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Woman-Owned Business Wins with Military

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:09:00 GMT

Woman-Owned Business Wins with Military

Taylor Made Small Biz Wins Contract to Provide Military Entrepreneurship Program

April 18, 2012, DENVER—Taylor Made Small Biz, a Denver online marketing firm, was tapped by the U.S. government to provide their military entrepreneurship program for veterans transitioning into the civilian work force.

Patrice Barber, founder of Taylor Made Small Biz, announced, “Our company has been contracted to provide training and resources for military personnel wanting to start new businesses after serving their country.” The project will add an entrepreneurial segment to the Transitional Assistance Program, an educational package designed to help departing military staff prepare for the civilian business environment.

An established Denver online marketing firm, Taylor Made Small Biz has an impressive history helping entrepreneurs transform their ideas into successful, thriving enterprises. The company works with new business owners to evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities and develop winning strategies using a combination of traditional and cutting-edge techniques. Company specialists help clients leverage the latest trends in technology, including social media, video and mobile marketing, to quickly attract customers and achieve maximum return on their initial investment in time, energy and money.

“Our goal is to help people ask the right questions to get started in a positive direction,” added Barber. “We show clients how to determine the kind of business that fits their personal strengths and interests. Then we build and execute simple, but effective plans that are proven roadmaps to success.”

The military entrepreneurship program encompasses tutorials, workbooks, questions with sample answers and in-depth planning frameworks. Participants can work online at their own pace or take the course in conjunction with a personal mentor. Users start by responding to basic questions about the business structure that is most attractive to them. Depending on their answers, they are guided to address critical issues that will help them make good decisions as they gather momentum towards the actual launch of their companies.

In addition to training materials, the program features extensive resource lists and links to multimedia presentations designed to give budding entrepreneurs access to information that is vital to achieving success in their particular business area.

“Nearly two-thirds of new business ventures end up failing,” Barber said. “We’ve harvested the knowledge that keeps the top one-third profitably alive and well. Taylor Made Small Biz is proud to be able to share this information with our country’s soldiers.”

Cutting-Edge Fundraising Techniques for Nonprofits

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:53:00 GMT

Want to know how nonprofit organizations are getting record-breaking contributions even in a tight economy?

One of the hottest trends in marketing right now is mobile text messaging. Companies of all shapes and sizes are discovering new ways to get more customers and increase sales through simple but remarkably effective text-messaging campaigns.

The good news is that nonprofits are able to use text-messaging to reach new donors and grow contributions to record levels even in today’s slow economy.

A notable example is a Denver-based company that raised nearly $4 Million for a Haiti relief fund in only a few weeks. Think about that – $4 Million in a just weeks!

Compared to traditional e-mail, text messaging has some very impressive statistics, published by the Direct Marketing Association. Nearly 98% of all text messages are actually opened by recipients. (E-mail messages typically have an open rate of less than 20%.) And the vast majority of those messages are opened within three minutes of being received.

Now, a successful text-messaging campaign does have some requirements: a list of willing participants, a good mobile site, and a series of messages offering incentives such as coupons, exclusive specials or compelling opportunities that appeal to people ready to donate to a worthwhile cause.

I’d be happy to help you create an affordable, mobile text-messaging campaign to raise funds for your nonprofit organization. Contact our team at support@tmsmallbiz.com

Did you notice? TMSB Launches New Website

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:00 GMT

Wow, it’s here and it’s really cool. Please take a look at our new-and-improved website at www.TaylorMadeSmallBiz.com. We’ve joined forces with Adobe to offer small businesses an easy-to-use, turnkey platform with built-in technical support. In talking to entrepreneurs who have taken the “do-it-yourself” approach to building sites and internet marketing, I’ve heard dozens of horror stories and discovered some common problems. For starters, it’s difficult and time-consuming to manage multiple vendors for services like hosting, website design, e-commerce, video and mobile marketing. I’ve spoken to people who have nearly gone out of their minds (and out of business) trying to keep their sites up to date and functioning properly. Taylor Made SmallBiz has partnered with Adobe to provide a comprehensive, all-in-one small business platform that’s simple to use, maintain and update. The integrated design makes it easy to build mobile and desktop sites, manage social media, enhance Search Engine Optimization, launch e-mail and text message campaigns and track customer response at every step along the way. Tracking customer response is critical so you know what strategy is actually working for your business. Our mission is to help small business owners get more customers and generate sales in the fastest way possible at an affordable price. The new TMS program includes ongoing technical support so you can concentrate on growing your business instead of worrying about endless updates, system crashes and compatibility issues that you have with multiple systems on different platforms all trying to talk together. To learn more, go to: www.TaylorMadeSmallBiz.com

