Using the Site

To use Smalltown, you will need to download Flash Player 8 or above. Like Smalltown, the Flash Player is free.

We apologize if you use an assistive device and are having trouble accessing Smalltown. We continually strive to improve the accessibility of our site. As we do, please offer us feedback.

If you have already installed Flash and would like to learn more about our site, please watch our screencast.

Creating an Account

You don't need an account to search and browse Smalltown Webcard postings, but you will need one to save your favorites, write reviews, participate in discussions, claim a business Webcard posting, or post your own listing.

To create an account, click Register in the upper right corner of the home page. Create a unique Screen Name, enter your email address, choose a password, and accept the Terms of Use.

Your Screen Name will appear on your profile Webcard posting and next to any reviews you write and discussions you post. Your email address is never displayed; it's used solely for signing in, receiving account notifications and, if you elect, for receiving discussion posts, reviews, and classifieds.

We do not sell account information. Please see our Privacy Policy or contact us if you have concerns about how your personal information is being used.

Signing In

Be sure to sign in each time you return to Smalltown, so you can gain full access to all the features of the site. To sign in, click the link in the upper right corner of the home page. You are signed in when you see your Screen Name followed by a Sign Out link.

If you are accessing Smalltown from your own computer at home or work, you can sign in automatically by checking "Remember me on this computer." Do not check this box if you are visiting Smalltown from a public computer.

If you forget the email address or password associated with your account, click "Forgot your password?"

To sign out, click Sign Out in the upper right.

Editing your Account

To edit your account, click Account in the upper right corner of the home page. (You will be asked to sign in if you haven't already done so.) Update your name, email address, and password.

In addition, you can modify your email settings. You can start or stop receiving discussion posts, reviews, and classifieds via email.

Your Profile

Your profile appears next to each review and discussion post you write, to identify you to others. You can add a photo and short description.

To edit your profile, click My Posts and then select Edit using the arrow that appears to the right of your profile Webcard posting.

Finding a Posting

When you initiate a search on Smalltown, you are searching Webcard postings within your town. (You can search a different Smalltown by clicking Visit Another Town.) For more precise results, choose specific keywords and combine them to narrow your search.

Click the tabs to move between Webcard™ postings, Reviews, and Discussions. Use the pulldown menu to arrange the results alphabetically or by ratings, or to view only businesses or classifieds.

To browse Listings, Reviews, or Discussions, select the appropriate tab.

Sending to a Friend

To send a Webcard, Review, or Discussion to a friend, find the posting and open it. Click Send to a Friend, which appears in the menu to the right.

Enter your friend's email address. (If you are sending the Webcard posting to more than one person, put a comma between each email address.) Your friend will receive a link to view the Webcard.

Printing a Posting

To print, find the posting and open it. Click Print Info, which appears in the menu to the right.

Saving a Posting

To save a Webcard posting, drag it to the Favorites pane to the left. Alternately, if the Webcard you want to save is open, you can click Add to Favorites, which appears in the menu to the right.

To view your saved Webcard postings, click the Favorites folder. Click the card to open it, or click the arrow to the right of the Webcard to remove it.

Creating a Webcard Posting

To create a new listing, click "Post a New Webcard." (If you are not signed in, you will be asked to Log In or Create an Account.) Add a title, photo, description, and keywords to help people find your Webcard posting. Finally, preview your posting, and then submit it.

Once created, your Webcard posting will appear under My Posts. You can open, edit, hide, or remove it using the arrow to the right of the Webcard posting.

If your listing has an expiration date, you will receive an email reminder near the end of its term. Edit your Webcard to adjust the expiration date. When your Webcard expires, it will be hidden but remain available to you under My Posts.

You can expire a posting before its expiration date by going to My Posts and selecting Edit from the arrow to the right of the Webcard posting. Alternately, you can select Hide to easily hide the Webcard from others, or you can select Remove to delete the Webcard altogether.

To make your Webcard posting even more informative and attractive to potential customers, consider enhancing it. Enhanced Webcard postings include multiple tabs to create a mini website.

Uploading Images

If you are creating a new Webcard posting or editing an existing one, you can add your own images by clicking the Add Photo button. Then, navigate to your image, select it, and click Open (PC) or Select (Mac). Smalltown accepts JPG and GIF image file formats up to 5MB in size.

When you upload an image, it is automatically cropped and resized to fit within the dimensions of a Webcard. If you prefer to pre-process your images, please see our Photo Specifications.

