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Columbus Underground Messageboard » Tag: chillicothe - Recent Posts http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/tags/chillicothe ColumbusUnderground.com Messageboard en-US Wed, 22 May 2013 14:39:23 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/search.php News on "Chillicothe - Development News & Updates" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/a-closer-look-at-chillicothe#post-467243 Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:46:43 +0000 News 467243@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Demolition plans draw controversy 6:54 AM, Oct 15, 2012 Written by David Berman Gazette Staff Writer <img src="http://cmsimg.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=B8&Date=20121015&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=210150302&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Demolition-plans-draw-controversy" /> CHILLICOTHE -- A dispute has been brewing on West Second Street, where residents are crying foul about Ware Funeral Home's plans to demolish a historic home and replace it with a parking lot. READ MORE: <a href="http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20121015/NEWS01/210150302?nclick_check=1" rel="nofollow">http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20121015/NEWS01/210150302?nclick_check=1</a> News on "Chillicothe - Development News & Updates" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/a-closer-look-at-chillicothe#post-450995 Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:28:18 +0000 News 450995@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ More partnerships, development options on mayor's 'to-do' list 7:19 AM, Jul. 21, 2012 Written by Loren Genson Gazette Staff Writer <img src="http://cmsimg.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=B8&Date=20120721&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=207210302&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&More-partnerships-development-options-mayor-s-do-list" /> Mayor Jack Everson spent his first six months in office taking care of issues that were top priorities for managing city operations. Now, he says he can begin turning his attention to other tasks he intends to accomplish. Everson, in reflecting on his first six months leading the city, said he would characterize them as being full of surprises and progress. Right away, in January, he was tasked with handling union negotiations while overseeing a transition in administration with a staff made up of primarily longtime city employees. READ MORE: <a href="http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20120721/NEWS01/207210302/More-partnerships-development-options-mayor-s-do-list?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp" rel="nofollow">http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20120721/NEWS01/207210302/More-partnerships-development-options-mayor-s-do-list?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp</a> shop4localdeals on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-439723 Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:24:06 +0000 shop4localdeals 439723@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Jon, thank you so much for all the advice and keep sending it my way. I'm hoping that a "now" friend is going to allow me to use his coupon platform but I need to change some of his ideas. There is so little good advertising companies in the smaller cities and towns that I want to pounce on. The local newspaper is so corrupt and all they want to do is take the businesses money and run. The good thing about you is that your ideas, well you can put them into writing and tell the world. My ideas get stuck in my head and can't even pop out of my ears! Until I get the thumbs up for the new site I added a simple forum and hopefully all the yobs and thugs will post their views. Oh no what have I done! Thanks again Jon for your advice, kind words and guidance to drive me in the right direction. <a href="http://shop4localdeals.com/yard.html" rel="nofollow">http://shop4localdeals.com/yard.html</a> Mark JonMyers on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-439537 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:55:18 +0000 JonMyers 439537@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Thanks I'm happy to help. This helps me get my thoughts outta my head for something I'm about to do, so it helps me as well. A few other thoughts. One of the biggest things to understand is that this stuff is not a one-size fits all strategy. If you're taking a cookie cutter approach you're not going to achieve maximum impact, and you're not baking in a defensible position for your business because someone else can easily come along, copy your advantage, and create noise and confusion in the markets your competing. When you're a content driven business like yours on a low budget, brand, the tactics you use to get your message out, and hopefully stick in the minds of your audience is probably your best hope for a defensible position. Put your users, your customers at the center of everything, and listen. Pay attention, and become obsessed with the data and metrics that govern your business, and you'll get the information you need to identify positioning. A last point. Constantly experiment. What worked for me a year, two years ago, doesn't always work now. There are always business altruisms, but in terms of tactics it's fluid. If you can, you need a sandbox (sites) to play