thenorthernbeaches.com.au is designed to support the northern beaches community - businesses, residents and visitors. At the very least the website provides a directory of businesses which exist within the northern beaches.

Advertising on thenorthernbeaches.com.au is strictly limited to businesses based on the northern beaches, there are no links to paid advertising that is not based on the northern beaches.

thenorthernbeaches.com.au is managed by Comformark Pty Ltd, a software development business based in Mona Vale, since 1990.

Our love of the northern beaches is what prompted the development of this website, we know that the vast majority of residents on the northern beaches have similar loyalities.

 Unlike some "Australian" websites thenorthernbeaches.com.au is hosted on webservers based in Sydney.

Why is this important? Firstly we are committed to supporting local businesses, and secondly Australian based websites are much faster than websites based overseas, so our users get the information they are looking for much quicker and the website experience is more satisfying.

 No, anyone can use the website from anywhere in the world. However, advertising is restricted to users and businesses based on the northern beaches.

 We are different from other website directories in the following ways...

• Advertising is strictly for northern beaches businesses and residents. Try to find a local business on some web directories and you'll end up finding businesses from anywhere in Australia, if not the world!
  
• We charge for ALL our advertising, which means that every one of our advertisers is serious about their business, so when you find a business here you can be sure they want to serve you.
  
• All our advertising is entered from current businesses. Many other directories have information gathered from unreliable sources which is often wrong, or inaccurate! You can be sure that the information displayed here is up to date and reliable, so you save time.
• Our advertisers have full control over the content in their ads which provides users with more information and better service.
  
• thenorthernbeaches.com.au is not just a directory for advertisers, we are also a community based website. The northern beaches community can participate in much more than just advertising!

Banner images are the images that appear at the top of thenorthernbeaches.com.au, just below our logo. These images are loaded dynamically, and randomly, when a user loads a new page on our site. If a user clicks on your banner image they will be taken to your home page on thenorthernbeaches.com.au.

Each business plan allows for one banner image.

You have complete freedom over your image, for instance you could use...

• An eye catching image
• Your company logo
• A full text image, such as your business name
• A representation of your business card, with your business name and logo image.

The images you upload as banner images should be sized to fit within a 640 pixel X 480 pixel rectangle. They will be resized to fit the banner image size automatically.

Business Plan advertisers on thenorthernbeaches.com.au get your own "Home Page" where you can advertise your business to users of the site.

The size and features of the home page depend on the business plan you choose.

All home pages feature a web page editor, which allows you to customize the page, you can even design your home page in a word processor and paste the contents from there into your home page.

If you have an external website you can create links to that website from your home page.

You can also create links to Google® maps by simply checking a box.

Home pages are allocated a number of characters.

Business Cards are allowed 1000 characters which is equivalent to about 80 to 100 words. 

Other business plan home pages are restricted to 5000 characters which is a good size for one page. Any larger and they become harder to navigate, and slower to download. 

The short answer is that you don't need any skills! If you can't use a computer, or don't have a computer, we can put you in touch with designers who can develop your site for you, at very reasonable rates.

If you can use a word processor, you have the skills needed to create a Business Card site, or Shop Window site. 

If you have a digital camera you can probably create suitable artwork for most sites.

If you're not the least bit artistic, we can provide you with a photographer, or graphic designer who'll assist you, and work with you to whatever level of support you need. All at reasonable cost.

If you have existing artwork, from printed advertising, or another website, there is an excellent chance you can use that in your website on thenorthernbeaches.com.au.

Even our most complex business plans are relatively simple to implement. In most cases all you need to do is "fill in the blanks" and upload appropriate images to support your site. But, if you want to be more creative, then you can be!

 To create and manage your advertising...

To add a new advertisement

1. Click on the "New Advertisement" button. A series of steps will guide you through the process.
2. On the form that opens, enter a description of your advertisement. This description appears as a popup description on the links to your ad. eg Tom's concreting
3. Choose the type of advertisment, and the Pricing Plan you prefer.
4. Then specify some key words for your advertisement to aid searching.
5. Finally, upload image(s) for your ad.
   

Designing your ad

1. Click the "Design" button to edit the text and appearance of your advertising.
2. Different types of advertising have different options available. Each page will have additional guidelines to help you.
   
3. Click the "Preview" button to see how your advertising will look when published.

Activating your advertising to make it visible

1. When you are happy with your advertisment, click the "Pay" button to pay for your advertisment. Successful payment will publish your advertisement and make it visible to other users of thenorthernbeaches.com.au.
2. Note that this step is required for all advertising, even free ads.

 

Before your advertisement becomes visible to other users, it must be activated.

Activating an advertisement lets you verify that you have the correct ad details, and you have the type of ad, and pricing that you meant to choose.

Then click on the "Pay Now", or "Subscribe Now" button and complete the payment process. Doing so will automatically activate your advertisement.