Check out this video from Miami.com to find out what they are all about. Yea, the video is a little cheesy…but just roll with it.

For local businesses:

Miami.com is a great resource for South Florida businesses, especially those in the entertainment, restaurant, and tourism industries. The site does offer advertising space for businesses, but they also write articles on varying nightlife and entertainment topics. These articles and reviews are independent of advertising. The About Us/Contact Us page of Miami.com states:

Our reviews and stories are not paid for by advertisers – our pages spotlight the best of South Florida, handpicked by our editors and users.

As an example, Miami.com currently has an article with information and reviews about local bars that offer the best (and largest) selection of beers. Now thats my kind of topic. Getting reviewed on Miami.com is a great source of free publicity for these businesses. Once a business has been added by the staff or a Miami.com user, the business can see what other users think of their location, product, or service by reading user comments and additional reviews. Check out the screenshot below of the Miami.com page for The Bar in Coral Gables, Florida. (click to enlarge)

So what are people saying about your business?

Here is a screen capture of CityVoter’s Miami landing page. Note: I was directed to the Miami guide page when I entered the cityvoter.com URL, since my IP address is in Miami Beach: (click to enlarge)

Local businesses can also create their own profile for free. Businesses can include all their locations, business hours, special promotions, etc. City Voter encourages businesses and consumers to upload pictures of business storefronts, products, interiors, etc. The site also makes excellent use of Google maps to show the location of a business or set of businesses. The following is a screen capture for the search “night life” in Miami beach. (click to enlarge)

In addition to adding basic business information. A business’s profile contains a map on the right side of the page displaying all of their locations. Beneath the map, you’ll find a list of all the locations, including address, phone number, and hours of operation. Below the business description, users will see what contests the business is currently competing in and any contests they have won. Just below that you will find user comments about the business. Finally, on the right side of the page below the location information, you will see a highlighted contests section, “people who think we’re cool” section, and a “recent votes for…” section. To give you a better idea of what a business profile looks like, I have included a screen capture of Boca Grande’s profile. I have eaten at Boca Grande many times while I was living in Boston and I can tell you they have awesome burritos.

City Voter currently covers the following cities (and surrounding areas): Boston, Washington D.C., Austin, Portland, Seattle, Miami, Raleigh-Durham, and Chicago. Businesses and franchises with locations in these cities can benefit from having a presence on City Voter. Some benefits include:

• General exposure for your business or franchise through your profile.
• City Voter users are opinion leaders. They are eager to interact with businesses and other people to share their opinions of and interactions with local businesses. This presents a great opportunity for businesses to get real-time consumer opinions about their business as a whole, specific product/service offerings, promotions, etc.
• City Voter also gives local businesses the ability to see what users are saying about their competitors.
• Lastly, City Voter provides a platform for local businesses to interact with individual customers. This aspect of the site allows small businesses and franchises to find out what they’re doing right or wrong, how to improve customer service, and what consumers would like to see in the future. Since City Voter (and similar sites) users are very vocal consumers; demonstrating your business’s focus on customer service and satisfaction to these users will go a long way in generating positive world of mouth in your community.

Are you a City Voter? If so, leave a comment telling us what you think of the site.