in, run your marketing experiments, and measure the results. I maintain some sites, which have little commercial value, but serve this purpose well. It can be as simple as setting up a Blogspot blog, and hiring someone on oDesk to populate it with content in a niche, and running experiments against it to test results. Another tactic is using a landing page platform like <a href="http://www.unbounce.com">Unbounce</a> and running pay per click advertising campaigns against the page you've created. This way you can measure interest for a product or service in a niche by targeting keywords people seek said products or services. You can set up a page in 30 minutes on Unbounce, and you can set up and optimize a Google geo-targeted PPC campaign in a few hours. PPC is not for the inexperienced though, and can be a money pit. Be careful, and research it thoroughly. I used to do a lot of these kind of experiments. Now my focus has shifted. In most cases of marketing the goal is to fail as quickly as possible because most things won't work. You need data to back up your failures, quantify them and learn. When you do strike upon something that works scale it as quickly as possible, and keep in mind that it won't work forever. You always have to be thinking - what's next. Ahhhhhh, the fun of it. :) shop4localdeals on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-439534 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:05:09 +0000 shop4localdeals 439534@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ <blockquote><cite>Mister Shifter <a href="http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-439331">said</a>:</cite> If you're going to reach out to people via social media you may try to avoid typing in walls of text with lots of weird punctuation like using consecutive periods (....) every other sentence. I'm not trying to be snarky or facetious with this message. It's just that if you're going for professionalism, and want to attract businesses and customers, it can seriously hinder your chances of engaging prospective clients. Many people often don't want to read large blocks of text with spotty grammar. Best of luck. Super awesome advice from Jon btw, wow. </blockquote> Jon has given some fantastic advice. Sorry for writing large blocks and being spotty! But I will take your advice kindly, it makes me laugh because I don't even realise what I do half the time. I am English, but don't hold that against me. Thanks for the friendly nudge and I have taken note......Ooooops sorry ;O) Mark Mister Shifter on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-439331 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:06:46 +0000 Mister Shifter 439331@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ If you're going to reach out to people via social media you may try to avoid typing in walls of text with lots of weird punctuation like using consecutive periods (....) every other sentence. I'm not trying to be snarky or facetious with this message. It's just that if you're going for professionalism, and want to attract businesses and customers, it can seriously hinder your chances of engaging prospective clients. Many people often don't want to read large blocks of text with spotty grammar. Best of luck. Super awesome advice from Jon btw, wow. shop4localdeals on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-439063 Tue, 05 Jun 2012 23:40:36 +0000 shop4localdeals 439063@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ I have taken note of you all especially Jon. Thanks to you all, really....A major revamp is on it's way and it's going to be awesome. And I've just been give a ROYAL CARIBBEAN 3 Night Bahamas Cruise (worth $1200) by one of my advertisers to giveaway....I am going to add some news feeds until the revamp and looking into blogs....When I say thank you, I mean it from my heart...It's great to get guidance from good people and people that want you to succeed.....Mark JonMyers on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-439055 Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:28:49 +0000 JonMyers 439055@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Shoot, you're lucky, brag away. I wish my coding skills were stronger like that. I'm scouring around for a front-end coder at the moment because my layouts tend to be too complicated, and I can't code em' myself. I know enough to tweak stuff, spec, and communicate technical requirements, but that's it. I've been dabbling around on <a href="http://teamtreehouse.com/">Treehouse</a> and <a href="http://www.codeacademy.com">Code Academy</a> to try and get up to snuff. There just isn't enough time in the day, so it's better to work with experts. I suppose looking at what I wrote that all seems over the top, elaborate, and a lot of work. I enjoy it, so it's not really work, and the advantage it gives me is worth it. Second, and most important, it doesn't have to take that much time. The whole process usually takes 30 minutes of my day, if I'm feeling inspired it might take 60 minutes. It's just like checking email. I believe this process could give most people, in most industries an advantage given the rate of change in business. Now, what is really over the top is listening to podcasts all day while you're working. If you wanna go mutant I can give you a list. :) <blockquote><cite>alexs <a href="http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-438929">said</a>:</cite> Jon, you make me feel like a complete slacker. So much for bragging about coding HTML