Drop in next week and we’ll be happy to show you your site on a mobile phone – no charge and no commitment.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/56-Public-Wi-Fi-Connections-Made-via-Mobile-Phones-136010.shtml

Post from: beachdog.com

56% Public Wi-Fi Connections Made via Mobile Phones

Here is a button that came in this week for the Pacific County Economic Development Council, who wants you to “Get Your Smile On!”

This magnet showcases the logo of the Friends of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge:

And these double-sided window decals are fresh off the presses for members of the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau:

New to our community is an increasingly full-service Ad Specialty Printing lab at Ilwaco High School under the business name Ilwaco Industries.  Students are creating banners, posters and signage, as well as items that are digitally embroidered, silk screened, use dye sublimation printing (think that photo coffee mug you got at the mall) and more.  Future plans include laser etching and 3-D printing, which will allow them to create a vast array of custom products.

We’re so impressed with our local high school for taking on this lab as part of their vocational program and want to support them however we can.  At this point, design isn’t part of the curriculum so businesses should use a shop like ours to create the image they want printed.  Anyone can create an image and get it printed.  For your business’ presentation a professional designer knows how to prepare art for the specific print medium (the devil is the details).  Once you have your design, having Ilwaco Industries do the production will save you money while helping them learn.  We can work with them on your behalf, or you can save a few bucks and work with them directly.  Expect a few less-than-perfect pieces, but take those back and they’ll re-do them for you!

Post from: beachdog.com

3 New Ad Specialty Products and 1 (very exciting) New Vendor

QwikCall.com is an example of a site that did the deed, and with a high degree of professionalism, I might add.  The site owner, Patricia, had two clear goals; she wanted to make the site easy to edit and also optimized for search engines.  I thought the static site’s design needed a bit of professional polish and Patricia wasn’t afraid to update her look.  We were able to make a plan with quick turnaround because Patricia had already gathered all the information needed to complete the project.

I re-created their static website using WordPress, using a pre-designed theme that just needed a little customizing to make it uniquely ‘QwikCall’.  Approaching a site build in this way is efficient, which translates to less expensive, and is a perfect match for clients who aren’t already heavily invested in a visual brand.

Using keywords within the text of the page, our team reworded much of the content to make it ’search-engine friendly’ and created a meta tag set using the same carefully chosen and researched key words.   Since QwikCall.com was an aged domain, we then just had to sit back and wait for Google and friends to re-index it so we could see the results of our efforts, which pleased us and, more importantly, Patricia.  Great project!  ~Karl

Post from: beachdog.com

Thinking about overhauling your site to make it 2010-ready?

HARO

Reporters get access to the right source at the right time.

News sources get media opportunities they never would have heard of otherwise.

Sponsors get access to a ridiculously large and targeted audience who actually listens and is looking for what you’re promoting and selling.

And it is FREE to reporters and news sources.

I signed up a few months ago and receive daily emails with list of stories looking for sources.  A number of our clients have benefitted from my noticing a story looking for a news source that I knew was a good match for them.  Past calls include things like:

• Family Friendly Seattle Area Hotels (regional parenting publication)
• Urgent: creditors/bankers needed for social media and credit story (creditcards.com)
• Need to speak to electronics recycler (NYTimes)
• Moms Who Love or Hate Twilight (Blog)
• Do you have a seasonal job? (CNNMoney.com)
• Looking for Divorce Attorney to share tips (Book)

You get the idea.  The email also includes more details on these headlines, including who to contact if you are a match for their story.

So sign up!   All you have to lose is a few minutes of reading email until you decide this is either not a good fit for your business or a launch pad to FREE EXPOSURE with little effort and no dollars spent.  I like those odds.

–Keleigh

Post from: beachdog.com

29,478 Ways to Get FREE PR

Sparing our dear customer one of my cheery orations on how every dollar spent in a locally owned independent business returns about 80% back to the community, and how that dollar returns to the same community an average of five times through taxes, wages, purchases, contributions, etc., I told her I would find out.  After all, I knew the question would wear like a pebble in my shoe until I fully investigated the answer.

So why should you spend $30 or $40 on a rubber stamp when you can mail order one for half that much?  It turns out you really do get what you pay for.

