Put the POWER of radio on your website National

The Podcast Network. 25% Off National

Discounted Phone Rates National

Employment and Training

Australian Recruiting. $100 Retail Gift Certificate Victoria

FREE Silkroad Business Consultation National

Self Employment Opportunities

FREE Tickets To “Think & Grow Rich” Seminar $1,990 in value National

Franchises For SaleNational

Over $10 MILLION paid to members National

Dynamic Home Based Business National

Marketing Express National

Fine Dining

Indulgence. FREE Meal Offer Parramatta

Deep Blue Bistro. FREE Meal Offer Sydney

Adelaide Bowling Club. Complimentary Wine Adelaide

Comfortfood. Special Home Delivery Sydney

Lagoon $150 Wedding Voucher Wollongong

Tetsuya’s Restaurant Sydney

Entertainment

The Piano Man National

Free Online Guitar Lessons National

Select TV. 22 Channels, $29.95 per month. National

Health and Fitness

Herbalife. Free Protein Powder National

Herbalife. Free Postage National

No More Vitamin Pills. Free Samples National

The Condom Shop. 10 Free Condoms. National

Hair and Beauty

FREE Results Honey Face Cream National

Scamps Hair and Beauty. 20% off Hairdressing. Adelaide

Cosmetic Creations. $50 Discount. Sydney

Massage Sydney

Skin Care Special National

Scamps Hair Studio. 20% off Hairdressing. Adelaide

50% off Electric Nail Drill National

The Stylish Gift Sydney

Beer Wine and Spirits

Figtree Cellars Wollongong

Abbey Rock Wines National

Angas Plains Wines National

Counselling

Secrets for Emotional Peace. Free VIP Pass Gold Coast

Bridges Relationship Counselling Sydney

Donna Riseley Psychologist Adelaide

Automotive

Lube Mobile. $30 Discount National

City Auto Clean 10% Discount Brisbane

Auto Electrical Sydney

Wayne Gardner Enterprises National

Porche, Benz, BMW Hire Sydney

Xtreme Couriers Victoria

$50 OFF Major Service Sydney

FREE Security CD National

10% Discount Auto Electrics Sydney

Home Loans

X-ink. FREE Loan Tools National

Accord. FREE Professional Newsletter National

Fox Symes. FREE Debt Analysis National

$100 CASH BACK QLD

Find a Loan National

Rapid Finance. Holiday Voucher with every loan National

Blackberry Finance. Fee FREE Home Loans National

Tax and Accounting

10% Discount on Accounting Mittagong

Busy Bookkeeping. FREE Tips Liverpool

FREE Bookkeeping Software Penrith

Quantity Surveyors National

Advertising and Promotion

Printsmart Displays. $150 Discount National

Destinations R Us. Holiday Promotions. National

Free Executive Portraits QLD

My SMART Phonewords. National

Claytons Australia. Bag Special National

Airborne Advertising. 10% Off Skywriting National

Adwords Coaching. 10% Discount National

Special Occasions

Designer Fashion Lables Victoria

5% OFF Gift Baskets National

FREE Mystery Gift Bathurst

FREE VIP Membership National

Flowers all Hours. FREE Upgrade. National

All Flowers of Blaxland. FREE Chocolates National

Dirty Weekend Shop. 10% Discount National

Aangela’s Florist. FREE Helium Balloon. National

15% Discount on Essential Oils National

Limousines Direct National

All Suburbs Catering. Win FREE Movie Passes N.S.W.

Wholesale Sliver Jewellery National

Garlands Florist Super Specials Sydney

Stretch Limo N.S.W.

Accommodation

BUDGET Country Getaway Victoria

Wowan Van Park. Stay 2 Nights and get a 3^rd night FREE QLD

Tiaro Bed & Breakfast. PETS Welcome QLD

Ripples on the Creek. 3 nights for the price of 2. N.S.W.

Building and Trades

2.5% Discount on Insulation Installation Sydney

Free Design Consult Wollongong

Discount Plumbing Sydney

Tippers Australia. 5% Discount Victoria

Real Estate Tips National

10% Discount on Electrical Work Echuca

Pest Control Pensioner Discount S/W Sydney

Mr Carports National

Bunnings National

10% Discount Mowing/Cleaning Wodonga

Cavalier Relocations Sydney

First Choice Removals Gold Coast

FREE offer on Carpet Cleaning Sydney

$450 Building/Pest Report N.S.W.

