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Issue 14 March 2008
Our Community NewsletterWith the first day of Spring just weeks away, many of us are thinking business will start to improve. People will be out and about. For those of us around the Gun Lake area, it means the beginning of increased population. Greater opportunities will arise. It may be now that one should begin to think about advertising. I have been thinking about it and the olcnow web site is beginning to focus on this area. I will attempt to offer articles and tips that might be of interest to you out there. Whether you are small, medium, or large business, there are always tips you can use. The last article in this newsletter is a part of that process as well as the new section on the web site www.olcnow.com . The Full page ad for the Shopping Guide is well on its way to being complete. If you missed placing an ad, you can still benefit from the Shopping Guide web site. You can get March, April, and May ad placements on the web site where you can direct your customers to look for your changing ads and coupons. Contact us for full details. Thanks, Jim In This issue:
Online Community issues.We are always looking at changes we need to make for the community web sites and as time permits we are changing a few things. We are always open to suggestions and would love to hear from you just email us at webmaster@gunlakeonline.com. 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. Shopping Guide Summer Quarter.The Summer Quarter is from June - August. We do not place a full page ad during the Summer Quarter, but the OLCNOW Shopping Guide is always up and your ads can be seen there through out the summer. Tell others about the community web sites and the Shopping Guide, it will help you and other businesses in the area. Look for special Summer quarter ad prices. We are reducing the price from the normal $18.00.That's only $6.00 a month and we are reducing the price. Check out www.olcnow.com for details. You'll be able to change your web ad each month if
we create it, or any time you want if you create your own ad. You can
create your ad with any program, just send it to us as a .jpg file or in a .pdf
format.
Although many of our clients just list their businesses with us, many are
looking for ways to advertise that are low cost and innovated. We believe that
this newest feature can be a great addition to their advertising needs. With
our overall goal of promoting the local area and
bringing local businesses to consumers and consumers to local businesses, the
shopping guide just may be the key. Below are some key points that we feel the
shopping guide can help in that area. Come on and join us. Working with many can have its benefits. Contact us for details.
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:With added information I have gained in the last few months, I will be changing the way I build your ads for the Shopping Guide and in information to build your own ads for us. It seems my approach may be just as flawed as many advertisers are. I decided to really look at ads in the local newspaper and those on the web, plus a few crash web searches about advertising and I discovered a basic flaw in my approach. Of course I will always consider my client first, but I will begin a new strategy with the ads on our web site. Here's one comment that made me begin thinking in a new way. 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. Instead of placing business name address phone etc at the top of the ad, We will place a headline that will draw attention to your business. Put the business information elsewhere in the ad copy, still big enough not to get lost. I will be changing many of the ads in the future, and if you advertise with us please check out your ad to see what we've done. Not any big changes to what you've sent me and I'll always be glad to make further changes or return your ad to the way it was. 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. Our goal is to promote local businesses. Webmaster |
The importance of shopping local:courtesy of Wayland Chamber of Commerce
OLCNOW SHOPPING GUIDERemember, we do not placea 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 opnly) Contact us for details Gun Lake Winterfest 2008Gun Lake Winterfest seemed to go off well. Hope you attended. If you have a comment good or bad, or you'd like to sign the Guestbook, you can do that at www.olcnow.com/winterfest. Just click on the button "Your Suggestions!". You don't even have to sign your name if you don't want to. The committee would be glad to see what you thought about the Winterfest or what you'd like to see changed. You can still purchase an ad on the winterfest pages. It will stay there until we begin next years Winterfest. 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. ChangesWe are still working on our changes to the community websites. Caledonia Online is the third site to receive the latest changes. And there are more changes coming. We are reformatting the web pages to be compatible with the 1024by 768 screen resolution that the majority of users have their computers set to yet easy to see at smaller and larger sizes. . Keep watching your community site to see what we are changing. Logo 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 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. SuggestionsFeel free to suggest something for the newsletter, community websites, or the Shopping Guide. One suggestion already made was to include a report on fishing at Gun Lake. I am not a fisherman, so I have no idea. So what I am looking for is someone to provide the information and I will publish it on the Gun Lake site with their byline. 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. March 1st Saturday - OLCNOW Shopping Guide proposed Spring Quarter ads. |
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. eAnnouncer:Free Outlook add-in, that can help solve some of your customer
email problems. I use it to send out emails to tell everyone the newsletter is
ready to be viewed. 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.. Ten Tips for Improving your Return On Investment of your newspaper advertising   Website addresseswww.gunlakeonline.com Contact:
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