Welcome to the Wiki, business owner! Because you're part of the Santa Cruz community, we'd love to have you become a part of the wiki community. Here's a brief introduction that might help get you started on the right track. You also might want to read the general welcome.
A few things to keep in mind:
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Please read the page on the Importance of using your Real Name. You should not edit under your business name, or a fake name. Using your real name adds credibility to your edits and your business.
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It makes good business sense to use the wiki to engage your customers in a productive dialog that will demonstrate your customer service to everyone who reads the page about your business.
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You can add plenty of useful content to your business' page, but it is edited by the entire wiki community. That includes, but is not limited to, you.
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People will probably leave negative reviews. Don't worry too much about this; look at the pages for other businesses to see that you're not alone. Take a deep breath— customers sometimes forget that business owners have feelings, so they write things that are much harsher than they would be willing to say in person. If you want to get fancy, you can include the following code right before the [[Comments]] macro: [[Include(AboutReviews)]] It'll look like this:
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The following reviews were contributed by people like you. You, too, can share your experience by adding a review.Please be fair and truthful! |
The wiki is a great place to explain policies that customers may not be familiar with. For example, the restaurant guide and tipping pages illustrate a few policies from an industry standpoint. Businesses that take the opportunity to respond constructively to comments can clear up misconceptions about standard business practices. Doing so can educate not only those who left the negative comments, but all who subsequently read the page.
Both you and your customers have important things to say, so don't remove their comments. The wiki isn't anti-business, but we are pro-consumer and need your input to help us achieve a good balance. Also, all edits remain in the page history, so simply removing them will appear to even a casual observer as an attempt to cover up problems. Try addressing the problem directly - it looks good when you leave a (friendly) reply explaining or offering to resolve any problems that patrons have noted on your page
With all that said, please use the wiki! The traffic generated by the wiki makes it an ideal place to get the word out about what you offer. Do you sell a unique product? Do you offer hard to find services? Let people know! Also, if you need to update prices, contact info, or store hours, doing it on the wiki is a very efficient way to inform customers. Above all else, don't shy away from adding to the content of your page because you feel obligated to first respond to specific user comments. Your role on the wiki is whatever you want it to be, so do whatever you feel best serves your business interests in keeping with the guidelines above.