in Notepad. </blockquote> alexs on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-438929 Tue, 05 Jun 2012 07:41:23 +0000 alexs 438929@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Jon, you make me feel like a complete slacker. So much for bragging about coding HTML in Notepad. JonMyers on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-438909 Tue, 05 Jun 2012 00:55:27 +0000 JonMyers 438909@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Sounds good Mark. One thing, at least you're actually doing something rather than just talking about it. So cheers to doing something. A few resources, and blogs, which might be helpful for getting up to speed, and maybe this is helpful for others, so I'll get my ramble on, and throw it out there. Research Resources: 1. Activate/ use <a href="http://www.google.com/reader">Google Reader</a>. It allows you to "subscribe" (via RSS) to news and keep all your news sources in one place. 2. If you have an iPad I would highly recommend downloading an app like <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CF4QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Freeder%2Fid325502379%3Fmt%3D8&ei=B5bNT9TdMcTW2gWCoa2MAg&usg=AFQjCNFKvEQ6UX50ftPAepR8Td6K-Vj7Iw">Reeder</a>. This allows you to import all the blog and news subscriptions you track into an elegant, trackable easy to read format. 3. Sign up for <a href="http://www.instapaper.com/">Instapaper</a>. This gives you the ability to "bookmark", and read later, articles that you intend to take action on within your business. This combination allows me to track, skim, and gain actionable insights for my businesses from over three hundred news sources. These sources range from science blogs, technology blogs, marketing blogs, photography sites, and design blogs, and on, and on. It takes me 30 - 60 minutes in the morning to get my skim on. You can grab your coffee and just get this done. If you're not constantly staying on top of developments in this business, you're not in the game. That's all there is to it. A few other news resources: <a href="http://techmeme.com/">Techmeme</a> is my homepage, and has been for over 5 years. They aggregate news from lots of different mainstream and tech blogs, and display what matters. It's one "discovery tool" I use. Another is <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/">HackerNews</a>, which is similar and something I check religiously. I also am active in a lot of other forums where I gain information, which is relevant to my businesses. Some are paid forums. Also, this allows you to network, identify partners, and gain some needed mentorship for scaling your business. Find your peers, and form accountability partnerships to keep you on track. I honestly believe having an information consumption strategy is a must for any business owner, and it's especially a must for anyone playing the online game. Also, the beauty of an information consumption strategy is that if you find something that is relevant to a client or prospect you can "share" that information with them. Sharing is much better than badgering someone with "hey, hey, did you get my proposal??". They received it. Every business exchange should contain a seed of value. Sharing high value, relevant information is a good way to plant those seeds. Lastly on this point, it becomes fodder for your social strategy and helps you discovery, and "get the goods" that matter to the audience you're serving. Of course, skimming and reading isn't enough, you must determine what is actionable (if anything), take notes and integrate that into your process. Obviously sometimes you're just feeding your mind, shaping your mental models as an entrepreneur. Anyhow, for the action part I use <a href="http://evernote.com/">Evernote</a>. This is a note taking system that allows you to take notes on your computer, smartphone, and tablet device. These notes can be "web clippings" of a particular insight, text, audio or image notes. You can create different notebooks for your business research and all your notes are stored in the cloud, synched and accessible on any device. It's a brilliant tool I use everyday. Blogs Here are a few decent blogs on design to get you started: Design <a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/">Smashing Magazine</a> - while they also cover social marketing, they dig into design in a thoughtful way. <a href="http://speckyboy.com/">Speckyboy</a> - here you will find some technical information, design info, and design inspiration. Design Inspiration <a href="http://dribbble.com/">Dribbble</a> - this is where designers go to share what they're working on. There is some amazing work on there. Marketing <a href="http://www.copyblogger.com/">Copyblogger</a> - this is a good place to start wrapping your head around what to write about, the voice of how you write, and how to effectively communicate with your prospects. <a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com">Chris Brogan</a> - he puts the folks in folksy, while a bit basic, and the equivalent of the Tony Robbins of social media, I think this is another good starting point. Sign up for the free newsletter on there. <a href="http://www.problogger.net/">ProBlogger</a> - another good resource for marketing and copywriting information. Tech Startups If you're interested in the tech startup game, here are a few of the old standbys: <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com">Techcrunch</a> - it used to be a lot better. No longer the leader in tech news