$10 OFF Skip Bins Sydney

Mr Pesty Pest Control Sydney

Painting & Decorating Sydney

Security Systems National

Locksmith Sydney

Removalist. $50 Discount Sydney

Leaf Stopper. Gutter Protection National

Shop, Home & Car Cleaners Wangaratta

Food Processing Plant Cleaners Sydney

Save $$$ on Lights National

FREE Stain Spotting Kit Western Sydney

$3000 Holiday With Every Move Sydney

Office Furniture & Supplies

G. O. M. FREE Service on 2nd Machine Sydney

Seats 4 Your Business National

FREE Starter Pack With Any Machine W.A.

FREE 50 Page Colour Catalogue N.S.W.

Cleaning Supplies National

Ricca Coffee Company National

Crystal Trophies & Gifts National

Corporate Gifts National

ICU Video Security National

Office Systems National

Dating

Ideal Couple. One Month Free Service. National

dLook Dating. $1 for your first month National

Other

Fantastic DENTAL Offer Melbourne

10% OFF Framing Sydney

Busy Thimbles. 10% off Craft Supplies National

FREE Credit Newsletter National

20% Discount on Leather National

13% OFF SOLAR Products National

Handmade Wool Slippers National

Wholesale Sliver Jewellery National

How to Complete Your Extra Information Page

So you’ve signed up for a listing on dLook business directory and received an email containing your user id and password. The following steps will walk you through the procedure of completing your “extra information” page.

1. Go to the dLook home page, and select “Login” from the top menu bar.

2. On the login page you will see a yellow box that says “dLook Business Login – existing businesses click here to login to dLook Administration” – click on this link.

3. Enter your user id (including the dash) in the user id field, and then the password in the password field. Press the pink login button.

4. This will take you to the Administration Console main page and you will now see an Administration sub-menu under the main menu bar. Selecting “My dLook” will take you to the Admin Console main page at any time. “My Quotes” will allow you to view the quotes you have received. My Coupons will allow you to load a coupon (for Premium Business Listings, this will be mailed out monthly to our coupon database).

5. Select “My Details”. Firstly you will see a section entitled “Update Business Logo”. Here you can upload a logo image that is stored on your computer. The maximum size for your logo is 216 pixels wide by 96 pixels high.

Select the browse button and this will open up a window that will let you locate the image. Select the image you want in this window (i.e. click on it to select) and then click the “open” button. It is very important that you press the Save My Logo button before you move to the next section. Your logo will appear in the viewing window to the right of the “browse” button.

6. The “Update Business Details” section contains all the information that will appear on your “extra information” page. More than likely, the top fields will be complete from when you added your listing, but it is important to check that all the information is complete and accurate.

7. Next you will see a section entitled “Business Description”. This area is where you add all the text about your business. DON’T BE LAZY! Here’s your opportunity to make a lasting first impression! You will also notice that you can do some basic formatting on the text in this area, such as bold, italics, underline, bullet points and numbered list (if you hold your mouse over these icons there is a brief description of each function).

8. The next fields allow you to enter your trading hours, certifications (any qualifications or licences that you or your business holds), the products you sell, the services you provide and the types of payments you accept.

9. It is extremely IMPORTANT that when you have completed the details you press “Save My Business Details”. You will see a message under your business description saying “* This description will be reviewed before it is publicly viewable“. This will generally happen very quickly but may take longer overnight or on weekends.

10. For premium business listings, the last section to fill in is the business “Category & Keyword Details”. More than likely you will have selected your category / categories during the sign up process, but you can make any changes here. Select the link and make any changes. Please note that any changes to keywords will go in to a queue to be reviewed, and will seem to “disappear”. This is perfectly normal, and when the keywords are approved they will re-appear.

Links to Popular Australian Resources

A home page feature on dLook which is becoming a real favourite are our links to popular Australian resources.

These are listed towards the bottom of the dLook home page just under the top 40 search list. There are 12 buttons representing fast links to popular categories which are mostly public services.

