Thursday, January 22, 2009

Press Release!

John Graffio, CEO and founder FindItByMe.com, Inc is excited to announce the immediate availability of its flagship service, the FindItByMe.com local directory search engine. Currently featuring listings in Fallbrook and Bonsall, California, the web site provides unique benefits to both consumers and business subscribers. The search part of the web site was developed over a ten year period by Mr. Graffio and allows a visitor to the site to search by street, category, phone number or name of business. Featured listings are showcased in banners at the top of the site. Quick links to interesting categories are listed for quick and easy access to frequently requested categories. Listings feature the name of the business, their location, main phone number, hours of operation, and images of their business, products and services with captions, associations the listing is a member of, a written summary of the listing and a street map with an aerial view of their surroundings.

The FindItByMe staff is always searching out new businesses and verifying that information on existing businesses is current. The company plans to release significant enhancements to its offering before the end of the second quarter: ability to search for multiple items at once, driving directions to and from listings, search for businesses that are currently open, maps of parking lots that are adjacent to each listing’s physical location, search in multiple languages in addition to English and making the service available on GPS units and cell phones. The benefits to business subscribers include the ability to get on-demand reports of how, when and how often their listings were found and accessed as well as the ability to make online updates to their listings. Four very affordable plans are offered to the business subscriber in addition to a very basic free listing which anyone can sign up for.

The primary goal of the company is to assist consumers in their search for local goods and services and for small businesses which want to attract local consumers who may be leaving the area when they don’t have to. Mr. Graffio states that large retailers often have virtually unlimited advertising budgets that small to medium sized businesses simply cannot afford. He also states that small businesses can always create a web site, but they often find that the initial and ongoing expense and lack of control over their own content distracts them from actually spending time on their own business. This is simply too great a burden for a small business to bear, and an unnecessary drain on their time and money. Mr. Graffio believes that small and medium sized businesses deserve a more level playing field when it comes to advertising and communicating with their customers, so FindItByMe.com was born.

The company plans to offer the same benefits other to communities in the near future and is drafting a franchise plan that would allow area specialists in other areas to make very comfortable incomes affordably serving the needs of their own communities. Mr. Graffio observes that the news is full of announcements of large companies happily shedding tens of thousands of “positions” at a time without regard to the domino effect their actions have on actual “people” who now can’t pay their mortgage or feed their family. Mr. Graffio adds that small businesses always have employed the majority of people, and we need to get back to that. FindItByMe.com will play whatever role it can to make that dream a reality.