I used an online service called Ning to make a map of green businesses. You can submit your green business or search for others near you using an easy google-maps interface. My green web hosting customers already know about this new project, but I have been holding off on telling others about it. Growth seems to have reached a plateau around 60 or so sites, so I think it’s time to open it up to a wider audience to test it out. The criteria is pretty loose for listing, I only ask that you get one of the various eco label certifications out there for green business. There’s no approval mechanism yet, so I hope it doesn’t get spammed or Exxon lists itself on it. But there is a rating system built in so that others can rate each green business on a 1-5 star level.
Thanks to Gina and others at Ning for help getting it running. I am very intrigued about the Ning platform. I think a lot of people without programming skills will really like it. However, as a developer/entrepreneur I am not sure about the revenue generating capability of it – because you’re not allowed to run advertisements on the site. The whole site is really in a beta stage, there are some performance slowdowns occationally. However, I am optimistic that Ning will be a really big thing soon. Go check it out – Green Business Map
Technorati Tags: google maps, green business, ning, mapping, sustainability
Hi, I love the idea of your Green Business Map, its similar to something I was thinking of doing with Ning.
But ….. its a great pity you’ve restricted it to US based businesses by not allowing for adding a country – there are Green businesses outside the USA!
We have a network of sustainable businesses in our part of Australia, and there is another network in Melbourne, I’d love to add those businesses but can’t as it stands now.
I could go ahead and clone the application, and fix it, but it makes more sense to have a single app in this space than duplicates for international and US biz.
Let me know if you plan on fixing it, or whether I should go ahead and clone.
- Mitra