Yelp, a Web site that allows consumers to write reviews of local businesses they have actual experience with, is now opening its comment doors to businesses.

“About this Business” is free and allows small-business owners to describe their businesses to prospective customers.

“Savvy local business owners know consumers come to Yelp just before they make a purchase decision,” says Yelp cofounder Jeremy Stoppelman. “About This business helps consumers learn even more about a business before spending their hard-earned money, which translates into more satisfied customers.

You can write:

• a short history of the business
• specialties
• bio of the manager or owner
• recommendations for up to five other businesses

Yelp previously introduced a free suite of small-business marketing tools including ability to post special offers, upload photos and message customers who have written reviews.

If you have a resource, strategy or tip to help small businesses, click here to send it to me. If I use it, I’ll give you credit and link to your web site.

MORE STORIES:

• O.C. retailer buys 22 stores in 4 states
• Does your business deserve a loan?
• O.C.’s fastest growing technology companies revealed
• ‘America’s best tasting organic milk’ is local
• Law firm opens Mexico office
• Del Taco offering first-ever cheap, family food pack
• El Pollo Loco giving food vouchers to aid O.C. fire victims
• Whoa! Another reason buy electronics at Costco
• Jobs decline despite small-business gain
• August sales of O.C. businesses plummet
• O.C.-L.A. ranks 2nd in women-owned businesses

Move over Google AdWords. MySpace is offering MyAds, a do-it-yourself advertising platform for anyone to create online display ads and target very specific demographics among the social network’s 76 million U.S. users.

The beta version was introduced earlier this month and a stealth version has been floating around since September.

MySpace claims two main features that it says are better than Google AdWords:

1. You can build cool-looking display ads yourself. Google only had text-only do-it-yourself ads. But after MySpace announced MyAds, Google stepped up with a display ad version too.

2. MySpace has a technology it calls “HyperTargeting” to slice and dice the thousands of special interest categories.

“With HyperTargeting, our targeting reach is powerful and specific,” says Jeff Berman, president of MySpace sales and marketing. “You’re now able to identify 47-year-old moms in the 20815 ZIP code who love NASCAR, Julia Roberts and Paulo Coelho novels.”

Such targeting isn’t an invasion of privacy, the social networking site says, because users have chosen to share this information about themselves with the MySpace community.

Bacon Salt in Seattle has used both Google AdWords and MySpace MyAds. (Check out its MySpace page.)

“Both are great,” says Justin Esch of Bacon Salt. “With Google I can target web sites about bacon; with MySpace I can target people who put into their profile ‘I love bacon.’”

Are there any? 37,000, Esch says.

“When we go into a new market we can taget people in Orange County to go to Ralphs and buy Bacon Salt.”

After using MyAds, Bacon Salt’s web site traffic and online orders increased as well as higher sales in grocery stores, he adds.

MyAds should widen MySpace’s lead over Yahoo! as the top U.S. publisher of online display ads accounting for 15.9% of all display ads viewed in June, according to comScore.

More small-business stories…

• ‘America’s best tasting organic milk’ is local
• Law firm opens Mexico office
• O.C. company expands, plans to hire
• O.C. company gives, not gets, on 25th birthday
• Which are the fastest growing O.C. companies?
• Meguiar’s secret: Boost customers’ self-definition

More Orange County news…

• CSUF predicts a grim ‘09 for O.C.
• Savers: Don’t take on risk to boost income
• Allergan earnings up, outlook down
• O.C. Register to lay off 110 workers
• Skittish consumers can mean happy investors

CyberPatrol LLC has introduced a new service - CyberPatrol SiteCAT Web Site Lookup - that enables an Internet user to immediately lookup and identify the type of Web site a child, employee or other user is visiting.

CyberPatrol’s proprietary database contains information on 22 million domains that represent more than 200 million Web pages. It updates every 45 to 60 days.

“Current users of CyberPatrol software make close to one million lookups per day. In September alone the SiteCAT engine responded to more than 33 million lookups from users of our Parental Controls software,”, said jason Short, CyberPatrol’s vice president of research. “We expect the number of lookups to increase dramatically with CyberPatrol’s new online consumer self-help lookup service.”

Consumers can also comment on specific sites to make sure sites are properly categorized by the SiteCAT.

If you have a tip, resource or strategy to help small businessec, click here to send it to me. If I use it, I’ll give you credit and link to your site.

A new Web site lists job openings only at companies that have been recognized as great places to work.

GreatPlaceJobs is the newest creation of Orange County native Asher Adelman, founder of eBossWatch and Workplace Democracy Association.

