Small Business United Blog

Love a Local Business

by Gretchen Harding - July 20, 2009

January 1, 2010 Update
Small business owners love when you pay them a compliment. Now, your compliment can pay them!

The Love A Local Business competition lets fans, including customers, vendors, employees, and the community, determine who deserves some love - in the form of small business grants.  Five nominated businesses will be randomly selected to receive small business grants worth $5,000. Then, our monthly guest judge(s) will review the nominations to determine which one will have their grant value increased to $35,000.

It’s fast and easy - just click “Put Them on the Map” to nominate a business you love.

Frequently Asked Questions:

I couldn’t find my business. How do I get my business to show up?
If you are trying to nominate your own business, make sure you are using the form found on the “Apply for a Grant” tab.  Search for your business in Step 1, then in Step 2, select “complete a manual” nomination.  This allows you to add your business to our Intuit Business Directory database — and be found when your fans try to nominate your business.

I can’t find the business I want to nominate?  What can I do?
In Step 2, select “complete a manual nomination.”  These nominations increase their odds of winning, but will not be displayed on the Love A Local Business map.  If you can, let the business owner know about this competition.  If they nominate themselves (as described in the question above) then their business will be automatically added to our database, which makes it easier for other fans to find them, nominate them,and share comments.

How are the winners of the Love A Local Business small business grants selected?
1.) Five businesses are randomly chosen from all of the eligible nominations. The more nominations a business has, the more chances they have to win a small business grant.

2.) For the Grand Prize, your words really matter. Our guest judge(s) will review the nominating comments from the five randomly selected winners. The judge(s) will then determine which one wins the Grand Prize based on the nomination that best represents a business that is “loved by its customers, vendors, employees, or local community.”

Who can nominate a business?
Anyone…including the small business owner. Business owners should describe why they love serving their customers and community.

Can an online-only business win?  a non-profit?
Yes and yes.  Online-only businesses and non-profits can win.  We let you determine if a business is local and if you consider it a business. 

How do I increase the odds of winning for my favorite small business?
Get the word out. Use word-of-mouth marketing techniques and email campaigns to encourage others to vote for your business. We’ve also created banners and badges you can embed on your own website or blog to encourage your fans to support your business.

How many small business grants have been awarded in the Love A Local Business sweepstakes?
We’ve already awarded over $80,000 in small business grants. See who the previous Love A Local Business grant winners are.

Where can I review the Official Rules?
Please review the official rules for complete details.

I keep getting an error message - or, the website won’t accept my nomination.  Make sure your comment is under the 250 charachter limit.  That is usually between 3-4 sentences.  In fact, this particular question and answer is 250 characters in length.

None of these FAQs answer my question.  Often your issue is the same that others are experiencing, so please watch for email updates from lovealocalbusiness@intuit.com for service alerts that may answer your question.  (Consider adding the email address to your safe senders list to make sure messages are not caught by your spam filter.)  If your issue remains unresolved, you can email lovealocalbusiness@intuit.com.  We will try to respond within 3 days.

If you liked reading this you may also enjoy:

1. Love A Local Business New Year’s Resolution
2. Love A Local Business Week 9 Winners
3. Love A Local Business Winners

1. Gretchen Harding says:

   July 21, 2009 at 3:08 pm

   NOTE: Comments in this blog do NOT count as nominations. Follow the 3 step instructions in the Love a Local Business form. if you have difficulty, email lovealocalbusiness@intuit.com

   Can’t find your business on the map? You can still nominate your business, but, unfortunately, it will not display on the Love A Local Business map.

   In Step 2, look for “Cl ick here to nominate manually” - you may need to scroll down in the results that Google Maps delivers.

   It is a good idea to get your business listed on Google Maps – you can do it for free here https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Flocal%2Fadd%2FbusinessCenter%3Fgl%3DUS%26hl%3Den-US&service=lbc&hl=en-US

   We also have a product called Intuit Weblistings that allows you to input your business information once to make sure your business can be found on major search sites – including Google Maps, YellowPages.com, SuperPages.com and Yahoo Local http://marketingtools.intuit.com/web_listings/
2. Kara says:

   July 21, 2009 at 7:47 pm

   How long does it take for a business to appear on the map? I submitted it yesterday morning.
3. Gretchen Harding says:

   July 22, 2009 at 11:32 am

   Kara - new businesses are added immediately. You do need to refresh the page to get it to display on the full U.S. map.