Hickenlooper’s Colorado Blueprint

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:00 GMT

Last month I had the honor of attending a reception for Ken Lund, Executive Director of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The event was hosted by TiE Rockies, an organization that supports entrepreneurs and therefore, receives my undying admiration and support. Mr. Lund outlined Governor Hickenlooper’s Colorado Blueprint, a plan designed to bolster economic development through entrepreneurship in our state. I was pleased to join a group of about 30 other business leaders to listen to the presentation. With the mission of helping local entrepreneurs start and grow viable businesses, TiE Rockies is a perfect organization to assist in implementing the Colorado Blueprint. The local chapter of TiE provides education, mentoring and networking events throughout the greater Denver area. Its membership includes successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists looking to assist promising start-up companies. I am delighted to join other TiE charter members to provide expertise that will transform the plan into a reality. Our goal is to expand and enhance the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Developing programs and initiatives that will propel start-up businesses onto a fast track of success will definitely create jobs and improve Colorado’s economy. Having spent over 15 years providing training and consulting services to entrepreneurs, my team and I are ready to join forces with Ken Lund and TiE Rockies to launch some strategic initiatives and get the ball rolling. For more information, go to rockies.tie.org.

SEO Marketing Tips You Can't Live Without

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:56:00 GMT

SEO marketing should be the top strategy to use to promote your business online. Nothing beats the results you get from this technique. There is a reason why every online marketing book, resource, tool, etc. always refer to search engine marketing. It's no secret that search engines command the highest amounts of traffic online. They drive web traffic by the millions. It's also no secret that search engines are the sources of the most targeted traffic online. Even a blind man can see how this affects the whole internet business industry. With that said, if you have a business online or that you are planning to build one, it's always best to start optimizing it for the search engines the moment you register the business's website domain. If you want to know more about this topic, you can read the tips and guide below. To help you get the most out of SEO marketing, always remember the following tips. 1. Do your research. Even before you get a domain name, you should start researching. You have to make sure that the domain name you purchase clearly describes what your website is all about. For instance, if you are planning to create a website that sells basketballs, then by all means make sure that your domain name contains the word 'basketballs'. The wrong domain name can make the wrong impression to those who sees it. So do your research before you register anything. 2. Know your keywords. Again, in order to identify your most relevant keywords, you need to conduct a lot of researching. Keywords make up the backbone of SEO marketing. Always keep in mind that you are probably not the only person selling your products or services online. There could be hundreds or thousands of other sellers offering the exact products. With that said, business will be very tough if you are using the same keywords your competitors are using. So pull yourself away from the crowd by using less competitive keywords. You will only be able to do this through research. There are dozens of keyword research tools online and most of them are free to use. So take advantage of them. 3. Build links. Links are among the major factors that search engines take into account in determining the relevancy of a website. The more links pointing to a certain website, the more relevant it is in the eyes of the search engines. Always keep these SEO marketing tips in mind.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6558032

Nudge Your Way To Clients

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:54:00 GMT

I recently read some jarring news from Jeffrey Fox's "How to Become a Rainmaker." Here is one of my Favorite Foxy Tips: How to handle a client who wants to sign, but is hesitating (and you don't know why). Ask them one of these questions: Have I asked about every single detail that's important to you? OR What question should I be asking that I'm not asking? This is the most confident, most professional question you could ask. I had not thought about this simple question ; maybe you might be missing this in your interactions too. This question shows your extreme care and concern about your future client. And it allows you to dig up the real reason they are on the fence - a reason that's really important to them ( and you justs haven’t uncovered it yet). They may be too afraid or too embarrassed to bring it up. This is your chance to show...

How professional you are, and-
How much you care.

