Bizwiki is a user generated business directory. This means that YOU can write on this site. As a business owner or manager the ability to submit your company, free of charge, and add to and update your Bizwiki business record gives you the opportunity to go far beyond the standard directory style listing or phone book entry.

We want Bizwiki users to be able to find out all about your company and so we are offering companies the opportunity to add a wide range of information about their company’s products, brands, specialities, areas of expertise, geographic locations they serve, awards they’ve won, associations they belong to, special mentions and so on.

Bizwiki does have a strict style guideline, somewhat akin to the Wikipedia style, which means that, other than reviews, all information entered on Bizwiki must be factual and accompanied by citations where required.

Now that you know what you can put on Bizwiki and that it’s completely free to advertise your business how do you make the most of it?

1. Make Sure You’re Listed

Since launch thousands of people have kindly contributed to Bizwiki resulting in an ever growing database of businesses, organisations, clubs and charities. Before submitting your business take a moment to search for it. If you can’t find your company:

a) Click on “Create an Account” and fill out the very short form.

b) You will receive an email within seconds. Click on the link in the email.

c) You will be taken to your MyBizwiki page on which you should now choose a password.

d) Click on “Add a Business” and fill out the form.

• Company Name: – please make sure it’s your company’s registered name or your usual trading name, do not try to “keyword stuff”. All entries are checked for accuracy and we do amend company names to keep them consistent with data on Companies House unless there is a standard trading name in which case we cite the registered name on the About section.
• Main Business Category: Bizwiki has well over 1000 categories of business. We are working on adding the advanced search functionality we’ve introduced on the main site into the category selection field on the Add a Business form. Until then you can find your desired category by entering the first few letters of what you think it should be. If that doesn’t work try searching for the category you want using the main search box. The main search box makes extensive use of manually selected synonyms making it easy to match natural search with intelligent results. Once you’ve found what you want take note of the actual category name and enter it in the category field on the Add a Business form.
• Main Telephone Number: This must be a UK phone number and it must include the dialling code (STD). Please use the most frequently manned phone number such as the one for the Switchboard or Reception. Other phone numbers can be listed in the About section along with the departments they are for i.e.: Sales, Accounts, Support.
• Business Address: There are other fields for the County, Town/City and Postcode. The Business Address fields are for the building number/name and street name.
• County: Like traditional phone books, Bizwiki works off the Post Office Address File (PAF) which is the Post Office’s division of counties and towns throughout the UK. This means that the county selection will not always match the metropolitan county and unitary authority divisions used by the local government. Most businesses will be used to using PAF due to having registered with phone books over the years. If you have any trouble please do not hesitate to email admin@bizwiki.co.uk.
• Town/City: As with the counties, the use of the Post Office Address File system means that your local parish, village or town name may not represented on the Town selection box. If this is the case please make use of the 2nd or 3rd Address lines as appropriate to include your locality.
• Postcode: Hopefully this one is straight forward.
• Fax Number: As with the phone number, please choose the most frequently checked fax number. Department specific fax numbers can be added to the About section.
• Email: At the moment Bizwiki is not displaying the email address of businesses. We may in future introduce a leads system whereby prospective customers can fill out a form and the Bizwiki system sends it on to you. Or we may make the email addresses themselves visible. You do not have to include your email address but if you do please ensure it’s your company’s main enquiries address.
• Website: In addition to making it easy for Bizwiki users to click on to your website, submitting your company’s website address also means that the BizwikiBot can display the first few paragraphs of text from your About or Home page. This adds more information about your company to your Bizwiki record and gives you a second link on Bizwiki making it twice as likely that users will click directly to your site. Please ensure the website address you submit is your company’s main website. Product and brand specific websites can be included in the External Links section instead.
• About the business: This is where the fun begins. The About section is where a business can brag, provided they don’t use any promotional language. Confused? Then let me explain.
• Bizwiki style guidelines are very similar to Wikipedia which means that the content submitted for the About section must be factual and any claims must be supported by citations. Provided you stick to the rules you can add as many facts as you want including your company’s history, ownership details, products, services, brands, target markets, locations you serve, professional and/or industry memberships, awards (must cite dates and presenter), opening hours, payment types accepted, department specific phone numbers and email addresses, and so on.
• Citations: A citation may be a link to the business’ website, the company number, mentions on a professional association website, press coverage or anything else that would assist us in verifying the existence of this business. All new submissions are reviewed to ensure accuracy and avoid duplication. Citing a reference that supports your right to a listing is a great help to our editors and helps your submission to get approved quicker.
• External Links: This is where you can place links to your brand or product specific websites (not the main website, that goes in the main website field towards the top of the form). You can also use this section to deep link to your listing on professional association websites, professional reviews about your company, press and media coverage or partnership mentions on other company sites.
• Holding Company Name: If the company name you have submitted is your trading name, not your registered company name please put your registered company name here.
• VAT Number: If you are registered for VAT please quote your number here.
• Company Registration Number: If you are registered with Companies House please quote your number here.

e) Press SUBMIT

Thank you! Your company’s submission has been added to the queue of new submissions and one of the Bizwiki editors or Admin team will attend to it as soon as possible. We endeavour to review all new submissions within seven days. If your company’s record has not been published within a week please don’t hesitate to contact us.

What if you’re already listed on Bizwiki? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode when we reveal the secrets of how to “Enhance Your Company’s Listing on Bizwiki (for free)”