they were, but still worth checking. <a href="http://www.pandodaily.com">PandoDaily</a> - a new comer in this world. I'm digging the writing on here. <a href="http://mixergy.com/">Mixergy</a> - I love this site. The site owner, Andrew Warner has interviewed over 700 startup founders who share their successes and failures in a podcast format. Put this on when you're tired of listening to music and need some inspiration. Keep evernote open and take notes. One last thing on getting up to business speed. If you were only going to read two business books in your life read these two: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Ocean-Strategy-Uncontested-Competition/dp/1591396190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338875332&sr=8-1">Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant</a> At its core this is a book about differentiation. How do you differentiate your business, your products and services. To me this is the essence of business, and the book provides many stories of differentiation (creating new markets), and a quantitative framework for developing a differentiation strategy for your business. The second book is this: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Business-Essentials/dp/006124189X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338875505&sr=8-1">Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion</a> by Robert Cialdini Persuasion, asking people to change a behavior, to do or buy something is at the core of any business. This is the ultimate book on influence. Alrighty, over and out. Take care. shop4localdeals on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes/page/2#post-438881 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:24:51 +0000 shop4localdeals 438881@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ <blockquote><cite>Graybeak <a href="http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438764">said</a>:</cite> Hey now! The arrows have already stopped flashing. It looks like someone is taking advice. Yay. </blockquote> I took the bulbs out the arrows and threw them....I took all the advice and am using it to my advantage. I hated being told off when I was a kid, so I guess the kid came out in me....thanks all....."Mark" shop4localdeals on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438850 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 18:34:08 +0000 shop4localdeals 438850@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Thanks to all you crazy people....In a couple of weeks the site will look very different and I am taking a very new direction. It does look like junk mail that comes through the door but I am only using advertisers that are at the top of their game, it's just hard to get my idea into a website. But thanks to you all for calming me down. I am so laid back normally, oooops sorry. I just hate that the newspapers do the same and now putting their ads online and don't really care about the businesses, just the money they get given every week. Oh well, look out peeps for a all new improved website, i hope! Love you all ;O) Mark Graybeak on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438764 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:08:41 +0000 Graybeak 438764@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Hey now! The arrows have already stopped flashing. It looks like someone is taking advice. Yay. Roland on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438760 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:49:41 +0000 Roland 438760@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ <blockquote><cite>Snarf <a href="http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438758">said</a>:</cite> A seizure waiting to happen. </blockquote> <img src="http://www.transformer-ivan.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/startrek_freakout.gif"> Snarf on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438758 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:41:58 +0000 Snarf 438758@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ <blockquote><cite>Roland <a href="http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438757">said</a>:</cite>You have something here. </blockquote> A seizure waiting to happen. Roland on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438757 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:37:06 +0000 Roland 438757@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ That website is all banner ads. It's like the online version those annoying plastic bags full of junk mail that get thrown on my porch every week and go straight to the dumpster. The advice given above is excellent. Consider it well. Don't take the criticism personally. Would you rather find out that your approach is flawed now? or months later? I do applaud the effort to promote local businesses. You have something here. Just need to approach it differently. DocMedPot on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438736 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:54:09 +0000 DocMedPot 438736@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Thanks Jon for taking time to post many of the same thoughts I had about this topic. While my comments earlier came off snarky after looking at this site, again it still seems to me as being the same type of spam I delete daily, i.e. big flashing banner ads. Mark(shop4) while your post may have seemed innocent to you, to many it came off as unprofessional, needy and as mentioned spam-like. When you post