Local Businesses are encouraged to get in the directory.

Businesses use projectPG.org to attract more LOCAL customers, keep existing customers and increase sales. They do this by adding their business to the community directory then creating Project Pages from time-to-time containing coupons, specials and business news.

Coupons, Specials and News that is associated with a business in the directory is included in automated outgoing e-mails to the community. This is tremendously powerful - AND FREE.

"Downtown" is the backbone to our community! We understand this and encourage local officials, the chamber of commerce and local business owners to promote the importance of registering at projectPG.org to receive community related information. We understand that this sounds cliche, but the fact is, many communities spend a bundle in electronic marketing campaigns and realize miserable returns. When a business district (chamber of commerce) promotes a centralized web-site themed around the "community" ROI (return on investment) is maximized.

Search engines like Google™ are the "Box Store" equivalent to killing small business web-site traffic.

Consider this, if the Chamber of Commerce in Pacific Grove were to market 50 different web-sites for 50 different businesses in Pacific Grove, what kind of site traffic would you expect for the business owners and their individual sites? Almost zero! The fact is, local businesses and small web-sites get almost no traffic in most communities. Many business owners wonder why they even bother with the "World Wide Web" in the first place!

A better plan, The community itself maintains a centralized database with community information and business information integrated. Most chamber of commerce sites already do this. Most chamber of commerce sites are embarrassingly outdated. Allowing the community to maintain the database is much more efficient. Standard design themes, coupons, special offers and REASONS TO BUY LOCAL are compelling reason for locals to "start" at the directory...then click through to individual merchant sites as needed. After browsing a few times and experiencing the SIMPLICITY and CONSISTENCY of a centralized LOCAL directory, national search engines become less important.

We are not suggesting that locals are going to rush to their computers to find your business Project on projectPG.org, but don't misunderstand, there are lots of local residents that would absolutley love to hear about your business and want to become customers -- the automated information system excels at telling people about your business without them visting any site. Distributing your message to locals is as easy as filling in a simple web-based form.

The first step in getting involved is getting your business in the directory. After you are in the directory...creat a simple Project Page. Citizens in Pacific Grove will begin to receive your information via the projectPG.org automated system. Next, look at tome other organizations already in the directory to get ideas on ways you could promote your business. Create coupon offers, business news and other Project Pages so the automated system can spread your message! REMEMBER, IT'S FREE!