This past Saturday (July 18, 2009) was a fun day — Holistic Health Day at the Oneonta Farmers’ Market, then the Leatherstocking Buzzards Remote Control Aircraft Mini-Fest Hospice Fundraiser (they do some crazy flying!) and in the evening the new B. Sharp Gallery Art Exhibit Opening where we met some interesting artists in a close personal setting.  I usually have to coax Rick to attend art openings, but after this experience his interest in art is piqued.

It’s been a year since we launched* www.OneontaOnTheMap.com; each week as I reflect on developments: businesses adding listings and events, local Tweets from Twitter, photograph entries for July’s contest, and stats and feedback from people who’ve found our database of Oneonta happenings helpful … of course I see so much more that could be done. One of my favorite proverbs, “All beginnings are hard” aptly applies and most computer people will second that notion. I feel overwhelmed by the lofty goals of creating an online community in concert with the Oneonta NY business community, and trying to provide the elusive interactive Internet experience that will keep visitors returning. When I’m in an overwhelmed state, just reading about the numerous exciting events taking place in Oneonta stresses me out.

But Rick, being the pragmatic programmer, brings me back to reality and our original goals: to help people find business and event information and directions quickly, and support the  Oneonta business community by enhancing their web presence (free listings, exposure, social media marketing). I think we’re on the right path, so I’ll relax and enjoy — have fun with our website and around Oneonta.

Rick enjoyed mingling with artists at the B. Sharp Gallery Exhibition Opening.

So yes, we are having fun with this, and hope you’ll hang in with us as we tend our database and watch it grow.  If you’ve found our website and information helpful, let businesses or event organizers know you found them here. Now it’s back to work as we have some new features we’ll be announcing soon.

Thanks for listening,

Mary Robinson

www.OneontaOnTheMap.com — Telling you what you want to know & where to go!

*OneontaOnTheMap.com has been up and running for over a year; however, we officially launched it in Dec. 2008.

Last year, my husband’s coworker from NYC said his daughter was considering attending the State University College at Oneonta (SUNY Oneonta), and asked what we could tell him about it. Probably a bit more than he expected; you see, I graduated from SUNY Oneonta in 2006. Although I was an older (my daughter graduated from college in 2004), non-traditional student, I felt eminently qualified to talk about SUCO, especially if someone were planning to major in Human Ecology, Education, or Computer Art. My three years of full time college at SUNY Oneonta were a great experience; I would honestly forget that I was everyone’s mom’s age. Ahhh, those were the days.

So our friend’s daughter did choose to attend SUCO and when he was picking her up for winter break he took us out to lunch. Turns out she loves being a student here, has chosen communications as her field; she’s even become involved with the student newspaper.

I realize now is the time that new students and parents are adjusting to the idea of coming to SUNY Oneonta this fall. I’ve designated myself as the unofficial Oneonta blogosphere welcoming committee, and I’d like to direct both new SUNY Oneonta students and their parents to our hometown online directory www.OneontaOnTheMap.com . Please check it out and follow us on Twitter to get the most out of your years in Oneonta.

O town has many treasures to discover, places to go and things to do. Many people I talk to don’t even realize that Oneonta is home of the National Soccer Hall of Fame! We’ll change this. The next time we visited my husband’s coworker we gave him tickets to visit the National Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum (we had discovered during our lunch that his 12 year old son loves soccer). We really are an unofficial Oneonta NY PR committee (and we’re having fun doing it).

One last bit of advice to parents & new SUNY Oneonta students: check out our website soon for details of our Gift Certificate Give Aways ending April 15. $50 to spend at Elena’s or Green Toad Bookstore would make your next trip here even sweeter!

Thanks for listening,
Mary Robinson
SUNY Oneonta Class of 2006

www.OneontaOnTheMap.com

Business Model, Part I

As we’re traversing Oneonta and stopping in at businesses to introduce ourselves and promote our directory website, we’re frequently asked, “Why are you doing this?” or “How are you going to make money from www.OneontaOnTheMap.com?”  Two very good questions, I would say!

Rick has been working on this website for so long that he’s probably forgotten why he started it:)  I think it had something to do with Google Maps making their software available and also his happening upon the business model presented in a book, The Four Hour Work Week.  (Ha, we’ve spent countless hours, not four hours, every week on this site.) But I’ll save the details of the synchronicity that lead to the creation of our site, and instead blog about how we plan to serve businesses, visitors and residents in our area and beyond.

I’ll begin with the three C’s: Community, Coupons and Contests.  Oneonta on the Map is community focused, being for LOCALS, published by LOCALS, and we want the business community to play a starring role by adding and editing their own listings, publicizing events, giving coupons or announcing sales —we want customers to say they  “heard it first at Oneonta On The Map.”

To keep everything in real time — we’ve made business listings DYNAMIC — they can be easily changed, and the changes announced as soon as a restaurant changes a menu or store announces specials or sales. We’re more than just a website, we’re a web presence for your business; if you provide a web page link, we send customers to your page.  If your business does not have a web page,  your listing on Oneonta On The Map can contain your photo, hours of operation and what makes you unique and exciting — your web presence is here. People will find you through Oneonta On The Map. We’ll be talking more about coupons in the near future.

The contest part is about fun and reasons for our audience to return to Oneonta On The Map.  Our first contest — The Gift Certificate Give Aways (to Elena’s and Green Toad Books) ends on April 15.  We’ve got more ideas brewing, so keep following this blog for updates. By the way, if you haven’t entered the contest yet, the odds right now of winning are phenomenal. Tell your friends and customers about Oneonta On The Map and send them our way.

Thanks for listening.