as a business entity on social websites expect some negative comments from it's users. You want to enter discourse about your business site do so in a revelant manner not begging for Facebook likes. JonMyers on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438716 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:07:46 +0000 JonMyers 438716@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ @FoodFort, yep, agreed on SBB. I'm quite familiar with SBB, and Wolf happens to be a friend of mine. I think they do a great job, and I love how they interact with the community. I do think the towns Mark is targeting could use some similar help. FoodFort on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438659 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 07:50:11 +0000 FoodFort 438659@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ <blockquote><cite>JonMyers <a href="http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438642">said</a>:</cite> Hey shop4localdeals, I say that because you barely offered up your name, Mark. It's also why you're probably being perceived as a spammer. People communicate with personas or real names and pics on here, showing up with a logo and company name is like showing up at a party with a trench coat on, walking up to everyone, flashing them, and asking them if they wanna buy a watch. Anyhow, I'll bite. Cheaper is not better. You need traffic, and more engagement to justify the business case you're making. At this point, the business case is unjustified because it clearly doesn't have the reach of your competitors. Your customers are relying on your social promotional skills, the value of which is dubious. I had a look at your site, and I'll give you my 30 cents as someone who makes a living doing this sort of thing, design and marketing. I enjoy thinking about and sharing feedback on these things. Your site doesn't build trust. It's unprofessional, and confusing. There should only be ONE call to action at the top, not 5 arrows screaming at me, and confusing me. There should be a clear, succinct message communicating what YOU do, and what you want ME to do. There should be no flashing gifs on there period. It's the visual equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs. The organization of information on towns (Circleville, etc..) is confusing. You're not offering any valuable content about these towns. The content that is there has zero voice or personality. For a community site there is no sense of "community". No pictures, no story. Have a look at a Groupon email offering. A large part of their success is copywriting. They have a voice in their copy, a flair, fun, and can make something as mundane as dry cleaning seem exciting. Find a voice. Serve and excite these communities. The paradigm of clipping coupons (I'm assuming people print and clip these coupons) is clunky and ill-suited for the Internet. At least if you want to scale the business to other small towns. That said, you probably have identified a niche, and underserved market. Your execution is off. Think of this thread as raw unfiltered feedback.... Reflect, iterate, and improve... Or get sensitive about it, and continue to think your business is perfect. Up to you. In terms of Facebook Likes they must be earned. Think of them as a vote. Nobody is voting for you because you're not engaging them, entertaining them or providing valuable information. Promotions can earn Facebook Likes, but they must be more strategic. Just simply giving away something for a Like isn't as effective anymore. It's not what you're giving away, it's how you're giving it away. There is no spark, no creativity in the promotions I saw on your site(s). A platform to host your Facebook promotions is Wildfire. <a href="http://www.wildfireapp.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.wildfireapp.com</a> - again though, it has to be more strategic. Watch what the big boys like Whole Foods is doing with promotions. They just had a brilliant contest that used instagram and Facebook. Look to other social platforms like instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter and integrate these into your strategy if that's where you determine your prospects spend time. One last thing once you get that site cleaned up. Have a press room on your site. This means having downloadable bios, fact sheets, high-res logos, and so on for members of the press. Getting press in Columbus, and especially in the towns you're targeting is dead simple. Make it easy for them to write about you, have a place you send them for info about your business. When you have a social media promotion that is relevant and community focused, reach out in a friendly and succinct way to the press and include a link to this press room. You can reach out by email, over Twitter (most of the press members are on there), or just by picking up the phone. I guarantee you if you are direct (as a humble person, not as a company being perceived as spammy), if your site looks professional, and your promotion is exciting for the community you will get press, which leads to more engagement and more likes. It's not rocket science, it just takes some work, and social intelligence. Be empathetic to the needs of everyone you're serving be it the press, your advertisers or consumers. What excites them, what problems do they have, and how can you help? The press wants fun, fresh, feel good stories gift wrapped for them, advertisers want loyal customers through the door, and consumers want to feel