Frequently Asked Questions

What is VipraLoka.com? What is its purpose?

www.VipraLoka.com is a Community Website, aimed at bringing Brahmins from diverse backgrounds. The site aims to act as a directory/listing service for Brahmins of varied backgrounds - especially those who perform independent services or carry out independent businesses.

While we have created a plethora of categories that covers a wide variety of businesses and service areas, if you find any category missing or lacking on the site, please bring it to our notice.

The site does have infrastructure already in place for many other areas including classifieds, matrimony and many other community oriented services but they will be unleashed only based on future needs and the Administrators' judgement.

Is listing my business/service on VipraLoka.com Free?

VipraLoka.com manages the listings through product groups. There is a product which allows free listing for each registered user. While the free listing product is aimed at Service Providers like Acharyas, Religious Institutions, Mathas, etc., commercial businesses too may be listed for free under special circumstances.

So in short, yes listing on VipraLoka.com is free for now and if this policy changes in the future, due notice will be provided to all the listed members and they can make a decision that is suitable to them.

Why should I list my business or Service on VipraLoka.com?

Listing your Business or Service on www.VipraLoka.com will provide your service an opportunity to be discovered, to be found on the ever-more important internet. Google and other prominent search engines keep indexing our sites at regular intervals and even if an internet user doesn't directly come to www.VipraLoka.com, they still have a chance of discovering your service/business because the search engines would have indexed your business/service.

There are many sites aimed at bringing the community together from spiritual and religious point of view. This site also aims to bring a sense of belongingness among the community members from economic perspective so that the community members can lead a self-reliant dignified life.

What if somebody else has listed my Business or Service?

It is quite possible that a good samaritan from within the community may have submitted your business or service to increase your market reach. However, it is in your interest to be in control of such a listing. For such cases, please contact us and we will be able to help you suitably.

Is there a limitation on the number of Businesses/Services I can list?

For each registered user, we have configured 5 number of Free Listings. If you are running a large chain of businesses, you can "Contact Us" and we will be very happy to create a custom package that allows you to list and manage more than 5 businesses.

What if a Business / Service listed is dubious? How to validate?

Well, given the nature of internet, it is quite likely that a business / service may be listed which may never be existing in reality. To avoid such situations, we do talk to the people who have submitted such listings and verify a few details. In spite of this basic validation, there may be a case of a dubious listing so we advice all our visitors to exercise caution while availing the services.

The website www.VipraLoka.com, its owners, its administrators or any of its staff members shall not be responsible, not liable for any loss - financial or otherwise you may incur due to transactions of any nature carried out with any of the service providers listed here.

As a good samaritan, we request you to bring such dubious listings to our attention immediately by clicking on the "Report Listing" button available underneath each listing on the page immediately so that we can take corrective action.

Help - I am not able to contact a business/service based on the contact information provided

It is likely that the business / service providers may have changed their phone numbers or have moved out of the field of business / service which they may have listed on the website. We plan and carry out refreshing activity for all our listings from time to time yet there may be some stale listings.

Please bring such listings to our notice by clicking on "Report Listing" button underneath such a listing on the listing page. We will be able to take suitable corrective action.

I don't own a business or provide a service, how can I help?

Thank you very much for your interest in building and making the community stronger. There are many ways in which you can help us and the community alike. We have listed a few of these means below but do not limit yourself to only these

1. The first and foremost way you can help us and the community is by spreading the word. So, by informing your Brahmin friends and family members about www.VipraLoka.com, you can increase the outreach of the website. This in turn will help those who are seeking the services and those who are offering services to come together
2. The second way you can help is by encouraging the Brahmin business and service providers in your circles to list. Especially for people who are not internet savvy and focussed on marketing like Acharya/Purohits, Caterers, Cooks, etc., you can even help them enlist by guiding them through User Sign Up and Listing Submission procedures
3. Like and Share our Facebook page so that our reach can increase
4. We are operating on a very lean budget as this is a voluntary service provided by us towards the betterment of the community. You could participate as a volunteer in several of our activities in your spare time.

If you have any other way in mind which you think can help us, please call Shrinivas Kakkeri on 95357 44889.

What is the Listing procedure?

It is our continued effort to make the Listing procedure as easy as possible at the same time keeping adequate checks within the system so that the purpose of the website is not diluted with too many dubious listings. So, the procedure to list is continually evolving.

Please note, if you are using a mobile phone to browse the site, the menu items are not same as in a computer screen. The following procedure is applicable for desktop browsing.

1. Register on the Website using the "Sign Up" link available on the top menu
2. During registration, please provide valid email address and cellphone number
3. Following the registration, Login to the site with your newly created username/password combination
4. Click on the link "Add Listing" and follow the instructions on the screen
5. Complete as many details as you can on the screen and Submit

If you are not able to complete your listing or you encounter any error, please contact us using the "Contact Us" link in the menu or give us a call on 95357 44889.

