Berks Connect

Advertising Disclosure

Last Updated: September 10, 2026

BerksConnect offers free business listings, optional paid listing plans, and sponsorships. Payment can affect where a business appears on specified parts of the Site. This disclosure explains that placement, how paid placement is identified, and what payment does not change.

The Short Version

Businesses that purchase Plus or Premium pay for increased visibility. On relevant category and city-category pages, Premium listings receive the highest plan priority, followed by Plus, then Basic. Premium businesses may also rotate through prominent, labeled positions on other parts of the Site, such as the homepage and the sidebars of our news pages.

Sponsorships are a separate, higher tier sold by written agreement. A category sponsorship holds one of three numbered positions at the top of a category for a fixed term. A section sponsorship puts one sponsor's name on a whole section of the Site, such as the news desk, the jobs board, or the events calendar. Every sponsored placement carries a visible label. See "Sponsorships" below.

Payment affects visibility and display order. It does not change a business's displayed rating, BerksConnect's summary of recurring themes from public reviews, factual information, category eligibility, or editorial coverage.

What's Free

Eligible local businesses can have a Basic listing on BerksConnect at no charge. Business owners can also claim or submit a business without purchasing a paid plan.

  • Business page: A Basic listing can include contact information, hours, categories, descriptions, services, and photos.
  • Owner control: An authorized owner can claim a listing and keep its information current.
  • Publishing tools: Claimed businesses can publish jobs, events, deals, and announcements and use available AI-assisted writing and image tools.
  • Listing analytics: Claimed businesses can see available aggregate activity such as page views, website clicks, calls, and direction requests.
  • Visitor access: Visitors can search, browse, and view business information without charge.

Paid Listing Plans and Priority Placement

Plus and Premium are paid listing plans. The current plan benefits and prices are shown on our business plans page. The surfaces where paid visibility appears currently include the following, and may change as the Site evolves:

  • Category pages: On relevant county category and subcategory pages, Premium listings receive priority over Plus listings, and Plus listings receive priority over Basic listings.
  • City-category pages: The same Premium, Plus, then Basic plan priority applies on relevant city category and subcategory pages.
  • Homepage: Eligible Premium businesses may rotate through prominent business positions on the homepage.
  • News pages: Clearly identified business promotion may appear beside our news pages, alongside but never inside our reporting. When the news desk has a sponsor, that sponsor holds the labeled box beside each story (see "Sponsorships" below). Payment never affects what our news coverage says.
  • Additional plan benefits: Paid plans may include higher photo limits, plan badges, and upgraded support as described on the plans page.

Paid priority can cause a lower-tier or Basic listing to appear later than it otherwise would. A listing plan does not guarantee a fixed numbered position, a particular number of impressions or clicks, exclusivity, leads, or sales; only a sponsorship holds a numbered position, and no placement of any kind guarantees leads or sales. Eligible businesses may rotate, and display order within a plan tier may vary by page, selected sort, relevance, and availability.

General keyword search does not use plan level to order its standard results. When a search matches a sponsored category, that category's sponsors appear in a labeled group at the top of the results, in position order, ahead of the standard results. As a business, we may introduce, adjust, or retire paid placements and advertising products over time. We keep this disclosure accurate in all material respects, and the principles under "What Payment Does Not Change" apply to any placement we offer.

Sponsorships

Sponsorships are sold by written agreement for a fixed term, most often twelve months, and are described with current rates on our advertising page. They are the highest paid placement on the Site and sit above every listing plan.

  • Category sponsorships: A category has up to three numbered sponsored positions at its top. One business holds each position for the term, everywhere that category appears, including the matching city-category pages and the top of matching search results. Sponsors also rotate through labeled sponsored spots in blog posts, and sponsors in high-demand categories rotate on the homepage.
  • Section sponsorships: One sponsor may hold a whole section of the Site: the news desk, the jobs board, the events calendar, or the deals section. The sponsor's name appears in a credit on the section's pages and, for the news desk, in a credit line on each article and the labeled box beside each story. Individual event pages carry no sponsor credit.
  • Site sponsor and community sponsors: When offered, a single site sponsor may be credited under the BerksConnect logo on every page, and community sponsors may appear in a labeled logo grid above the footer. These are recognition placements; they do not change any listing's position.

A sponsorship buys a placement and a label. It does not buy editorial coverage, a favorable description, a rating, a review summary, or a place in a category the business is not relevant to. A news desk sponsor's name appears beside our reporting, never inside it, and the sponsor has no say in what we cover or how. Sponsorships are not sold self-serve and are not refundable under the Site's general refund policy; the sponsorship agreement governs each one.

How Paid Placement Is Identified

Every sponsored placement carries a visible label where it appears: Sponsored on a numbered category position or an in-content spot, Underwritten by on the news desk, and Presented by on other sponsored sections and credits. The label marks a paid position so that a reader can always tell it from an organic one. It is not an endorsement.

A business on a paid plan displays a Plus or Premium badge on its business cards and other applicable display surfaces. That badge identifies the business's paid BerksConnect plan. It is not a quality rating, verification of every business claim, editorial endorsement, or statement that the business is better than another business.

Founding Member is different. It recognizes the first 100 businesses that complete an accepted claim or new-business submission, regardless of whether they remain on Basic or purchase Plus or Premium. Founding Member status is not a paid plan and does not itself purchase priority placement.

What Payment Does Not Change

  • Ratings and public-review summaries: Plan level does not change displayed ratings or BerksConnect's summaries of recurring themes from public reviews.
  • Factual information: A business cannot pay us to alter accurate factual information or hide accurate unfavorable information.
  • Descriptions and editorial content: Payment does not purchase a more favorable editorial description, blog post mention, article, or recommendation. Sponsored spots inside blog posts are labeled advertisements placed beside the writing, never mentions within it.
  • Category eligibility: Businesses must be relevant to a category or location to appear there. Payment does not buy placement in an unrelated category.
  • Competitor removal: A business cannot pay to remove, suppress, or change the content of a particular competitor's listing. Paid priority can still affect the relative order in which listings appear.
  • Content standards: Free and paid businesses are subject to the same accuracy, moderation, safety, and content rules.

Editorial Independence

Our factual and editorial work is separate from plan placement. Business information, category eligibility, public-review summaries, and editorial coverage are not made more favorable because a business pays us. For more information, see our Editorial Policy.

Other Advertising and Affiliate Relationships

Paid listing plans and sponsorships are the business promotion described on this page. Any other advertising BerksConnect offers will be identified as commercial where it appears. The presence of an advertisement or a sponsor credit does not constitute an endorsement by BerksConnect.

BerksConnect does not currently participate in affiliate marketing programs. If that changes, we will update this disclosure and identify applicable affiliate relationships.

Why We Charge

Paid plans and sponsorships help fund the technology, data maintenance, reporting, moderation, customer support, and continued development required to operate BerksConnect while keeping a useful Basic listing available without charge.

Related Policies

Paid plans are also governed by our Terms and Conditions and Refund Policy. Each sponsorship is governed by its written sponsorship agreement and the sponsorship terms attached to it.

Questions or Updates

We may update this disclosure as our business model or placement surfaces change. If you have questions about paid placement or this disclosure, contact us:

Berks Connect
4712 Penn Ave, Unit 7090
Sinking Spring, PA 19608
Email: hello@berksconnect.com
Phone: +1-484-650-3808