Get into the Christmas spirit with www.trustedSaskatoon.com.

We would love to reach the magic number 1000 fans....so we have an incentive...like the Trustedsaskatoon.com Facebook Group here then share the Facebook post on our wall about this incentive, which invites people to Fan Trustedsadskatoon.com. Once we reach 1000 fans...a lucky fan will be selected at random to receive $500- $250CASH for themselves and $250 which will be donated to a local Saskatoon charity of their choice! It always pays to be a fan of Trusted..... So FAN, LIKE and then SHARE the post on your wall to be eligible to win...the quicker we get to 1000...the quicker someone wins and a local charity benefits too!!! 

www.trustedsaskatoon.com  and www.trustedregina.com  are busy bragging about more wonderful Trusted business on the Saskatoon and Regina directories of excellence daily it seems! We are busy catching up, as so many businesses are coming on board each week across the province..sometimes we are stretched pretty thin...you will also notice how many TRUSTED TIPS our existing clients are providing us too...so the typing never stops. ..except maybe to film our own TRUSTED TIPS for Global Saskatoons new 6-9am morning show ( our first consumer tip by Sara the Trusted founder aired today..we will have it up on Youtube asap for you to look at! )...exciting and BUSY times on the run up to Christmas!

We are not complaining though..we are breaking new ground in the directory industry with every step forward...not only are we unique because we provide businesses that have a track record of excellence..and are contracted to uphold the 5 Trusted Guarantees of excellence for those people with a NEED right now..but we are evolving into a local source of TRUSTED Experts..who provide tips for the consumers who we know are researching online BEFORE they decide who to buy from or what to buy! To see this feature for yourself got to www.trustedsaskaton.com  click on the category you are interested in .......and you will see a link to the right of the category that says CLICK HERE FOR TIPS AND RESOURCES this takes you to our blog archive where you can pick from our list of Trusted Tips..or you can simply select a category you are interested in from the TAG CLOUD on the left to see all TIPs and blogs on that subject..EASY ..see we truly are the SMART & SIMPLE choice!

The colder weather is drawing in , and the days are getting shorter in Saskatchewan..Summer is over, and what a Summer it was.....best in years ..and people definitely made the most of it!

Trusted monitors webtraffic on our websites and others, and knows that the Summer ( generally early June- beginning of September) is the 'slowest ' time for internet traffic as a whole...think about it ..would you rather be sat on the deck in the sun after work , or sat on the computer....weekends are spent at the lake or just outside soaking up the warmth..most internet useage happens at work in the Summer...or perhaps at home on a rainy weekend ( thankfully we didn't have many of those this year!) .....as the fall turns to Winter people begin to gravitate back to their laptops and computers at home ..to source entertainment, engage in socialmedia ..and to do RESEARCH on products and services BEFORE they purchase.

95% of Canadas 25million internet users do research online .....and it takes up ALOT of time to do that research..  

If the future is digital, it seems Canadians are ahead of their time. Canucks spend more time online than anyone else on Earth, according to new data from Web research firm comScore. And it’s not even by a small margin – the average Canadian spends 43.5 hours a month on the Web, almost twice the worldwide average of 23.1 hours. Both male and female Canadian Internet users spent much of their time on directory sites (the single most popular category for men, followed by photo sites and online trading). However, women visited photo sites most often, followed closely by directories and music entertainment sites....and it's not jst under 30's either as by far the fastest-growing demographic when it comes to Web usage in Canada is the 55-and-over crowd. While every other age group’s online engagement levelled off or even declined between the end of 2009 and the end of 2010, the number of older users or SILVER SURFERS jumped by 12 per cent!*

Trusted is here to save people some of that extensive research time, so you can spend more time doing the fun stuff...and we wanted to share some tips with you from some of our experts on www.trustedsaskatoon.com ..specifically when it comes to planning and researching renovations to your home. 

