Bring may flowers.
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Bring may flowers. |
Issue 15 April 2008
Our Community NewsletterCheck out the section OLCNOW Shopping Guide and the section Advertising in this issue. Are we paying attention to all the details of our business? Are we letting customers know that we advertise specials and that we have a web site or are listed on various websites? See more in the articles below. I'd like to get some feedback from those of you who read the newsletter. Tell me what you think. Have an idea! Want to share information with others? The Community websites and now the OLCNOW Shopping Guide is a concept that I felt would help local businesses. Local Customers could search for local businesses without sorting through the listings or ads from Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, or Battle Creek. As a group we can make life a little easier. The Newspaper ads for the shopping guide is just one benefit. A small business size ad isn't lost some where in the paper. It's in color and grouped with others to stand out and be recognized. Email me. Newest feature to be added to our website www.olcnow.com is our ability to accept online payments securely. We will send you an email when each segment of online payments are ready for use. We will be starting out by setting up our listing options with pay online instead of invoicing. Then soon after we will be offering the ability to pay your invoice from us online. You will be able to use your credit card to pay your bill and save yourself the cost of a stamp. We will send you an email when this function is set up this month. We will also be offing to email you a pdf of you invoice instead of mailing it to you. You will be able to go directly to our invoice payment page, enter your business name, invoice number, amount you are paying and then be directed to a safe and secure area to enter your payment information. Thanks, Jim In This issue:
Online Community issues.Slowly I am making changes to the community websites. If you have been to one of them recently, you may have noticed the change. Caledonia and Middleville have not yet received the change. It's coming soon. The websites have been set up to be best viewed with screen resolution set at 1024 by 768. This seems to be the standard at the moment for most browsers. Originally we let the web pages span out to fill the whole screen for those with larger screen sizes, but some of the information would be cutoff on smaller sizes. Most of the information except the right hand column views well with 800 by 600 screen resolution. Lager screen resolutions view the websites centered on their screens. I would like to see more community events sent to us so that those who drop by our websites can see what's going on in the area. At the bottom right of this newsletter are the community website URL's. If they are close to your business you may want to consider listing and advertising with us. We are always open to suggestions and would love to hear from you just email us at webmaster@gunlakeonline.com. OLCNOW Shopping Guide.How can you get more people looking at your ad and other businesses as well? Take time to tell your customers that you advertise on the web site olcnow.com/shop. Tell them to watch for your ads and coupons if you are offering coupons. When they view your ad they will also look at the others that are advertising as well. Take the time to change your ad at least once a month to give them something to look forward to. Offer something to the first few that mention seeing your ad. If each merchant mentions the Shopping Guide it will generate more traffic and that means your ad will be viewed. Mention all the places you run ads. Tell your customers you run newspaper ads and radio promos, that your listed on web sites, or have your own website. If you are going to run a sale or have a special event in the near future, tell your customers to watch for it on the web, and place that information there, just as you would your newspaper ad. If you run an ad for April, May, June, July, or August, take that information and place it on the Shopping Guide. Since the Shopping Guide has links to your web site, it may get your customers to go to your website and tell others about it. You can help yourself and other businesses as well. Spread the word. If your paying for it you may as well tell your customers about it.