Postcodes
Weather
Street Maps
Blog Guide
Dictionary
Employment
Funeral Notices
Government
After Hours Medical
Latest News
Trains & Buses
Airports

Feedback from dLook users tells us that the convenience of these quick links is a real winner.

dLook Interview with John Stanley

Our first foray into the public relations arena was a year ago when Sydney radio personality Alan Jones interviewed Theo on air on radio 2GB. Then came an interview with the podcaster of podcasters, Cameron Reilly of The Podcast Network.

Last week we received a phone call from the top rating Sydney radio show on 2UE hosted by John Stanley. He had read our news release about the new local business reviews feature recently added to dLook (powered by Rave About It) and had immediately taken an interest.

Meg was volunteered to do the interview, and you can listen to it by clicking on the banner below.

dLook Introduces Local Business Reviews

UPDATE: 2011 – dLook have relaunched our reviews platform and now utilise our own legacy reviews database to ensure integrity and validity.

dLook®, has today announced the facility to rate and review every business listed on its directory, the first of the major Australian business directories to do so.

So as to bring users the most sophisticated and up to date rating system available, dLook chose a dynamic Australian internet start-up Rave About It to power the business reviews. Rave About It was developed by exceptionally talented software engineers and, like dLook, is 100% Australian owned and operated.

Local reviews are extremely popular in the United States, with websites such as Yelp, Judy’s Book, Insider Pages and Yellow Pages (US).

It made good sense to introduce this reviewing model to Australian businesses on a large scale – and with over 1.3 million businesses listed on the directory, we’ve certainly done that.

This announcement comes on the heels of recent additions to the directory – the inclusion of maps (provided by TerraPages, another Australian startup), more information pages for every listing, and dLook’s mobile search platform – dLook.mobi.

Coupled with existing features:-

• “QuoteMe!” quoting system (this is very popular) where a customer can select up to 10 businesses at a time to request a quote for a product or service,
• Discount coupons which are included in a monthly email
• Monthly payment option ($59.50) which can be cancelled by giving 30 days notice (annual fee is $599)
• Premium listings can have four categories, keywords, and national coverage (if applicable)
• Search which allows users to refine their search by kilometre radius from a postcode, 2, 5, 10km….. up to the whole nation.
• Smart keyword search that means if you search for “restrnt”, “plummer” or “doktor” you’ll get a result (new variations are continually added)
• Advertiser interface (via login) so they can manage their own listings, quote requests and coupons

…. makes dLook an extremely comprehensive business directory.

If you’ve got something to say about your favourite (or not so favourite) business, please visit dLook and leave a review.

New Banner for dlook.mobi

News Roundup for dLook

Our new national TV campaign is now in its second week and already proving a HUGE success. Utilising the extensive WIN TV regional network our ads are being seen by over 5 million Australians every day and the response has been overwhelming. We intend to extend our campaign to include Capital cities soon. Meanwhile, listen out for our live reads on Vega 93.5 FM (in Sydney). Most of them are pretty straight laced but the on air guys get a bit crazy with some reads.

The “More Info” page has also proven to be very popular both with users and advertisers alike. Premium businesses get to add a lot of extra text, products and services, opening hours, payment types, certifications, photos and a dLook coupon which they may then opt to have distributed, via our monthly coupon mail out, to over 50,000 Australian recipients.

dLook has also released a complete national mapping service provided by Australian location based services company, TerraPages Pty Ltd to deliver rich, user friendly maps to the dLook website.

Have you added detail to your more information page yet? It’s simple. Premium businesses should log in, and free listings can “update their business listing“, or “add a listing“.

Not being the type of website to let technology pass us by, dLook has also launched a mobile search function – dLook.mobi. This means that the whole dLook directory is now available on WAP enabled mobile phones in an easy to access mobile form.

This feature was also developed by those fantastic guys at Alliance Software in Melbourne who literally eat complicated IT solutions for breakfast. We have managed to keep dLook an all Australian product and although overseas firms offer much cheaper rates, we believe that our home grown IT resources are better, more innovative and totally in touch with Australian internet users.

Watch this space Ladies and Gentlemen, the best is yet to come.