If you are having trouble uploading a JPG, it may be because the image mode is set to CMYK rather than RGB color. To solve this problem using Adobe Photoshop (or a similar photo editing software), open the Image menu, select Mode, and then choose "RGB Color." Alternately, it may be enough to simply open your JPG in Adobe Photoshop and save a new version of the image using "Save for Web" in the File menu. (This converts the mode to RGB for you.)

Claiming a Business' Webcard™ Posting

To claim the Webcard posting associated with a business, you must first search Webcards for the business. Locate the Webcard posting and open it. Click "Claim This Business." Enter your name and contact information. You will then be directed to edit the Webcard posting. Add a description and keywords to help people find your listing.

Once claimed, your business Webcard posting will appear in My Posts. You can open, edit, hide, or remove it using the arrow to the right of the Webcard.

To make your Webcard posting even more informative and attractive to potential customers, consider enhancing it. Enhanced Webcard postings include multiple tabs to create a mini website.

If you own a business and are having trouble claiming it, contact us.

Editing Your Webcard™ Posting

Click My Posts to see all of your Webcards. You can edit a Webcard posting using the arrow to the right of it.

When you select Edit, your listing will appear in edit mode. Once you have updated and previewed your Webcard, click Done.

Enhancing Your Webcard Posting

When you enhance your Webcard, you can include more information on tabbed panels that are connected to your Webcard posting to create a mini website. Simply name a tab and choose a template (e.g. photo gallery, bullet list (for menu items or services), special offer coupon, and more). Then add information. Repeat until you have customized each tab.

Preview your Webcard posting and all of its tabs.

Ratings and Reviews

Word of mouth helps you and your neighbors find the goods and services you need. Use Smalltown to rate and review local businesses, or to discover what others are saying.

To rate a business, find the Webcard posting and open it. Its average rating appears in the upper right corner. Click the stars to add your own rating.

To read reviews for this business, click Read Reviews, which appears in the menu to the right.

To write your own review, click Write a Review, which appears to the right of the listing. Or, you can click Posts, and then select New Review. Find the business you want to review, rate it, and write about your experience. (If you can't find the business you want to review, that's okay. Just type in the name of the business and proceed with your review.) For help with writing a review, see our Posting Guidelines.

If you are interested in being notified when new reviews are written for any business in your Smalltown, go to Account. Check the box next to "Reviews (Daily Digest)."

To delete a review you have written, go to My Posts. Select Remove using the arrow to the right of the Webcard posting.

Discussions

Looking for a particular product or service? Something to do? How-to advice? Start a discussion and ask your local community for recommendations. Or participate in discussions to answer others' questions.

To read discussions, click the Discussions tab. Each discussion appears on its own Webcard. Click to open the Webcard posting and read the initial post. Use the arrows on the left to page through the replies. To add your two cents, click Add a Comment, which appears in the menu to the right.

To start your own discussion, click "Start a Discussion."

If you are interested in receiving notification when new discussion posts are made, go to Account. Check the box next to "Daily Digest."

To delete a post you have written, go to My Posted Webcards. Select Remove using the arrow to the right of the card.

Deleting Posts

At any time, you can delete any listing, review, or discussion post that you have written. Just click My Posted Webcards and select Remove in the menu next to each Webcard posting you want to erase.

Reporting Posts

We do not review or moderate Webcards, Review, or Discussion Webcards; we don't want to be a censor or bottleneck. However, Smalltown does not tolerate abuse. If any Webcard posting violates our Posting Guidelines, Membership Agreement, or Terms of Use, we will intervene.

Your help is greatly appreciated. If you find something that is inaccurate or inappropriate, please click the "Report This" link located in the lower right of the Webcard posting.

Visit Another Smalltown

No matter where you live, you can get to any Smalltown from the Visit Another Town menu in the header. We build each Smalltown from the ground up, working directly with community members and local organizations to provide a service that truly reflects the spirit of the town. Tell us where you think we should head next.

Q: What is Smallltown and why should I use it?

A: Smalltown is your source for all things local. By searching Webcard™ postings, reading reviews, and participating in discussions with the other inhabitants of your Smalltown, you can discover great local businesses, services, events, and answers to whatever questions you may have.

We build each Smalltown website from the ground up with local townspeople–residents, business owners and community organizations–to create a vibrant marketplace. Every day, the Smalltown team works with your neighbors and local merchants to collect and deliver information that is accurate, relevant, and helpful.

If you're running a business, you should use Smalltown to connect with potential customers, buyers, renters, or job candidates. Through Smalltown, you can get the word out to thousands of people looking for services, products and entertainment. Simply create a Smalltown Webcard posting–it's free!

To make your Webcard posting even more informative and attractive to potential customers, consider enhancing it. Enhanced Webcards include multiple tabs to create a mini website.