It seems that alot of people are talking about doing renos and improvements next year ......perhaps with tax return money , or simply because it is time to update that kitchen or finish that basement..so where do you even start the process ? Trusted was talking to Kevin, the owner of KTS Custom  ,who specialise in 're-facing' kitchens and is one of the  Trusted kitchen listings on http://www.trustedsaska Cabinetstoon.com/listings/kitchens.aspx , and she told us that most people he deals with take 6months from deciding to do ' something ' to their kitchen , to actually booking the job...so what are people doing in that time? ...well first they look at the options based upon the budget they are thinking of...and as a refaced kitchen from KTS ( when the layout of the kitchen is not altered , the cabinets themselves are kept then the doors, countertops etc..are all changed for a really ' magic' transformation) is less costly than say, a Custom Kitchen from Kevin Samms, the owner of  KTS Custom Cabinets who will design a kitchen based on your unique needs from scratch and your old kitchen will be totally removed and replaced with a stunning new one.. the TIME the reno might take may be an important factor for people to consider..refacing can take place in a few days with minimum disruption to the household, where a custom kitchen is going to take longer and involve more work..everyone is different...and the reasons you choose the option you choose is based on your unique set of needs...if you are doing other renos in the house like basement developments or even exterior work like decks , siding, roofing  etc.. the time frame from thinking about it, to deciding how to go about it, choosing the right option and then contacting the chosen Contractor or business is still not going to happen in a few days, but more likely in a few months , as we all have busy lives to work around too. 

Sara the Trusted founder was speaking to a very smart lady last week ,she had gone to Trusted to find someone to do renos on her home, she said she had read the listings on  http://www.trustedsaskatoon.com/listings/renovations.aspx over and loved the fact that there were REAL client testimonials to read, she had already had wonderful experiences with other Trusted businesses and she especially liked that all the Trusted Saskatoon businesses were contracted to the 5 Trusted Guarantees....When choosing a contractor to do a big reno , the fact that Trusted contracts them to GUARANTEE that they will

1. CHARGE THE PRICE QUOTED WITH NO SURPRISES and

2. COMPLETE THE JOB ON TIME

Means that it takes the 'risk' out of selecting a company....and also in the listing of the renovator she chose to contact it stated that the company would never rush one job to start another...and it would be smart to book in advance to ensure that you get the dates YOU want for the work you want doing.....she is planning on the renos in late Spring..and she is booking her contrator in OCTOBER..a full 6months before, and by PLANNING today she ensure that she has the contractor she wants, who she can trust, and on HER timelines. If she had done all the research then tried booking someone in April for May, chances are she would have missed the boat, and may have paid dearly for that. Contractors that can do big jobs with a few weeks notice may NOT be as good a choice as one of our Trusted Saskatoon contractor/ renovations options 3 n' 1 Construction.  

So, in conclusion, as you start researching on the internet for ideas and options..make it a priority to decide which contractors or renovation companies are part of your short list ...call them asap....as the Winter sets in they will have more time to sit down with you and offer alternatives that perhaps you weren't even aware of ( a few of Ken Eade of 3'n1 Construction's  clients told us he offered great options that they ended up going with...without his input they wouldn't have know existed)   ....try getting them to sit down with you when the snow begins to melt and the first jobs (the smart people who pre booked well in advance) of the season are starting and you may be just pulling your hair out!    

TRUST Trusted to help in the selection process..we stand behind our Trusted businesses and endorse them...not for $cash ,but because they passed our very strict application / verification process and they live by the 5 Trusted Guarantees....we find them so YOU don't have to ...WE are the ONLY directory that works for you!  

Stay Trusted my friends..SAFE and TRUSTED of course 

*source: Globe and Mail: March 8th 2011

TRUSTED CAUSES WAVES AT SASKTEL...

MYSASK411 TRIES TO IMITATE OUR IDEAS IN THEIR MARKETING!