Tips: We have a few tips for improving listing visibility in the FAQ section.

I have just now submitted the Listing, what happens next?

1. Once you have Submitted the details on "Add Listing" page, the system saves your submission and sends a notification to the website Administrators
2. The Administrators will login to the site and view the details you have submitted
3. They may call you to verify or suggest a few changes to your listing
4. If any edits are required, they are made and the listing is Approved by the Administrators
5. This generally takes anywhere between 1 hours to 24 hours depending on the Administrators' availability
6. On Approval, the system sends an email to the address you would have provided on the user profile
7. The Listing then onwards becomes visible on the website www.VipraLoka.com

If you are not able to complete your listing or you encounter any error, please contact us using the "Contact Us" link in the menu or give us a call on 95357 44889.

How many categories can I select during Listing?

The site allows selection of up to 8 categories for one listing. If you have multiple businesses/services, please consider listing each of these businesses separately. If you have a single business/service and it caters to multiple categories, please select the most relevant categories and use the "Description" area to provide details about other categories that could not be selected due to the limitation of 8 categories.

Also, if you cannot find the category to which your business/service belongs, please reach out to us using "Contact Us" link on the menu, we will be very happy to enhance the category lists.

Some Tips for better visibility of the Listing

Following are a few tips to make your listing stand out and be easily searchable and visible:

Title - This is the first and most important field. Keep the title as relevant as possible. If you are listing a business, you should consider adding the nature of business too.

For example, if I were listing VipraLoka.com website, I would have its title as "VipraLoka.com - A Web Based Directory of Brahmin Service Providers and Businesses".

Another example is the listing of service providers, primarily Acharyas/Purohithas "FirstName LastName - Madhwa/Smartha/SriVaishnava<other> Purohitha based out of <Town Name> for all Karyas"

Friendly URL - This field automatically gets changed when you type in the Title. Do not make a change if you do not know or understand what a Friendly URL is.

Logo - This is optional, you can upload and use your business logo if you have one. Otherwise a default image is displayed

Categories - Select the most relevant and as many categories as applicable to your listing.

Short Description - Explain in a few words about your Business or Service. The Short Description is displayed in the Search Results so use phrases and words that best describe your listing.

Description - This field allows you to use different text formatting like Bold, Italic and numbered list and bullet list. It also allows you to upload and use an image if it suits your listing.

Keywords - Use as many keywords as you want that further makes your listing easy to search. But keep them as relevant as possible to your listing else your listing may not be approved.

Contact Details (Address, Phone Number, Email Address) - Provide accurate details so you can be contacted. If you are a shop/establishment that has limited hours of operation, use the "Hours" field to add day-wise hours.

Location - Select the Town / City where you are generally based out of. There are a few service providers who are flexible with the city - For example, Acharyas from Bangalore traveling to Tumkur or vice-versa. Select your home town in Location and use the "Description" field to explain that you are willing to travel and provide services in other towns and cities.

Help - I did Sign Up but I don't see my details on the site

Chances are that you have Signed Up as a user on the site but have not submitted your details through "Add Listing" page. Please note, when you click on "Add Listing" page for the first time, you are not logged in. So the navigation takes you to "My Account" page and asks you to login with your username / password or "Create an account now" if you are not already registered.

The details collected in the "Account Registration" are different from the business/service listing details. Once your Sign Up is complete, you should navigate to "Add Listing" page again, login with your username/password and then submit your business/service details.

If you have submitted a Listing indeed and not able to see it, the possible explanation is that it is pending Administrator's approval. This can be verified by logging into your account and verify the listing status.

What if I want to change/edit my Listing?

We encourage all our listing owners to review and update their listing every 3 months and keep their contact information and description on the listing relevant. To edit any listing that you have submitted, you need to login with the registered username/password combination into your "My Account" section. You will then see all the listings you have submitted under the "My Listings" section. Underneath each listing, you will see a "Manage" button. Click on the "Manage" button and on the resulting page, you would see an "Edit Listing" button. Click on the "Edit Listing" button and make suitable changes and submit.

Once you have submitted your changes, the listing goes into the Administrator queue for moderation. The Administrator would be approving the changes after which your listing will reflect on the website.

What if I want to take off my Listing?

If you have listed your business/service yourself: It is possible that you have changed your line of business or service and want to take off your listing. To do so, login to your VipraLoka.com account using the registered username/password combination. Once you have logged on, you will see all your listings in "My Listings" section of "My Account" page.

• Click on "View All" button next to "My Listings"
• In the resulting screen, click on "Cancel" button and follow the subsequent instructions

If the VipraLoka.com Administrator has listed on your behalf: There have been many listings submitted by the VipraLoka.com Administrators on behalf of Brahmins who do not have internet connectivity or comfort in registering their services themselves. Such Brahmins should contact the VipraLoka.com Administrator using "Contact Us" page or the phone number 95357 44889 and provide the listing details and ask to be removed from the site.