Guidelines for Commercial Sites?

I have seen some posts that take a dim view of sites that consist primarily of advertising content. I a starting a consulting business, and have a site that describes my company and the services it provides. Would this be categorised as primarily advertising? My site is:
http://www.appropriateapproach.com
Is this site appropriate for listing?
If so, could it be listed under a topic listing and a regional listing? The regional focus is due to the fact that we are based in a single location and primarily service clients in that location only.

Thanks,
Kieron

Your site doesn't work properly in my browser (Mozilla 1.3), so I might be missing out on something, but what I see is a single page with a bit of promotional fluff and not much else. From that, I'd say that the site isn't listable at all. If IE users get to see more, maybe it would be listable then.

In either case, if you mainly service local customers, then you'll be eligible for a listing in the Regional category only.

I see the same as dfy in Mozilla 1.4 beta and IE6 SP1, and came to the same conclusion as he did.

It's worth reiterating the ODP attitude toward commercial sites.

Officially, we don't care what your motive is. If the site contains UNIQUE INFORMATION that might be USEFUL to some surfer, then it can be considered for listing.

To you, it's an advertisement, perhaps. To us, it may be unique information about the business services of a specific kind, performed exclusively by a unique person (you) at a particular place.

If, to someone wishing to be consulted to, it is just the information they need in order to decide to go elsewhere for their consultations (either because you don't do what they want done, or you don't go where they live), then the site is probably listable somewhere (although perhaps, as has been suggested, only in Regional.)

From what I can see (and, yes, it does appear to be just a single page), I'd say that you would still get a listing in Regional, in the locality where you are physically located for just the reasons that hutcheson stated. Make sure you pick the right locality, though (i.e. if you are not located in the Brisbane CBD, don't submit to the Brisbane category -- submit to the locality category for the suburb you are in).

Thank you to all for the responses. Yes, there is currently only one page, which I hope to be very useful to people in Brisbane looking for a consultant in this field.

Regarding the regional question though, I seek some clarification on 2 points.

The first point is on where to list. Given that I travel to my customers; not vice-versa; and given that most of my customers are in the Brisbane CBD; why should I not submit to the Brisbane category rather than the category for the suburb where I am located? How is my exact location of any relevance to the surfer? Also, what do I do if I am prepared to travel to other states to service customers there?

The second point is on how to list. If I wish to list under Business and Economy:Computers:Information Technology, but that category currently only exists under "Australia", not under my state, region, or locality, how should I submit my site?

Thanks for the help,
Kieron

I would appreciate it if anyone can clarify the points I raised in my previous post.

BTW, I have taken the site down for now until I develop something more useful.

Regards,
Kieron

Sorry about that -- unfortunately it happens when there are so many posts that a thread drops off the first page.

The first point is on where to list. Given that I travel to my customers; not vice-versa; and given that most of my customers are in the Brisbane CBD; why should I not submit to the Brisbane category rather than the category for the suburb where I am located? How is my exact location of any relevance to the surfer? Also, what do I do if I am prepared to travel to other states to service customers there?

Click to expand...

In Regional Australia, you are generally listed where you are physically located, not by your area of operation.

If I wish to list under Business and Economy:Computers:Information Technology, but that category currently only exists under "Australia", not under my state, region, or locality, how should I submit my site?

Click to expand...

You submit your site to the nearest applicable category in the locality, i.e. if it only has a Business and Economy category, submit there; if it has a Business and Economy/Computers category, submit there. If it doesn't have a B&E category at all, submit to the root of the locality.

motsa,

Thanks for the feedback.

I must say that I don't understand the reasoning behind this approach. If the regional listings are intended to be helpful to endusers, then I would have thought that the area of operation was what was relevant. Certainly the "Regional Category Editing Guidelines" seem to support this. They also refer to a bricks-and-mortar location, but we don't have one of those, as all work is performed on customer sites. I certainly agree that "Brisbane CBD" would be inappropriate. I would think that ":Regions:South East" to be more appropriate, as that is my primary area of operation.

Regards,
Kieron

One side note from me: We go by what it says on the web site when it is reviewed; so if a business says that it is a mobile dog grooming service operating in two suberbs, then it might be treated slightly differently to a site which is for a mobile sheep shearing service which operates state-wide. Whether this applies to you or not I don't know as I am not familiar with the site (it isn't there right now), nor with the Regional Guidelines for Oz, as I am on the opposite of the planet.