There are many places businesses can choose to advertise ....however Trusted is the ONLY place that businesses have to go through the strict checking, qualification and RE checking procedure to be able to advertise with us at all.

Most advertising requires absolutely NO proof that you are a good company...or even that you are qualified to do what you do...companies can say mostly what ever they want to in their ads about themselves in Yellow Pages or on their web sites, lets be honest here,  all the advertising companies want is MONEY, MONEY and MORE MONEY. So unethical companies and con men with deep pockets are not a problem for most of them when it comes to accepting their advertising $'s!

So, Trusted has come along and has set out to CHANGE the way people do business ..and offer something new to the people as an option, we truly appreciate the value of good reputations and in particular, we knew that DIRECTORY advertising NEEDED something better than what was on offer...especially on line! 

Lets start with the fact that most of us stopped using the Yellow Pages ' Physical directory'  to find anything but Pizzas and Chinese restaurants years ago...GOOGLE can provide contact numbers for the businesses we are looking for WAY easier and much quicker than trying to find the bulky book, trying to guess which heading the business might be in ( how many headings can you have for the same thing...REALLY??) and struggling through pages and pages of busy and ugly ads of businesses vying for your $'s and attention by screaming with Color, Pictures, Logos, big boring ads and unsubstantiated claims......even if you don't have anyone in mind and are really being random ( which is rare) GOOGLING  is STILL WAY quicker ...but then it's the research that takes time & effort ....because you don't know if they are GOOD companies just because they pop up on page 1 & if you don't check them out you could be taking a BIG risk.... Especially if you are planning on spending a lot of money on a product or service!

The SaskTel Phone Book people are not dumb... They KNOW and accept ( not in public, but behind closed doors for sure) that the BOOK IS DEAD and will be gone within a few years...it is environmentally BAD for starters, no one under 50 uses it and it is HORRIBLE to use ..People now-a-days are used to answers at their fingertips...INSTANTLY...Just look at the advertising that SaskTel Phone book does...they mention the book only as an afterthought...The focus is definitely on mysask411.com their website (which annoyingly has changed names and looks a few times in the past 5 years alone) ....this is the provincial directory site for Saskatchewan, and every business is listed.....EVERY business GOOD or BAD...Sasktel don't differentiate or care....FACT!

It has come to Trusted's attention that since we launched www.trustedsaskatoon.com  'THE smart person’s' online directory of TRUSTED LOCAL buisnesses for people in Saskatoon in May, Mysask411 has been monitoring Trusted and taking notes....In July they came out with a social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter pretty much identical in strategy and ideas to the trustedsaskatoon.com Facebook/ Twitter strategy. Check out our Facebook page here to see what we do ...with prizes and giveaways for the fans of the site...when we present the winners with their prizes we take a picture with a' Thumbs up' & and post it on the page.....what this does is increase our brand awareness and explains the Trusted philosophy to Saskatoon and PROVE that we are not a scam FB page that just wants fans and doesn't really have prizes....also it is there so our fans know what Trusted and the ' Thumbs up' means and what a great service it is for all!

WE ask for nominations on the site because we ONLY go and speak to businesses that have been recommended and/ or NOMINATED …mysask411 however,  ask for recommendations for businesses on their site JUST to try and drive people to the site so they can brag about bigger online usage numbers to their customers and potential new customers.....they need to do this to justify the massive increase in costs online to their customers that will be coming sooner rather than later.....where else are they going to be able to get the $millions revenue that they are going to lose when the physical book finally DIES ?

They incentivise people with prizes…they even use a GREEN GENERIC 'THUMBS UP' symbol on the site next to the recommendation box for a business.......WONDER WHERE THEY GOT THAT IDEA ????? And as for this recommendation box...if you are a business owner nothing is stopping you from recommending yourself anonymously...or perhaps you are smarter and can get your family or friends to recommend you ....SaskTel don't CHECK to see if they are TRUE recommendations....it's just another sales tool they are using to try and convince people to spend MORE money with them on their ONLINE directory.