There are many consumers out there that are looking for coupons. If you can,
send us a coupon or content for a coupon to place on the shopping guide. Advertising:Advertising isn't just for gaining new customers. It is to inform your clients and prospective clients as to what you have to offer. "Prospects don't care about your business, but they are interested in how your business can solve a problem or meet a need that will help improve their situation. Always focus on people's needs." Advertising can take on many aspects - TV, Radio, Newspaper, flyers, online websites and listing services. Each serves a purpose. If you advertise using any of these methods, you are probably thinking "New Customers". While you may gain a few customers with your advertising, you may want to rethink who sees your ads. Your current customers and your competition may react more than a new customer will. It has been said that it takes 6 to 7 times of viewing an ad before those reading it will actually react to an ad. A reason why many of you placing coupons in the paper may only see a few out of the 20,000 to 40,000 circulation. Should you stop your current advertising, because you are wasting money? No, by all means NO. Name recognition is the key. The more your name is viewed in your ads and in all possible venues the more likely a potential customer will think of you when he is in need of your service. Word of mouth may be the best advertising any business can have. That's why we always treat our customers courteously and try to satisfy their needs. They will let others know of our services, prices, and helpfulness. Which brings me to a little used method that small businesses have in their grasp. It can be free or at least low cost. Email. We are not talking about SPAM. Are you collecting email addresses of your current customers? If not you should. Ask if they would like to be informed of specials, sales, new products coming in. Then get their email. Even if you don't run a special, email them and thank them for their business. It promotes good will and they may let others know of your friendly business. What about potential Customers. If you have a web site, place a form on your website to capture email addresses of those who visit your site. Offer them something free for signing up - a service or free information just from you. Tips they might be interested in knowing that pertains to your business. If you own a pet service - give tips on care and feeding, own a service related business give out tips on how to recognize problems. The key is to interest them in your business, and it's not SPAM, because they signed up to get your email. I will be glad to sit with you and work out a plan for your using email. Don't have time to do this, perhaps you'd like to have us send out your email for a small fee. Don't have an idea for free tip information to offer, we may be able to assist you with this also. Don't have a website - we can help with that also. There are many options in this area as well. Start collecting email addresses even if you are not ready to implement a plan of action. When you are ready you'll be a head of the game. Oh and by the way you won't have to write each email out or use addresses to all your emails in the "send to" section. There are free and low cost solutions for this. Our goal is to promote local businesses. Webmaster |
OLCNOW SHOPPING GUIDERemember, we do not place a Quarterly ad in the newspaper for the summer quarter. Those who purchased an ad for the March quarter got a bonus and received the Summer quarter free. If you were not one of those, you can get the summer quarter at a discount price (web only) Contact us for details Business HighlightsDon't forget to email us your promo information. If you have been to our
websites you will have noticed a box containing information about an area
business. It is not an ad. It is a promo about your business - how long you've
been in business, what services you provide, and any other information you feel
potential and current customers would like to know about you. We move them about
from time to time on all the community websites to promote your business to
everyone. ChangesLogo Listings are now $12.00 for new businesses joining us. Otsego Online is no longer the name of the Plainwell/Otsego area community website. It is now called Twin City Online and the URL address is www.twin-cityonline.com SuggestionsFeel free to suggest something for the newsletter, community websites, or the Shopping Guide. The importance of shopping local:courtesy of Wayland Chamber of Commerce
Notable Dates to Keep in Mind.Whether or not, you use our Shopping Guide or ads on our community websites here are some notable dates coming up. Plan your ads to reflect these dates. Design or have some one design your ads for us or for the newspapers in plenty of time. April 1st - April Fools day Want an event mentioned in our newsletter? Contact us with the information and have it published here and on our Community events page of all the community websites. Check out the new section on building your own ads on www.olcnow.com The web pages are password protected, just email me for the username and password at jim@boxwebs.com. This will help me know how many of you are interested in doing your own ads. We keep all email addresses confidential and do not sell or give that information away. |
Freebies & Discounts.From time to time we will use this section to direct you to where you can find free software, utilities, and other free services. If we hear about it we will let you know. Disclaimer:free office suiteOpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. Contains a Data Base, Calc, Draw, Math, Impress, Writer. All the same features of MS Office only free. It is a large download. Go here to download. ScreenHunter 5.0 Freeis a
completely free screen capture software for you to easily take screenshots.
Click on the ad below and download free from their
website.. Want to create pdf files, but can't afford Adobe Acrobat. CouponsRemember you can place a coupon on OLCNOW Shopping Guide for free. Send us copy of your coupon offer and we will add it to the website..  Website addresseswww.gunlakeonline.com Contact:
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