1. Do you need only letters & numbers, and you aren’t too picky about font or size? An inexpensive mail order stamp might be a good fit for you.  In fact, we have recommended to several non-profit organizations that they buy a half-dozen of the inexpensive stamps for ‘mailing parties’ as many hands make light work.  Each stamp has a shorter lifespan, but they’re inexpensive enough to buy multiples.
2. Do you need a custom design, your logo, a special font or special use? Notary stamps, custom sizes, “green” plastics, multiple colors in the impression, custom designs and other special requests are better served using a professional designer that can match your stamp design to a stamp making house suited for your specific job’s needs.
3. Do you need a stamp pad-style stamp? It’s fun to make stamps with wooden handles and see them used by scrapbookers with custom inks.  These are typically the least expensive of all the stamps, too. But don’t buy your ink or other stamping supplies from companies like ours.  You’ll have a much wider assortment of color choices, and likely lower pricing, if you go to your favorite scrapbook supply vendor.
4. How many impressions do you need it to make? Stamps have a lifespan rating.  All those we offer rate for 5,000 impressions before re-inking.  Some produce 10,000 or 20,000 impressions before quality begins to degrade while others include a lifetime guarantee.  Those super-inexpensive mail-order stamps are typically lower quality;  you can generally expect to need to re-ink them at about 750 impressions and enjoy 1,500-2,500 impressions before they lose quality (and if all you need it for is to pay bills, that is a very good solution!).
5. Do you want a stamp that inks itself? Self-inking stamps have a pad built into the stamp handle and the rubber flips up to ink itself between impressions.  We guarantee our self-inking stamps for 5,000 impressions before the pad needs re-inking.   Pre-inked stamps are impregnated with ink; these usually offer a higher quality impression and last longer.   The X-Stamper, above, rates  for 50,000 impressions before re-inking and has a lifetime guarantee.  Just try to wear it out!

Does that sound like more thinking than you want to do just for a rubber stamp?  Not to worry;  Sue and Wendy are happy to take care of all the decision making for you, if that’s your preference.  If you’ll let them interview you a bit, you can rest assured they won’t sell you more stamp than you need.

Post from: beachdog.com

How To Buy a Rubber Stamp

Microsoft has won court approval to shut down a global network of computers which it says is responsible for more than 1.5 BILLION spam messages every day. 

Read the story.

Post from: beachdog.com

I never thought I’d say this: GO MICROSOFT!

A lot of people don’t know we have stellar pricing on carbonless forms.  Available in 2, 3 and 4-part, our carbonless forms print on 21# (not the flimsy 15#) paper, giving them a quality feel.  They can include consecutive numbering, backside printing and even be padded into booklets like those you see above.  This is a great feature; it includes a manila flap to slide between the current and next form.  Standard ink colors include blue, black, red, green (pick your favorite without increasing the cost).  Full color is also available.

If you know what you want, pencil it out; that’s all we need to get started.  If you aren’t sure what you need, we have boilerplate for the most commonly used forms, or we can come up with something specifically for you.

Don’t settle for a form anyone could have, with flimsy paper and your stamp or label at the top.  Let us customize a form that fits your needs and makes you look good at the same time.  We bet it will even cost you less than you’re paying now.

Post from: beachdog.com

Carbonless Forms – less $ than you’d think.

Left and right-hand sidebars offer space for:

• webervations integration (online reservation service)
• Newsletter sign-up for emailed announcements of specials
• Weather info from 642weather.com
• rotating quotes from customers
• “banner ads” for the hotel itself: child friendly, pet friendly, restaurant on site

Slide shows on home, gallery, and rooms pages offer lots and lots of views of the lodge interior (each room type has its own slide show) & exterior, as well as plenty of beach sunsets.

Chautauqua Lodge is nestled in the dunes, a few steps from Discovery Trail.  They boast an indoor heated pool, hot tub and dry sauna, conference center, on-site restaurant, volleyball court and more.  Affordable, casual beach lodging for families, couples and groups.  ~Sabrina

Post from: beachdog.com

Chuh-tahk-wa

Do you own a small business? Are you having a hard time understanding Twitter?

As a small business owner and social media user going on two years now, I can honestly say that initially I did not really see the point or power of Twitter at all.

However, after sticking it out passed the learning curve, picking up a couple of followers, and following really intelligent people, thanks to Twitter, I get to make connections and learn something new every day. In fact, at this point I feel like Twitter is a tool that all small business owners should use as part of their overall efforts to build a distributed social media footprint.

Nevertheless, if you are like many in the small business community who have tried Twitter without success, then you might be fond of saying, “I just don’t get it.”

Read the whole article by Mark Hayward on Twitip.com.  His list of 20 beginner’s tips is good advice!

Post from: beachdog.com

20 Must Read Beginner Twitter Tips for Small Business Owners

Checkered Past Moving & Estate Sales specializes in estate sales on the Long Beach Peninsula. From organizing to displaying, advertising and selling households, Suzy Whittey eliminates the stress of liquidating your own personal items, or a loved one’s estate.

Suzy came to us with a clear idea of her site design, all the content (text and photos) needed to get the site off the ground, and with a clear vision of what she wanted: Her on-paper design turned into a functioning site that she could update herself.

As Sabrina said, “a little bing, bang, boom and Suzy was in the driver’s seat”. Sabrina set up the site using WordPress, customizing a theme to Suzy’s specifications and converting the text and photos into pages. She then walked Suzy through a brief training session (just under an hour) and whoosh! she was editing up a storm.

Kathy and Sabrina worked behind the scenes on some basic search engine optimization, which took longer than any of had hoped to take effect but, once the search engines finally took notice of our changes, the results have remained solid for some time.

Watch CheckeredSales.com for news of upcoming sales, or sign up for the email notifications.  Oooh!  There’s a great sale coming this weekend with two generations of railroad collectibles!  Gotta run!

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Have you got a checkered past?