Trusted is not by any means saying that there is not a place for mysask411...there is ..we only plan to cover Saskatoon and Regina in Saskatchewan, and we only cover 40 categories ..with a maximum of just 3 Trusted businesses in each catgeory plus a maximum 1 banner ad for any category on the site, we don't list residential phone numbers and we don't have a MULTI MULTI MILLION $ marketing budget like Sasktel, we are local women working hard to promote businesses that deserve the promotion to the people who want to have easy access to Trusted businesses ..because our clients big or small, pay the same...no-one gets a BIGGER ad on Trusted, so we are not pressured or held to ransom by big clients who 'own us' ! When we give a business the ' Thumbs up' it MEANS something!

Our representatives are called TRUSTED CONSULTANTS because they work for a company with a name that includes as part of it the word TRUSTED ...yes you can say it can be seen as a verb ...but really it is a adjective.. ..... mysask411 on their website now call their sales reps     "TRUSTED Media advisors" ....really? How are they Trusted? They can definitely be trusted to sell you the biggest ad possible in the most related headings possible in their book and on their online directory for your budget ....and most of them can also be trusted to see you just once a year , and take no interest in your business at all until renewal time comes around, when they will walk in with a mock up of an ad  double the size of what you had the year before.........and as for 'media advisors'.....they are not going to advise you to do ANYTHING else but spend your money with them.....they want ALL your advertising budget.       

However , it must be said to Sasktel and mysask411 that Trusted is flattered that a little company like ours is being copied by such a big marketing machine like you!

Trusted just wants to point out that mysask411 should stick to who they really are .....TRUSTED PROMOTES THE BEST other directories just list the rest!   

 Oh..and we have a WAAAY better ' Thumbs up ' than mysask411!

Stay Trusted my friends..Safe and Trusted of course

The fall is happening in front of our very eyes right now in Saskatoon & Regina , and what a beautiful time of year it is ..especially if the wind doesn't blow all those brown, yellow , red and gold leaves staright off the trees and we have the wonderful weather we have enjoyed all Summer follow us into the Fall!  With Fall comes cooler nights and shorter days....and that means your furnace that has been sitting idle for months and months may require some help to get going ..or perhaps it is time to replace it for a quieter, more effeicient Furnace altogether! Thats when www.trustedsaskatoon.com comes to the rescue.

Trusted Consumer Alert Beware Furnace Con Jobs .

Saskatoon is still enjoying temperatures in the 70s, but cooler days are right around the corner. There's a growing concern about fly-by-night furnace contractors who may try to rip you off

1. What's the set-up for this con game? Like many contractor cons, this game begins with a knock on the door. The guy on your step may look the part – dressed as a workman, with a clipboard and tool belt – and he’ll offer a “free inspection” of your furnace. If you resist the offer, he might tell you horror stories about a neighbor “a couple streets away” who had major problems and was unaware of the danger or remind you of some real disasters that were recently in the news, like the house in Regina that blew up in May after an undiagnosed gas leak...or the Neighbourhood in California last year that was destroyed.  

2. What happens when the con man does the inspection? Without fail, the con man finds a huge problem, one that requires immediate attention – he’ll almost always try to convince you that the house will explode or that your home is filling up with noxious gases even as you’re talking to him – and he’ll offer to get his “emergency crew” to you the same day if you’ll pay some portion of the inflated estimate up front. If you resist, he’ll threaten to “red tag” the furnace, which he says would mean you’d have to have a city inspector out to restart service at additional costs.

