Admin Blog

So, I am going through the forum survey questions, which there are lots of feedback . One of the open ended questions pertained to advertising. Actually the question was: 'Do you think management does a good job advertising the site to the community? ' I allowed for an open response in which there were many. So far, 70% gave a positive response.

There were people who were pretty surprised others did not know about the site and wondered how the heck we were advertising it, if at all.

It's not like it angers me that people do not know we are here, but come on people, I am not sure there is more we can do to get the word out. If you did not know, I guess you did not know, but glad you are on here nonetheless.

Here is a list of ways we are telling people about the site. Keep in mind that this is only in the last 14 months.

*We've advertised in every Eastvale Edition that goes out to all 12,000+ residents.
*We have had a booth at the following events (with lots of printed materials about the site)
Picnic in the Park 2007
Picnic in the Park 2008
Rosa Parks Fall Festival
Little League Opening Day
Mustang Marketplace 2 separate weeks. One week we had the Easter Bunny at our booth with FREE photos with the bunny.

*The site has had 2 major referral contests. One where we gave away an iPod and one where we have away a PlayStation 3. Follow the links for the contest announcements.

*We have been in the Press Enterprise 2 separate times. The last one was a feature all to ourselves. Follow the links.

*We hung out large banners at the last 3 town hall meetings, which are the same meetings we help promote to the community.

*We've had 2 banners hanging at Harada Baseball Field all season including this very minute.


*We sponsor the Rosa Parks Newsletter in which we have an ad in every edition


*We co-sponsored the Holiday Showcase in which our large ad was I the program that went out to all Eastvale Schools. We also did the same with the Picnic in the Park 2007


*We have our Back Window of our Van with a large printed ad for EastvaleResidents.com that drives all over town.


*Eastvale Computer Service Mailed 7,500 Large Jumbo sized cards (full Color) ONLY in the Eastvale Area in which
EastvaleResidents.com was featured on approx. ¼ of one side of the card. The ad referenced Eastvale Computer Services was a proud to be a founding sponsor of EastvaleResidents.com


There are more things I am planning (door hangers for the site are next), but even I am pretty damned impressed with this list over the last 14 months.

The results? A pretty kickin' user registration rate, as you can see here:

So, please keep that word of mouth going I think by far, that has netted more members than anything. I honestly do not know of another business or organization that has put themselves out there more than we have.

And when you come across someone who has never even HEARD of the site, resist rolling your eyes and politely give them the name of the site and have them join us.

 

There have been 80 business reviews in the last 30 days. Wow. Things are heating up here in Eastvale. Businesses, are you getting it yet? I think they are....and they better.

Thanks to our forum members (neighbors) for contributing so much to the business reviews.

 

In the last 19 days, we have had 30 reviews in our business review section.  I am happy to see the Business Reviews finally getting some attention. Early on when the reviews were not getting attention, I was dreading it might have been a colossal mistake.  The Press Enterprise story this week helped, but the increase has been happening all month.

Business are listening, at least I hope they are.  They are not all wonderful testimonials either. Ask Zip fusion, Carls Jr. Eeeek!!, I have cringed at some of their reviews.

Here are a few things I would like to see. Maybe I have to be more aggressive to get it done.  Maybe the members can help.

 

• 1. I would love to see business get behind the reviews and actually ask more customers to review them. Yes, I am guilty of not doing this. I own Eastvale Computer Services and I really do not ask for reviews as I should, but I need to.

 

• 2. Tell your local customers about the site. If they do not live here, at least tell them to read your reviews. Make a link directly to your review page so they can read it.

 

• 3. Perhaps offer coupons for reviews. Have them present their review for a discount. Something like that. You can always very membership by doing a member search on the forum. Use your creativity that got you in business in the first place and think of an incentive.

 

• 4. The site is giving you good placement in Google and we are giving you a great opportunity to promote your business. Throw us a bone and help promote the site at your checkout area. I see lots of business cards and flyers. None of which can help your business. WE CAN.

 

• 5. "Good placement in Google"? you say. Try doing a search for Pizza Nova Eastvale, Pura Salon or pita pit Eastvale. This site comes up first. Actually your business reviews might come up first. Gee, I hope they are good :) To do that, to get your local business like Pita Pit location for your local community tops in a search on Google will take quite some time. Lots of time has been put in to get this to happen.  Utilize this resource. It is free with a big red bow on it.