   However, if you had to do a manual nomination (see above) we cannot display the business on the map.
4. Karen says:

   July 23, 2009 at 11:24 am

   Gretchen,

   I couldn’t find my business on the map so I had to manually do it and now my fans are trying to find nominate me, but it’s not showing up. How do I get my business to show up if the only option is to manually input the information? Should I go to Google map and submit it and then it will show up? I’m afraid that I’ll loose some votes if people can’t find me and just won’t come back to vote. Help!
5. Gretchen Harding says:

   July 23, 2009 at 5:21 pm

   Karen:

   Unless Google Maps has your business registered we will not be able to display it on the Love A Local Business map, which is powered by Google and relies on their data. As noted in previous comments, you can register your business for free. You may also want to consider or our Intuit Weblistings service to automatically keep your listings fresh and accurate on multiple sites http://marketingtools.intuit.com/web_listings/

   Your fans can still nominate your business manually, but you will not be able to see them displayed.
6. Shirley Grimm says:

   July 23, 2009 at 6:23 pm

   The owner of Hammond Floor Covering is B.J.(Chubby) Hough of Pawnee,IL. He learned the business from his father-in-law and does an outstanding job of upholding the business reputation. I am proud to nominate him.
7. florence cabre says:

   July 24, 2009 at 1:29 pm

   genial, super food and perfect for everybody wether you are 5 or 77
8. Gretchen Harding says:

   July 28, 2009 at 11:29 am

   Comments in this blog do NOT count as nominations. Follow the 3 step instructions in the Love a Local Business form. if you have difficulty, email lovealocalbusiness@intuit.com

   Thanks,
   Gretchen
9. DinnerbyDesign Greenfield says:

   August 31, 2009 at 2:24 pm

   How do we get Google to remove kitchens that are no longer in business … Brookfield, Delafield, Menomonee Falls, Glendale, Bayside
   We get calls all the time from frustrated customers who can’t tell which locations are still active ..
   Our 3 - Sturtevant, Greenfield and New Berlin still exist and would love to have the list updated!
10. Gretchen Harding says:

    September 2, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    You will have to go through the Google Local Business Center to make that request
11. Danny says:

    October 3, 2009 at 3:34 am

    This site has a great deal of outstanding tools to get a small business up and running. However, it lacks the personal touch, that element of a face and voice with whom you can relate. Many advertising campaigns become successful simply because the spokesperson is well received and projects a trustworthyness.
12. Andrea says:

    October 15, 2009 at 11:07 pm

    this site was very useful for someone starting a small business like myself. I became 100% disabled back in Nov. of 2005 and before that I worked 3 jobs and loved it. I have to always be doing something so I started doing arts & crafts then got into making scrapbooks and photo albums or a combo of both. Soon after taking my stuff to a flee market I had cards I gave out and soon started to get calls for requests to make
13. sandra says:

    January 6, 2010 at 4:29 pm

    someone nominated my company (she told me) but she used a slightly different name for the company. Do I still get her vote?
14. Claudia says:

    January 9, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    My business was nominated for a grant, but it has shown up as three different businesses and it seems that if someone does it a different way, the previous one is lost. Is there some way to combine the votes into one or will it be identified later by the address?
15. Brandon says:

    January 14, 2010 at 11:18 am

    Claudia, you are not alone. I have a business I want to vote for and they are in the system twice. I use the “Search For the Local Business You Love” button and it returned nothing by the business’ name even though the business owner says the system shows her almost 100 votes. If I use the Find Loved Businesses tab it shows the business but with 10 votes. They seem to be separate entries. There seems to be a flaw in this web app, and no one to email about it except these forums. I’ve talked to other users who are confused and frustrated about trying to vote for their favorite business. Could someone address this?
16. Tim says:

    January 14, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    Lat week I have over a dozen fans who had commented. Today I looked and there were none, then I looked again and there was only 1 from a week ago. What happend to all the others?
17. Gretchen Harding says:

    January 15, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    Thanks for posting your concerns here, since many others can share in understanding the issue. You may also email lovealocalbusiness@intuit.com.

    You are correct - there is a flaw with how nominations are displayed. For a complete explanation, you can review either of the following notifications we sent to all participants:
    We sent out a service alert to businesses who used the form on the “apply for a grant” tab yesterday, and a service alert for fans who used the form on the “love a business” tab, was delivered today.