San Mateo Daily Journal

Just applied to publish my first FBN, I have never done anything in the world of business and all these fees and legal things that need to get done can be overwhelming.
I am not all that pleasent when I am stressed out, but I talked to a very sweet lady named Maria at the Daily Journal, she went out of her way to help me and she was very professional and easy to talk to.
I will definitly go through these people again for any future publishing needs that I have.

I live in a large senior housing apartment facility on Half Moon Bay where we used to get delivery of about 20 free copies of the SMDJ 6 days a week by 6:00 AM. In the past few months there have been many days when no papers have been delivered. I was told by one of the editors whom I called to ask why late and no delivery issues and was told that due to a medical issue, there would be another delivery person who would be arriving later than before as the new person had another route to be completed before going to HMB. So, much to our disappointment there have been many days when no papers were delivered, and calling and emailing distribution seems to be of no help. I hope that the rates that the DJ charges for advertising, which are normally a measure of the papers circulation, take into account that those numbers need to be reduced by the non-​deliveries that occur much too frequently at this location.

I love reading the San Mateo Daly Journal it’s cool paper the best in reading 100% two thumbs up 5 stars paper Your the best paper.

This review is based on their advertising sales practice. I advertised my business’s services and the ad expired a couple months ago. I let them know I would call them when I was ready to advertise. A person named Chris will call my business up to 5 times a day, at least 3 times a day and sometimes ask for a call back, and sometimes hang up. This has been going on for 6 weeks straight. The call source is always recorded for my business calls, and my staff provide it to me. It’s always the SM Daily Journal. I run a business, so am incredibly busy. I have no need for the advertising right now, and did not return the calls immediately over, say, a potential client call that would generate my business some revenue. It’s absolutely horrible that they think this is a good way to build a business relationship. Now, if I am in the position to want to advertise again – why would I call them up? I do not do business with people that harass me and my staff on a daily basis. I will go elsewhere. If I had someone interested in my business, but they didn’t buy or return my call right away, and I decided calling them 5 times a day for a month and a half was a good thing, I’m sure they would have me arrested. It’s just mental and not a good approach. Advertising manager – train your sales staff on the value of building POSITIVE potential client relationships. And especially on how to keep those already advertising before. When I’m ready to advertise, I will be going to any number of Bay area publications, but dear god, never this one again. My next move will be a BBB complaint if it keeps up. The publication has been emailed with my complaint with a request for my email to be seen by the advertising manager.

I will never use this newspaper again. I picked them because it was surprisingly difficult to find a local newspaper with FBN publication information online, and they allowed me to handle everything by phone and email. However, they were difficult to communicate with, didn’t keep me informed or send a proof before publishing the FBN, and made numerous mistakes that could very easily have been avoided. When I politely pointed out the mistakes they were very rude and difficult to deal with. I wasted so much time dealing with them. I have another FBN to publish, but I will never deal with them again.

adverting was easy and simple

After reading the review from Kabira Halima C. it seemed to easy, but it was as easy as she wrote from her 3÷31÷2009 review. The price hasn’t changed still $ 40.00 for a 4 week general circulation in the newspaper in San Mateo County.
I called to inquiry on how to file for a Fictitious Business Name Statement to be publish in the Daily Journal.
Kevin was quite helpful and put my mind at ease. Thank you fellow Unilocaler, Kabira for the your review.

I LOVE this paper.
I’ve always preferred it to its competitor, SM Daily News, because the Daily Journal has a much better format, style, and color photos! It’s just designed well.
One of my favorite aspects of the paper is the «Know it All» section on the first page inside – it’s awesome trivia facts and I always learn cool stuff. It reminds me of the Chronicle’s «Grab Bag» except the Daily Journal has a theme with the section. I look forward to it each time I read the paper!
The DJ website is good, too. I’ve advertised in the classifieds with this paper, and not only did they suggest a better way to format my ad (it looked so much better with their suggestion) but I did get new business, thanks to them.
The paper is a frequent supporter and contributer to local events and organizations, which is wonderful. They are a paper for the Peninsula, and they support their community.
Gale in the office is awesome. she has the cutest Rhode Island accent.

This peninsula boy loves his stomping grounds dearly. So, when The San Mateo Daily Journal came out, I was delighted to have a paper to read on line exclusively devoted to the peninsula. As with the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon (see my reviews,) the coverage is purely local with national and international news; but the local coverage is full of character and hominess, going in depth and doing a great job of talking about the good, bad, and ugly effecting all of we peninsulans. I love how the site is formatted with links to the different sections at the top and captioned stories toward the bottom which allows you to more easily choose what you do and do not want to read. I love the lifestyle section which covers a plethora of issues from cooking to travel to new cars and just about everything in your life. I love voting on the different topics that they have posted at the bottom of the site every day. Their search feature kicks butt, allowing you to search by key words, date, and issue. I always get the results that I am looking for. The writers are very professional and thorough, leaving nothing to chance. So, for complete peninsula news coverage by professional staff, The San Mateo Daily Journal cannot be beat. Keep up the good work guys.

I called for rates in registering a fictitious business name as I registered a business name in San Mateo online a couple of days ago. The legality is that we need to advertising the business name within 30 days in a general circulation newspaper distributed in San Mateo County; the advertisement must be published once a week for four successive weeks. I thought I should take action immediately by calling for pricing.
I spoke to Gail who was very helpful in giving me information. This is rare for someone who answers a main phone number line which is why I’m giving 5 stars.
Here is the info:
* It costs $ 40 for 4 weeks if I’m a single filer with a single business name; if there are more filers and more business names then it is $ 8 extra for each.
* I should receive 3 forms in the mail from San Mateo county. 1 for the newspaper for filing the fictitious business name, 1 for the bank in starting an account and I believe 1 for my records. Once I receive the form for the newspaper, I send or fax it in to the newspaper, they will take the info from the form, create and publish a fictitious business name statement.

The DJ is an independent newspaper, rare in these parts. Wish people would appreciate that, along with the fact that we have four free dailies in the area. The newspaper is very good at running letters. Its events calender and prep sports coverage are outstanding. Needs a good copy editor, however. Spellcheck isn’t enough.
Jim Clifford
RWC

Note: There is a bias in this review, but that will be obvious.
I started writing for this newspaper in 2001. I still do, perhaps not as much as I could, but I’ve stayed for one primary reason despite the fairly low rate I receive for my contributions: I’ve been given the freedom from my editor, Jon Mays, to write what I’m interested in and to write in the voice and style that I choose. It’s always been this way. They trust my instinct, and are open to my ideas, and this reflects the mission of this independent and community publication in general.