home business like food suppliers where women start do not get much.. atleast in the beginning. i am talking about such businesses.

section means.. a classifieds section (i dont know what you call here.. may be forum??) in this Canadian Desi Discussion Board where people post information about their services.

instead of cluttering (sorry.. no offence meant) whole posting area with their ads, they can post their informaticals in that area.. like mouth-publicity.

ofcourse, these are my views.

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I am not Bossy! I just have better ideas!!

hallo. Sorry about the post, and thank you to everyone who replied. I just came back here today and am seeing all this. I didn't know we couldn't post in general topics like this - after writing and submitting the post I found the classifieds section and put an ad there.

Thing is... first I should thank Canadian Desi, I got three calls for my business from here... but the thing is, none of them came from the classifieds, they all read my post and called. No one really looks at the classified section it seems. It's been a month since it was up there.

About buying banner space, ok I am willing to, but suryau is right, when u r starting out and esp. as a woman-operated biz, where do we find the hundreds of dollars to buy a bright bulging banner ad? Something like $20 is fine, but if that is a monthly expense not everyone can afford it, plus those type of small banners don't even stand out. And one has to have a website inorder to link to the banner - I'm not a programmer, where do I get a website from?

It's easy for guys to say "pay money to make money", because you have extensive networks, you can go out of the house and associate with a hundred other guys and get instant access to potential customers, it is easier for you to get around and get the word out; for women, we need to "get money inorder to pay money to make money", and you can't do that if you are mostly house-bound or don't know driving or roads, etc. Plus, male-run businesses are taken more seriously - a classified ad for retailing calling cards posted by a guy will generate more serious responses than the same business advertised by a female. Anyway, I'm not complaining on gender issues.

If you had a section where business operators could post a lot more than just an ad - something interactive - like this forum - where even before calling, the potential customer has been given some idea of the service standards or quality of that business, the negotiation room, what he/she can expect before even picking up the phone, and where businesses could improve themselves just by reading people's comments, seeing what current needs are even if they are not potential customers, etc.. Now THAT sort of section would be much more helpful - to everyone I think. Add a small reasonable price tag to that type of service, and I would definitely pay for it, and I'm sure a lot of other desan aunties would too who are putting up ads in the classifieds and not getting any reponses because readers can't make out who's genuine and who's not. Plus, have a feedback or review area for that business with customer comments whether that service was worth spending money on or not - that would be something a lot of businesses would pay for, because a good customer rating gets us more work. I would definitely want my customers to come to CD and post a review, and to have that facility I would pay (a bit) more. That way, people who are posting on classifieds all kinds of things from free calling cards to scams, can be weeded out and us serious business owners can compete with each other more efficiently, and customers reading our posts won't be wasting their time.

I think I have rambled on enuf. If you would like to delete the posting above, pls. go ahead, but I hope your site administrator keeps a few of my comments in mind for future site renovations. Regards.

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i am back

I was away when this was posted so didn't notice it.

BeautySalon, your comments are duly noted, however it is policy not to allow advertising on discussion forums. I deleted someone else's post in similar fashion the other day and I have done the same thing for yours. Your suggestion about having a small-fee marketing section rather than plain-jane classifieds is definately worth considering and we'll look into it.

In the meantime, let me suggest a better way. How about you mention your business in your signature and contribute to this forum with your expertise, maybe some beauty tips for potential clients? This way people will actually benefit from your services and you'll get a lot more exposure than the classifieds.

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Are you there?

How about a 'beauty' section (or whatever name you can suggest) so we can have more women contributors/members on the board too? This does not have to be commercial but rather like BL mentioned a voluntary service that you can provide, Beautysalon (and anyone else). It would work just like the immigration/real estate section. That way you provide a free service(online tips) for cdesis(female/male . You get whatever customers based on the credibility you create for yourself and the cdesi community grows and attracts new members too. Everyone wins.

If cdesis dont think that this site needs such a section, I would think that you can start such a forum for all the desi women out in Toronto/canada. I'm guessing it would do quite well. I'd be willing to give you tech advice and even jump start a basic forum Free of charge. Hopefully you will not need my help after we start the forum and you will be able to run it on your own. Note: this is ONLY if cdesi's do not see the need for such a section here.

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Recommended Services- Servicedomino.com
http://www.servicedomino.com

I can give advice etc on a section created here itself, how about something called "Women's Forum"? As for maintaining a website/forum by myself, I truly appreciate the offer to create one, but I don't have that much time to devote to something singlehandedly, and I don't like to leave things done half-way. Something that others can also contribute to on CDes iitself would be better. Regards.

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i am back