Online Marketing and a Local Florist

I don't know much about online marketing, but I'm really starting to understand its importance. I mean, take a walk down memory lane and relive the very first steps of today's internet. It's incredible, really.

So, what made me think of this? While chatting with an old friend today, she told me that she'd recently hooked up with a company called 'Yodle.' Tess is a florist, and has been seeing a slow but definite slide in business lately, as flashier, more popular flower providers steal the spotlight. She did some research, checked out some competitors' websites, and knew what she was missing.

How she found Yodle I'm not quite sure, but I glanced at their website today and she seems to have hit the jackpot. They claim to 'make it easy for local business owners to get new customers', and their clients seem to be very satisfied.

For example, on YodleReviews.com, Barbara Levine of New Canaan said:

“As a small business owner, it has been great working with Yodle for the past two months. I have been consistently impressed with the company’s ability to generate leads that turn in to real business for me. Yodle’s local online advertising program is better than anything else I’ve tried. Yodle makes the marketing process so easy."
                                                                                   -YodleReviews.com

I'm sure Tess will make great progress as another local business, too.

The Brooklyn Cyclones Remember Gary Carter

In a very moving tribute, on June 29^th, there will be a tribute to Gary Carter with a pre-game ceremony before the Brooklyn Cyclones play against the Aberdeen IronBirds.  This past year, Hall of Fame catcher and Mets icon, Gary Carter, died after a long battle with brain cancer.

While he entered the Hall of Fame as part of the Montreal Expos, those in New York who love the Mets will always remember him fondly. As such, the Brooklyn Cyclones will have the ceremony before their 7 pm game against the IronBirds and they’ll be wearing special orange and blue jersey with “Kid 8” memorial patches on the right sleeve. This is the same patch that the New York Mets wore throughout the season.

What’s even more – the special jerseys will then be auctioned off throughout the game and some of the proceeds will benefit the Gary Carter Foundation, which works to better the physical, mental and spiritual lives of children who are in need.

Come out that night to support a great team, and to support an amazing cause.

 For those who don’t know the history behind the Brooklyn Cyclones, the NYC Tourist.com website explains, “The Brooklyn Cyclones are a minor-league baseball team based out of Brooklyn's MCU Park at the Coney Island boardwalk. Originally founded in Toronto, where they were known as the St. Catharines, the Brooklyn Cyclones (along with their principal rivals, the Staten Island Yankees) were brought to New York in 1999 by then-mayor Rudy Giuliani.”

Here is a look at the shirts that will be raffled off during the evening:

Parents Boycotting Field Tests in Protest of Over-testing

Parents and Teachers say Tests Take Away from Learning

After years of letting for-profit testing companies use their children by over-testing them to put more money into their pockets, parents representing an unprecedented 59 schools are finally fighting back.

They have decided to keep their children away from “stand-alone” field tests which have no benefit other than to provide revenue and information to the testing company.

In support of the parents the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council (CPAC) passed a resolution on May 31st which urges parents to choose not to allow their children to be tested. Community Education Councils (CECs) of Manhattan’s District 3 on the Upper West Side, and Brooklyn’s District 20 which includes Kensington, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Borough Park, also passed resolutions favoring the boycott.

“All this testing is out of control,” says Dani Gonzalez, a Bronx parent who is protesting the excessive testing. “Real learning happens when children can explore and experiment and do projects, when they can read books and discuss them. All this testing is crowding real learning out of the classroom. My children can’t learn when all they do is prepare for tests and take tests.”