Self-promotion on the BPN
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Self-promotion on the BPN
Yes, but there are certain restrictions.
BPN does not accept advertising because of the requirement that we
not use our newsletters and website for commercial purposes. However,
we do allow 1) responses from BPN subscribers about their own business
in response to a question that appeared in one of our newsletters,
and
2) announcements in some BPN newsletters
about some kinds of businesses such as schools and childcare.
See Postings that promote a business for details.
In both cases where self-promotion is allowed, posters must disclose their
relationship to the business, school, or organization being recommended.
It is OK to recommend yourself, a family member, friend, or colleague
if someone asks for
referrals for the service you/they provide as long as you disclose that
you are the owner or an employee, friend, relative, etc..
Many BPN subscribers would rather do business with a
fellow subscriber than with someone selected randomly from the yellow pages.
However, your message must clearly convey your relationship
to the business.
While we do allow subscribers to recommend themselves and friends/family
in the email newsletters, we do not archive these to the website.
Our goal is to include only those reviews on the website
that are based on the first-hand experience of a customer who is not
related to or friends with the owner. If we are unable to
tell whether a review is based on first-hand experience, then we
don't archive the review to the BPN website.
A review written by the owner, friends or family of a business
has less value for our readers than an unbiased review
posted by a happy client. Since a favorable review on BPN
can be very beneficial for a local business,
we take very seriously our requirement that any relationship
to the business being reviewed must be disclosed.
When we receive a complaint that a review has been posted
by someone with an undisclosed relationship to the business,
we do investigate. If we determine
this is what happened, we unsubscribe the person who posted,
we remove all reviews for the
business from the website,
and we don't accept further postings
about that business.
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Last updated: Oct 7, 2009
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