Marketing Your Site

What's New ?

Back to the Basics

Do you remember when a business would offer free coffee and cookies for a day? It was a simple, inexpensive concept but it worked. Businesses still do this when there is a grand opening or business anniversary, but many businesses used to do this once a quarter or even once a month as a way of showing customer appreciation.

What about free promotional gifts for each customer? This is another almost forgotten marketing technique. A business would give a free item to each purchasing customer. The give-away may have been a calendar a cup or a cap, they weren't expensive gifts but they generally displayed the company name and logo. 

These techniques have not disappeared all together; there are modern variations. For example, the free coffee and cookie idea has been modified by some in a rather unique way. A business owner works out an agreement with the owner of a popular coffee shop. The business owner invites all of his or her customers and from 8:30 to 9:30 on Wednesday morning the business owner pays for coffee for everyone that stops by the coffee shop, whether they are an existing customer or not. The business owner spends the hour at the coffee shop greeting customers and meeting new ones. 

Many businesses mail a promotional calendar or gift to their customers as a Christmas or holiday gift. People appreciate the attention and the free gift.

Promotional items have become more expensive but they are still a great way to market your business. Your logo and business name are visible to all who see the promotional item so the benefits of repetitive advertising are delivered each time a customer uses the gift.

 MP3 Players

MP3 players aren't new but their memory capacity and accessories are. Last year we purchased an MP3 player as a gift for about fifty dollars. The player had a 64 megabyte capacity (about 12-15 songs) and an expansion slot that allows you to expand the memory by adding a memory card. (The same kind used in digital cameras). The largest memory card that would fit in the expansion slot was 128 megabytes and cost about $40..

This Christmas we decided to purchase a memory card for the MP3 player so it would hold even more songs. We were surprised to find a 512 megabyte card (holds more than a hundred songs) that fit in the expansion slot for around the same price as last years 128 megabyte card. The player is smaller than the size of a deck of cards.

As we were shopping we spotted a new accessory. An FM Transmitter (less than $40) can be connected to an MP3 player (via the head set plug) and when you tune your car radio to an open FM frequency you can listen to the MP3 player on your car stereo. We didn't purchase the transmitter but online reviews were favorable for several models. What's Next? Who Knows!

Our favorite "What's New" is the birth of our second Grandson.

Tyrel Zander Jacobsen

Born to our Son Austin and His Wife Lacy on Friday Evening. Both Mother and Baby are doing fine.

Station 1 Hot Wings Cafe

is the newest member of the PPP Design Family. Station 1 Cafe is a Hot Wings Franchise based in Georgia and expanding rapidly in to other States.

    Just for Grins    

Tips from Employees to Managers

Denison Links 
Area Website Directory, Recipe Database, Family Resource Links, and E-Minder

 Monarch Country  
Highlights, Scores, Schedules and More..

Crawford County Coupons 
Coupons for Businesses and Consumers

Station 1 Hot Wings Cafe 
Hot Wings Franchise "Where Water is a Necessity"

Talking Story 
Read about an Actual Business Coffee Hour 

Small Public Document Repository Example 
Office of Academic Services, Providence College

Reddit 
An interesting link directory.

Akiyoshi's illusion pages  
A collection of interesting optical illusions

The Smithsonian Institute 
The official Smithsonian site with links to each of the Smithsonian Museums

Remote Access

Do you have employees in remote locations? If so, how do you communicate with them? How do you exchange documents, paper work etc? Is email secure enough for your communication with these employees? 

Some companies use remote connection software to communicate with employees or associates that office in another location. This requires a direct connection to a remote computer. This can expose vulnerabilities in one or both computers. Companies large enough to have a secure network and portal take advantage of this technology for their communication.

What about smaller businesses that have a need for remote communication and document transfer? If you have a website you already have half of the answer. A secure area may be added to your website for communications with off-site employees and associates. A Document repository could be added to allow for easy and almost instantaneous document transfers. This secure "mini portal" would take advantage of your existing bandwidth and hosting at a fraction of the cost of a full blown network and in a manner much safer than direct remote connections.