GreatPlaceJobs claims to have the largest collection of job listings at companies that have made one of the “best places to work” lists.

“There are currently 150,000 jobs at 1,300 employers posted to the GreatPlaceJobs database,” Adelman says.

Among the employers with jobs listed on the site are these with offices in Orange County:

• Verizon Wireless, offices throughout Orange County, on several lists including Working Mother magazine’s 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers
• ABC Supply Co., Santa Ana, recipient of the Gallup Great Workplace Award
• CarMax, with used car lots in Irvine, Costa Mesa and Buena Park, winner of Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Adelman, a UCI MBA grad, knows how to strike a cord with today’s worker. eBossWatch allows workers to rate their bosses. Its motto is “Nobody should have to work for a jerk.” And the association encourages companies to involve workers in decision making.

 Both eBossWatch and Workplace Democracy Association evolved from Adelman’s experiences working at high tech, medical device and investment firms of all sizes.

Jobs may not be top of mind over the three-day weekend, but after all, it IS Labor Day. And with unemployment creeping up - a 13-year high here in Orange County at 5.7% - some 93,000 out-of-work O.C. residents may be using the weekend to scout for their next employer.

“A recent Gallup poll found that about 77% of Americans hate their jobs, and a Zogby poll found that 49% of working Americans have suffered or witnessed workplace bullying,” Adelman says. GreatPlaceJobs was developed to help people find jobs at the best employers, because everyone deserves a great and satisfying career.”

OTHER STORIES:

• Is your workplace a dictatorship?
• Best places to work list includes O.C. companies
• 20 ‘Great Workplaces’ worldwide: O.C. has one
• A gas-inspired pay raise
• What every manager needs to know
• Best workplaces align values with benefits
• What motivates workers?
• Reduce stress at work

MyBizHomepage is offering a free online financial tool that enables small-business owners to view their QuickBooks on your computer dashboard (pictured at left).

The platform includes:

• Easy-to-read graphical display of QuickBooks data in pie charts, bar charts etc.
• Alerts about timely financial information critical to the success of a small business. For example “Cash in Your Pocket” tells you how much time you have left before your cash runs out
• Social media features such as forums, events and online profiles of individuals or businesses.

The Web site was designed specifically for entrepreneurs and small businesses. It’s technology extracts data from the business’ QuickBooks software and pushes it to your computer desktop via a Web browser. The products are being used by companies of various sizes in 43 countries.

If you have a tip, resource or strategy to help small business, click here to send it to me. If I use it, I’ll give you credit and link to your Web site.

OTHER STORIES:

• Aliso Viejo company sued for patent infringement
• Irvine manufacturer is sold
• ‘American Chopper’ endorses local gas-saver device
• State’s corporate tax 49% higher than foreign competitors
• Unpaid payroll taxes total $58 billion
• California Internet tax is reintroduced
• Funding for start-up firms in crisis, venture capitalists say
• Bad year for young companies, O.C. investor says

An Aliso Viejo company has been awarded an exclusive contract as the official online fundraiser for Little League Baseball with technology that could revolutionize the way nonprofits raise money.

Game 7 Entertainment Inc. has created the Pledgeplay platform, and if it catches on, you can kiss good-bye the charity golf tournaments,  car washes and door-to-door sales of raffle tickets for all types of nonprofit groups, schools and sports teams.

The three-year Little League deal is being announced today as teams and fans gather for the 2008 Little League World Series, which starts Thursday, Aug. 14, in Williamsport, Pa.

Here’s how Pledgeplay works for Little League teams and other nonprofits:

The local Little Leage can either use Pledgeplay’s Internet-based software and digital tools  or Pledgepay constructs a custom Web site with digital marketing tools for no up-front fee.

The league’s supporters make a donation online and receive “tokens” to play online games such as solitaire or miniature golf. Those who donate can compete against friends or give the tokens to others.

While the baseball and softball players and their parents don’t have to sell anything door-to-door or in front of their local grocery store, they do have to market the fundraiser to their friends and relatives, said Pledgeplay co-founder Jim Carol, who lives in Laguna Niguel.

The leagues also don’t have to handle inventory and cash, do the accounting or spend hours organizing and running an event as with other types of fundraisers.

Pledgeplay will be available to 7,400 Little League worldwide involving 2.7 million young baseball and softball players and 1 million adult volunteers. The demonstration site is a fundraiser for Williamsport South Little League Challenger team for players with disabilities.

Here’s South Little League Challenger’s fundraising home page:

The concept can be adapted to any charity fundraiser, Carol said, and other prizes besides online game tokens will be available.

