We wanted to give you a quick update on several very important additions to our VeteranOwnedBusiness.com directory.  We will have a more detailed update next month that will cover all the changes that we made to the directory in the first half of 2009.

Sharing Capability:
Recently we added a sharing capability to all the category pages as well as each business listing page.  This great new feature allows visitors (and businesses with a listing) an easy way to share a business listing and/or category page with your contacts (via email) as well as social media networking sites.  Look for the red “share” link on the left side of each category page or up top (right side) of each business listing page.  This feature is especially useful for business listings that don’t have a web page.  This will allow you to share your business listing with potential partners, prospects and more.

Free Badge Banner Program:
A couple of months ago we added a new badge banner page where businesses listed in VeteranOwnedBusiness.com can download a badge to put on their site stating that their business is owned by a veteran and is featured on VeteranOwnedBusiness.com.  We also have a section where visitors can download a “VeteranOwnedBusiness.com Supporter” badge to use on a website, in email, in print and more.  Visit our badge banner page for more information: http://www.veteranownedbusiness.com/VOB_reciprocal_link.php.  We appreciate the 1000s of sites that have already set up a link to VeteranOwnedBusiness.com using one of our image badges or text banners.  It is thanks to off all you that people around the world have come in and visited nearly 700,000 pages this year.  THANK YOU!

Spotlight Sponsor Program:
We’ve created a spotlight sponsorship program that allows business listings the opportunity to showcase a discount, ad, coupon, etc. randomly throughout over 10,000 VeteranOwnedBusiness.com pages.  It also give additional features including a post in the Veteran Owned Business Directory Blog, get to add a logo to their listing, a coupon, discount or ad that runs directly on your listing and much more.  For more details about this great offer solely for business listings, visit our sign up page and view the “member sponsor” column: http://www.veteranownedbusiness.com/signup_plans.php.   BTW – listings with spotlights typically get about 90% more traffic than a normal listing.

New Non Profit Section:
Over the past few months we have added a new “non profit” sectionto VeteranOwnedBusiness.com.  This section highlights non profit organizations and businesses that offer free services to veterans, families of veterans, deployed troops, disabled veterans, homeless veterans and more including medical and legal help, assisted living assistance, help with VA benefits and more.  If you are a non profit organization, be sure to get your organization’s listing on VeteranOwnedBusiness.com by clicking on this link: http://www.veteranownedbusiness.com/signup.php?plan=4.  All non profit organizations listed receive a logo and post in the VeteranOwnedBusiness.com Blog at no cost of course.

That pretty much highlights the major changes to the VeteranOwnedBusiness.com Directory recently.  We will put out a more detailed update next month that will highlight all the major changes so far in 2009.

Facebook Fan:
Be sure to become a VeteranOwnedBusiness.com Face Book Fan to be kept up-to-date on new categories, special offers and more: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Veteran-Owned-Business-Directory/54394634281.

Follow VeteranOwnedBusiness.com On Twitter:
You can also follow us on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/veteranOwned.

Thank you for helping make VeteranOwnedBusiness.com a huge success!

Brian K. St.Ours, President
VeteranOwnedBusiness.com