3. What’s the reality here? Even if your furnace has a major problem, no reputable and Trusted company is going to claim that the house is going to blow up if you don’t write a cheque in the next five minutes. Most of the time – even in the worst cases – you can shut off the gas, open a window, and be safe enough to call for a second opinion. Whenever anyone tries to convince you that you need major repairs on the spur of the moment and wants money up front to start the job, you need to stop everything and think about the decision. Don’t allow yourself to be pressured, and definitely don’t let a con man throw you into a panic. Unless you’re talking to a city employee with proper identification or a contractor you’ve called to your home because you suspected a problem, there’s no reason to drop everything and run screaming from your home on the say-so of a stranger. Con men are experts at causing pressure and panic. Don’t fall for it.

 4. Do the furnace inspections offered by local dealers make sense? Absolutely!OUR Trusted companies offer Furnace inspections for a reasonable fee and SHOW you what to look out for , so you can rest assured in the future.It’s not a bad idea to invest in the visit. Most of the time, besides checking for cracks in the pipes, leaks, and other serious problems, the worker will change the filter and get the unit ready for winter. If you don’t know anything about maintaining a furnace, that’s a great way for you to stay ahead of costly repairs and make sure that your furnace is operating properly. Plus, there’s a certain amount of trust built into the fees a reputable company charges for its work. Companies might offer free inspections, and some do that as a courtesy, counting on a percentage of those inspections resulting in lucrative jobs, but the temptation for some businesses to find something wrong – anything wrong, really -- when they’re offering their expertise is pretty high.

Choose a Safe and Trusted Company to check on your Furnace ..like our 2nd Listing that went up this week J.O.B Heating & Air

J.O.B. Heating & Air

J.O.B Heating & Air has been serving Saskatoon since 1998 and they offer Air Conditioning, Furnace and Plumbing services to residential and commercial clients in and around Saskatoon. The crew at J.O.B. will not only come and fix , replace or check your furnace ..they also offer to training to educate the home owner on doing their own checking and take the time to explain what to look for and whats involved in keeping your AC & Furnace running smoothly. IF you are considering a replacememt furnace or AC unit they are a certified dealer for Lennox check out their website  here  to see everything they have to offer.   If you have ANY plumbing issues call them for prompt, courteous, professional and timely service ...After all, thats why they have been given the  ' Thumbs up' by www.trustedsaskatoon.com   

Our 2nd Trusted business that has a new listing in Plumbing Saskatoon is NOT a new Business to www.trustedsaskatoon.com at all..they have been Trusted since the launch in May..in the AC & Furnace category and the Electrical Category...they had such a great response from the public they wanted to invest in their great reputation some more and Trusted is THRILLED to be able to BRAG somemore about Gibbon Heating and Air our FINAL ( 3/3) Trusted Plaumbing company in Saskatoon 

Gibbon Heating and Air

Gibbon is such a great Saskatoon company and you can see their white vans flying around all over the city..with the Summer we have had in Saskatchewan ( and the hundreds of leads they have had from AC & Furnace and Electrician Categories on Trustedsaskatoon.com that go with it ) they have been so busy...yet they are very careful to maintain their high standards of business practice. They are now listed in the Plumbing category too, and you can be assured they will look after ALL of your Plumbing needs....RESIDENTIAL •Repairs, upgrades and installations •Tap/ Toilet repair & replacement •Hot water tanks •Repair all water line & drainage •Sanitary & storm sewers •Gas Lines PLUMBING – COMMERCIAL •Tenant work •Water line & drainage pipe repair •Commercial Hot water tank replacement. 

None of Gibbons clients are ' small potatos' to them, clients needs are of paramount importance to the Gibbon Team and  they definitely live by the 5 Trusted Guarantees , just like ALL the Trusted Businesses they are CONTRACTED to uphold them.    

TRUSTED GUARANTEES

1.Provide the service and quality promised.

2.Complete the job on time.

3.Charge the price quoted with NO surprises.

4.Communicate honestly and be responsive to customer needs.

5.Resolve any issues with customer satisfaction in mind.

 Stay Trusted my friends! Safe and Trusted of course

reference source BBB Oklahoma Sept, 2010