good about their community, to be entertained, and value for the money they spend in these communities. Alright, I've rambled on too long, but you get the point. Clean it up and make it more engaging and professional or keep it as is because it's perfect. Again, it's up to you. Good luck. </blockquote> Some people would pay a lot of money for the free advice. Take a look at SBB as a model - they do a lot of buy local campaigns. JonMyers on "Facebook LIKES" http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/facebook-likes#post-438642 Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:55:18 +0000 JonMyers 438642@http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/ Hey shop4localdeals, I say that because you barely offered up your name, Mark. It's also why you're probably being perceived as a spammer. People communicate with personas or real names and pics on here, showing up with a logo and company name is like showing up at a party with a trench coat on, walking up to everyone, flashing them, and asking them if they wanna buy a watch. Anyhow, I'll bite. Cheaper is not better. You need traffic, and more engagement to justify the business case you're making. At this point, the business case is unjustified because it clearly doesn't have the reach of your competitors. Your customers are relying on your social promotional skills, the value of which is dubious. I had a look at your site, and I'll give you my 30 cents as someone who makes a living doing this sort of thing, design and marketing. I enjoy thinking about and sharing feedback on these things. Your site doesn't build trust. It's unprofessional, and confusing. There should only be ONE call to action at the top, not 5 arrows screaming at me, and confusing me. There should be a clear, succinct message communicating what YOU do, and what you want ME to do. There should be no flashing gifs on there period. It's the visual equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs. The organization of information on towns (Circleville, etc..) is confusing. You're not offering any valuable content about these towns. The content that is there has zero voice or personality. For a community site there is no sense of "community". No pictures, no story. Have a look at a Groupon email offering. A large part of their success is copywriting. They have a voice in their copy, a flair, fun, and can make something as mundane as dry cleaning seem exciting. Find a voice. Serve and excite these communities. The paradigm of clipping coupons (I'm assuming people print and clip these coupons) is clunky and ill-suited for the Internet. At least if you want to scale the business to other small towns. That said, you probably have identified a niche, and underserved market. Your execution is off. Think of this thread as raw unfiltered feedback.... Reflect, iterate, and improve... Or get sensitive about it, and continue to think your business is perfect. Up to you. In terms of Facebook Likes they must be earned. Think of them as a vote. Nobody is voting for you because you're not engaging them, entertaining them or providing valuable information. Promotions can earn Facebook Likes, but they must be more strategic. Just simply giving away something for a Like isn't as effective anymore. It's not what you're giving away, it's how you're giving it away. There is no spark, no creativity in the promotions I saw on your site(s). A platform to host your Facebook promotions is Wildfire. <a href="http://www.wildfireapp.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.wildfireapp.com</a> - again though, it has to be more strategic. Watch what the big boys like Whole Foods is doing with promotions. They just had a brilliant contest that used instagram and Facebook. Look to other social platforms like instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter and integrate these into your strategy if that's where you determine your prospects spend time. One last thing once you get that site cleaned up. Have a press room on your site. This means having downloadable bios, fact sheets, high-res logos, and so on for members of the press. Getting press in Columbus, and especially in the towns you're targeting is dead simple. Make it easy for them to write about you, have a place you send them for info about your business. When you have a social media promotion that is relevant and community focused, reach out in a friendly and succinct way to the press and include a link to this press room. You can reach out by email, over Twitter (most of the press members are on there), or just by picking up the phone. I guarantee you if you are direct (as a humble person, not as a company being perceived as spammy), if your site looks professional, and your promotion is exciting for the community you will get press, which leads to more engagement and more likes. It's not rocket science, it just takes some work, and social intelligence. Be empathetic to the needs of everyone you're serving be it the press, your advertisers or consumers. What excites them, what problems do they have, and how can you help? The press wants fun, fresh, feel good stories gift wrapped for them, advertisers want loyal customers through the door, and consumers want to feel good about their community, to be entertained, and value for the money they spend in these communities. Alright, I've rambled on too long, but you get the point. Clean it up and make it more engaging and professional or keep it as is because it's perfect. Again, it's up to you. Good luck.