Pledgeplay is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs:

• Carol, founder of four successful companies, the last of which was PacketVideo in San Diego, whose video software is installed in more than 100 million cell phones
• Don Johnson, former marketing executive with the Denver Nuggets National Basketball Association team and San Diego Padres Major League Baseball team and current head of Teammates for Kids Foundation.
• Jon Showers, sports marketing expert who had done creative work for Frito-Lay, VISA, American Airlines, the Philadelphia Eagles and The Franklin Mint.

The leadership group has now been joined by Robert Venable, former executive with PIMCO Advisors in Newport Beach and First American Capital Management

All three have been involved in fundraising for a variety of charities so they know how difficult the task is.

In 2006 they created Game 7  to develop a more efficient, safe and fun method for all nonprofits to raise money. They tried their first online fundraiser in November 2006 to benefit five children’s charities and have been perfecting the model and Web site since.

“Fundraising is hard work,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to make it easier for Little League and its players to raise funds online so they can focus on playing ball.”

Little League Baseball Chief Executive Steve Keener said, “We believe this is the future of fundraising. This technology allows our supporters to contribute to a custom fundraising event for their local Little League. There’s no need for kids to go door-to-door to raise money. Playing casual games online makes giving fun for contributors, and the platform is cost-effective and rewarding for all our leagues.”

Pledgepay makes its money by charging an administrative fee. Charities receive at least 80% of the money raised. Some fundraisers return 40% to 60% to nonprofits.

“We were going to be nonprofit, but everyone said if we were not for profit, they couldn’t count on us the way they could a for-profit business,” Carol said. “Plus, they were concerned about us competing for their fundraising dollars.”

OTHER STORIES:

• Luxury O.C. dune buggies boom
• Tori Spelling chooses glam hospital gown by O.C. firm
• Bi-coastal court fight erupts over ‘entrepreneur’ trademarks
• Sir Speedy turns 40
• O.C. teen sells Zune Web site for $62,000
• Outstanding O.C. businesswomen ‘08 named
• Energy storage for hybrid cars wins Fast Pitch competition
• Microsoft buys Aliso Viejo-based DATAllegro
• Clean technology wows investors

Hansup Yoon (pictured right), 15, has sold ZuneBoards, an Internet forum devoted to Microsoft’s Zune media player, for $62,000.

The teen, who recently moved from Irvine to Fullerton, created the site months before Microsoft introduced its answer to Apple’s iPod in 2oo6.

“It was the most perfect time to start a Web site about Zune and I was one of the first few to create a Zune-related site,” Yoon  told me in an exchange of e-mails.

Yoon  built the site himself using (free) MyBBoard software, later shifting to vBulletin and Joomla! (See a screen grab of ZuneBoards below.) In less than two years it grew to 60,000 members and more than 270,000 posts, all about Zune. It has been making about $1,000 a month from  Google Adsense and TribalFusion, both with tools that place ads that are relevant to a Web site’s visitors.

When he decided to sell, he posted it on SitePoint and other Web site sales sites for a minimum of $30,000 or “Buy It Now” for $60,000. Two bidders chose the latter option and crowdgather, a Woodland Hills company that has bought more than 70 message boards and forums as a foundation for Internet advertising, upped its bid to $62,000.

“Bidding was getting close to the Buy It Now price and I didn’t want to lose (ZuneBoards) over a few thousand dollars,” explained crowdgather founder Sanjay Sabnani.

Sabnani wasn’t surprised to learn that his acquisition was created and owned by a teen-ager.

“I’m getting more and more used to that,” he said. “My first acquisition was a graphic site from someone in Italy. I was blown away when I found out he was 16.”

Because Yoon is a minor, crowdgather negotiated with his parents, and the deal closed in a day. They used escrow.com, an Irvine site that acts as a shield against fraud between buyers and sellers of businesses, Web sites etc., Sabrani said.

Yoon’s ability to build a profitable Web site would be the envy of older and wiser entrepreneurs.

“At first I tried to teach myself with books I would buy from bookstores…However, ultimately, I was mostly self-taught from other Web development communities like Forums.DigitalPoint.com, SitePoint.com and NamePros.com,” Yoon said. “The Internet is an amazing place. You can practically learn anything you want if you’re willing to make a time commitment.

“It is so easy to make money on the Internet. Web development. Made-for-Adsense sites. Affiliate marketing. Paid to post. And the list goes on,” Yoon said. “I guess that’s one reason why I am so thankful to God. Not everyone has the mentality and understanding of how things work online as I do.”

After he designed ZuneBoards, he marketed it by exchanging posts with other small forums. In a few months he had several volunteer administrators and moderato