If you're just running your life, you should use Smalltown to find your next favorite restaurant, a punctual plumber, a dog walker who speaks Pekingese, something fun to do next Saturday afternoon, and pretty much anything else you need or want.

Q: What is the Local Web?

A: In many cases, a single website can serve a huge audience. A company that sells books online can take orders from anywhere and deliver books to any location. But we believe one monolithic site is the wrong approach for serving the needs of local communities, so Smalltown is building a new Local Web: a network of hundreds of hyper-local websites for hundreds of towns.

For example, the locally-owned pizza parlor below our office in San Mateo, CA doesn't need to be on the World Wide Web because most of their customers are within a 20 mile radius of their restaurant. Smalltown provides a geographically relevant web presence, called a Webcard, for local businesses and residents.

Q: What is a Webcard posting?

A: Smalltown's Local Web consists of Webcard postings that feature the richness and functionality of a good, small website. Unlike websites with links, though, Webcards can be attached to other Webcards in a totally new way that enables users to interact with multiple Webcards at the same time on the same screen. Why is that important? Consider this simple example:

• Mary posts a Webcard to ask her neighbors "Can anyone recommend a good piano teacher for my daughter?"

• A neighbor, Tom, responds "Hey Mary, my son takes lessons from Kim downtown and I think she is fantastic. Here's Kim's Webcard."

• Then Tom attaches Kim's business Webcard to his note, and Kim's Webcard appears right there for Mary to use.

• Mary contacts Kim and stores her Webcard posting in her "saved" folder.

Webcard postings are much, much easier to create than websites. You don't have to purchase a domain, find a hosting service or write any html. And your audience can find you without the hassle and expense of purchasing ad words on the big search sites. Webcard postings are also very easy to change. The pizza parlor downstairs can quickly post their daily specials on their Webcard.

Q: Why should I create an account?

A: Anyone can search any Smalltown to read reviews and discover great local businesses. When you take a moment to create an account, you can also save your favorite Smalltown Webcards, create your own Webcards, write reviews, and participate in discussions.

Q: What does Smalltown do with my account information?

A: When you create an account, we ask you to come up with a Screen Name and a password, and to provide your email address. Your Screen Name will appear on your profile Webcard and next to any reviews you write and discussions you post. Your email address is never displayed; it's used solely for signing in, receiving account notifications and, if you elect, for receiving discussion posts, reviews, and classifieds.

Your account information is safe and secure. We do not sell account information. Please see our Privacy Policy or contact us if you have concerns about how your personal information is being used.

Q: How do I stop receiving email from Smalltown?

A: We know how it is; our email in box is overflowing, too. Smalltown doesn't want to send messages if you don't want them. To properly service your account, however, we will need to send account notifications from time to time.

If you want to stop receiving email (other than account notifications) from Smalltown, click the Unsubscribe link in the email. Or go to Smalltown.com, sign into your account, and then click Account. Un-check the relevant boxes next to Subscriptions.

If you are having trouble unsubscribing to email from us, please let us know.

Q: Can anyone post a listing, review or discussion?

A: Yes, as long as you create an account.

Q: Why do some Smalltown Webcard postings look different?

A: You can create Webcards for businesses, classifieds, reviews, and discussions. Some of the business and classified Webcard postings are enhanced, which means they include multiple tabs to create a mini website. Smalltown charges a small monthly fee for enhanced Webcard postings.

Q: How does Smalltown gather business listings and other information about the town?

A: Smalltown works with people in your town to develop the site. We then add information from the yellow pages and content submitted by users to build a unique site from the ground up.

Q: Why write reviews?

A: Reviews help others discover good businesses and avoid disappointments. The more reviews on Smalltown, the more informed everyone can be. It's especially important to write a review when you read one that you disagree with. This helps provide a balanced perspective for others.

Our hope is that your good reviews will encourage businesses to keep up the good work and your constructive criticism will encourage poor performers to do better. The goal is to build a better community through feedback, praise, and the honest truth.

Q: Does Smalltown moderate, monitor or edit posts?

A: No. We do not review or moderate postings; we don't want to be a censor or bottleneck. However, Smalltown does not tolerate abuse. If any Webcard violates Posting Guidelines, Member Agreement, and Terms of Use, we will intervene.

Your help is greatly appreciated. If you find something that is inaccurate or inappropriate, please click the Report This link located in the lower right of the Webcard posting.

If you have additional concerns, please let us know.

Q: When will there be a Smalltown for my town?

A: Soon, we hope! We build each Smalltown from the ground up, working directly with community members and local organizations to provide a service that truly reflects the spirit of the town. If your town is ready to be a Smalltown, please let us know.