 

I have been told I am undercutting my advertisement sponsorships by doing this for businesses for free. No, advertisements here get the big views. Sara's Sassy K-9's received (as of the 19th of June) 19,653 views of her banner this month. That's 1,034 per day. Couple that with her  telling people about the site and ASKING for reviews from her customers equals one busy dog groomer. So her $65.00 advertisement spot is a small price to pay.

So, I hope you all understand why we absolutely do not permit blatant business promotions in the forums. There are far better ways to get your business noticed than just a cheap plug....aahhem, that will get deleted as soon as we see it. Think about it.

  

I had a good time at the BBQ. The softball game was a blast.  Getting the field reserved from JCSD was a good thing because as soon as we pulled up (about 12:40) there were people showing up to play. They were cool about it when I said we had the field reserved and played on the south side.

The BBQ was designed to have people who are on the forums to finally meet each other in person and put faces to names, that's why is was not promoted outside the forums.   There were about 20 of us there. I was really hoping for more actually judging on the poll we took of who would be there but dampened my expectations about 1:00, hoping we would have enough players to play ball.

We'll plan a few of these get together, but will be more informal and may not spend the money (yes this did cost money to reserve the shelter and the field). For those that missed this, please try and come to the next one. And for those that keep whinning they cannot meet new people here, you missed a perfect opportunity!

I added a new search tool.  You can find it on the top right corner of the site. Start typing and it displays the results.

 

I changed the site a bit. One of the reasons is the Press Enterprise is doing a story on the site this week and I have been tinkering with the idea of a tabbed interface for a while. Seems like a good time to do it since we'll get more visitors.  There is plenty of room to add new items as I have a few more tabbed positions I can fill.  The bouncy tabs are pretty cool too.

We have always had a problem in the forums. With 840 members now, we have always had to rein in business from getting cheap plugs in the forums. One of the reasons we do not want this is to protect the other members. When there are 20 unread posts we do not want 15 oth them to be solicitations, offers, "announcements" or "specials". I am sure you can understand. Here are a few tips.

Signatures. Place your website or your profession in your signatrure. The more you post, the more it's seen. But be a good poster too. Constant one word or meaningless postings just to get exposure will backfire. Please follow the rules for signatures.

 Business Reviews. Put your business or review others.  Our search engine numbers are terrific. Especially after a full year of submitting.

Articles. Write an article for the site.

User profiles. You can place as much info about your business in your user profile, then in your signature, place a link to your profile. Instant advertising.

  We submit our sitemaps to all the engines regularly.

Help get more people on the site. The more people oin the site, the more people will see you.

The original post is here.

WOW, looks like we may get a good turn-out! Looking forward to seeing everyone and finally putting faces to names. Few thoughts though.

I have been approached by a few organizations and business to do stuff at the BBQ. The answer is no. We do not want to turn this into a marketplace for businesses or causes or groups or whatever. Just a frieldly get together where we can play ball, meet eachothers families and hang out.

Bounce C Bounce rentals is supplying a bouncer to keep the kiddos busy, but if we do not get enough volunteers, we may cancel it. We're not watching anyone elses kids. We have a few volunteers for the bouncer duty. Please help and volunteer.

This BBQ is being promoted on the forums only. You can read the post here.

According to Google, more and more people are finding the site from searches for businesses.  Here are the latest search queries that people clicked on to get to our site. The reason? Our business reviews. over 4,000 pages from this site are indexed in google nightly and they pick up pages. So, your reviews are being read. If you are a local business, please take note.

The reviews are public and, obviously, are ranked in Google. You must be a member of the forums to create a review or submit a business. Keep your customers happy.

 

eastvale residents
eastvale community
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"yogurt licious"
thai bamboo mira loma
yogurt licious
eastvale news
wabi sabi teppan riverside
pizza nova eastvale
pizza nova hamner
eastvale day care
eastvale incorporation
eastvale shopping center
pizza nova corona

 

Her mom Sylvia wrote a few articles for us  which I placed on the front page.  I asked for another one in June after the finals, win or lose. Eastvale will be represented well.