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Issue 16 May 2008
Our Community NewsletterIn an effort to make the Online Community websites better and to serve both consumers and businesses, we are in the process of making our websites better and more usable to the community. This will be a drastic change to the looks and feel of the websites. We are in the beginning of the changes and hope to have it completed by the end of July. One never knows how long it will really take as we are changing a lot. One of the big changes will be the fee structure of the websites. In some cases the pricing will be reduced, in others the price will be the same. Number one on our list is to make the business listing side a membership. New listings will pay a one time membership fee of $10.00. This price may go up in the future, so new listings should get in now. Existing business listings will get a membership free and have the ability to change their existing listings to what ever type they desire. There will still be Standard, Logo, and Banner/Logo Listings, but their cost and benefits will be altered. We will let you know what those changes areas we go forward. Number Two all new and existing Standard Listings will be free with membership. The Logo and Banner/Logo Listings will enjoy benefits of links to their websites and email contact and reduced rates for other services that the Standard Listing will not have. Banner/Logo Listings will appear first in the listing categories followed by Logo Listings and then Standard Listings at the bottom of the Listings We will keep you informed as we go along. We believe that this new system will increase our visitors to the websites. Thanks, Jim In This issue:
Online Community issues.Not enough usage of our business Listings! This is the reason for the changes discussed above. What is needed by those who list with us is to let your customers know that you are listed in the Community websites. This will create traffic and benefit everyone. While out talking to many of you, there is a concern on cost effects. It seems many consumers are not indicating that they found you from our websites and they you feel the need to use other resources for your business. We are only in the infancy of our service and it may take a while, but you can help yourself and others by letting your customers know you are listed with us. We believe that keeping all listings local lets your potential customers see you before they see a listing for the same service form out side of the local area. We want consumers to purchase locally, where we will all benefit. Hang in there, it will get better with your help and with the proposed changes we are going to make. We are always open to suggestions and would love to hear from you just email us at webmaster@gunlakeonline.com. OLCNOW Shopping Guide.New pricing details.
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: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 GUIDEHow 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. Changes:The Community websites and associate websites will become a membership. Currently it will be a one time fee of $10.00. Current listings receive a free membership. We will contact you with more information. Coming soon: The ability to pay your Invoices online or purchase services and join our membership. 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. 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. May 5th - Cinco De Mayo 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. 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..
Contact us if you need information or help designing ads for our websites or Shopping Guide. |
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
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ALWIL Software, the producer of avast!, decided in June 2001 to help to solve this situation by offering avast! Home Edition free of charge for home users who do not use their computer for profit. To get industry leading antivirus protection for your home PC, download the software, and then register it. avast! 4 Home Edition can only be used by home users that do NOT use their computer for profit. avast! 4 Home Edition is a complete antivirus solution, fully able to find computer viruses, to create and check the integrity of programs installed, to test executed programs and opened documents, to test and check email and other functions. Scanning is also available in the shell extension and screen server. You can read about avast! 4 Home Edition here. You can get avast! 4 Home Edition on our download page. You can later register it on a special avast! 4 Home Edition Free Registration page, where you can also request a renewal registration. You can also access our frequently asked questions section in case you are having difficulties with your product, or visit the forums where many questions have been or can be answered about the product. Website addresseswww.gunlakeonline.com Contact:
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New
viruses are being found "in the wild" all the time. Further, the speed at
which these new viruses spread is increasing all the time. A key problem is
not that antivirus programs do not detect such viruses, but the fact that
most users do not use any antivirus program at all or, perhaps worse, the
antivirus software and / or virus definitions database is out of date.