And don't stop there - keep asking. Try it! It works! P.S. Did you know your clients had a Secret Language of Desire? And when you use it, it can change your business forever? Stay tuned, Patrice Barber President Taylor Made Small Biz

Effective Website Marketing Strategy

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:45:00 GMT

If you have a good website marketing strategy, you are moving in the right direction to succeed in your online business. Your website should attract your customers and to do this you need some effective guidelines that can help you succeed. Expert Design You can start with an attractive-looking web design of your site, which has the potential to attract customers. This includes easy navigation, user-friendly features, easy-to-read site maps, and content that is relevant. More content is better than adding flashy images, which does not help in promoting the site in the top of the search engine lists. Your website should be designed by professionals who are SEO experts and who have years of experience. This is especially important as you may be selling most of your products through the Internet. The experts will be able to guide you right on what you need to include in your website for the best website marketing strategy. The image of your business is through the website so hiring experts to design it is the best start. Attracting Your Customers Your goal is to sell your products, get potential customers, and derive income from your website. So first you need to be clear about who your customers are and what are they looking for? You have to think from their perspective to better understand their potential for being your customers. Next you need to know why they should select your product against your competitors. You should make irresistible offers, which compels them buy from you. Website marketing strategy involves planning well to get higher traffic to your site by showing up at the top of search engine results. • Content: This vital aspect cannot be underestimated as the algorithms of search engines depend a lot on text. High standard content naturally generates related back links which, generates high traffic and improves your SEO. • Exchanging Links: You can trade links with websites related to yours and form link partnerships to increase visibility and traffic. Links get you quality and targeted traffic and boosts your link popularity. • Social Bookmarking: You can optimize your website for social bookmarking easily. You can submit the quality content of your web page to these sites and benefit with high web traffic. • SEO: Search engine optimization of your website is a necessary part of website planning and marketing. Search engines will find and index your site only if this is done. • Articles Submission: If you submit original information articles about your business or products and make them available to online publications it will get you links back to your site. In addition your website marketing articles will give authority status to your business and credibility though it will take some time, it is worth using as a technique to market your website. Podcasts, webcasts, blogs, RSS feeds, and newsletters are other effective website marketing strategies to enhance your business prospects and get popularity on search engines. Study your competition and put your company's story online and improve your online presence.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5922710

Remember Taylor Made Small Biz can help http://tmsmallbiz.com/free-stuff/online-tune-up

The Facebook Subscribe Button

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:00 GMT

This article comes from Andrea Vahl AKA Grandma Mary https://www.andreavahl.com/facebook/the-facebook-subscribe-button.php Woooweee Facebook is making changes again. Facebook introduced the Subscribe button on Profiles and they have made things a little more Google+ like. But how do they work and how should you use them? What the Facebook Subscribe button does is allow people to get posts from you from your Personal Profile without being your friend. Now you can choose what updates people can see by making them Public or just making the post visible to your friends or friends of friends or specific friend lists. First of all, if you are a private person and have no intention of saying anything publicly from your Facebook Page, there is nothing you need to do. There is nothing to even opt-out of which is not like Facebook. Make sure you never post publicly with the drop-down menu from the status updates and you are all set. If you are a more public figure or you are using your Personal Profile for business purposes too, then you may want to enable the Subscribe button. To enable it (or to just learn more about it), go to www.Facebook.com/about/subscribe and click Allow Subscribers. Watch this handy video tutorial on what you have to watch out for when using the subscribe button or subscribing to other people. If you have been wondering if you should create a Facebook Page for your business then this might muddy the water a little bit. Now do you create a Page or allow subscribers? My take is that if you have a business, your business should have its own branding with a Page. There are more things you can do with a Page such as create a Welcome Page, run contests and use other apps that will engage your audience. But, as a business owner, you may also want to enable the subscribe button to allow people to get some of your business updates that you make public. Here’s a handy chart that shows some of the differences between the Page and the Subscribe feature: Also, I wanted to make sure you knew where to make changes to the Subscribe feature once you have enabled it. First click the Subscribers link on your left sidebar of your Profile Page and then click the Edit settings as shown below. That’s all you need to know! What do you think about the new Subscribe button? Will you use it? Does it make Facebook more confusing? Tell Grandma in the comments!

90 Minutes to a Successful PR Campaign - Workshop

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:39:00 GMT

What if you could have the Business Journal calling you? ABC news saw your article and now they want an interview! What would that mean to your business? The reach of the media far exceeds our ability to network in person. Many business owners see PR campaigns as limited to a corporate budget. We used to believe that PR campaigns required a PR agency or ad agency.

Now that the PR landscape has changed, you have direct access to the media.

In this hands on workshop, you will develop a PR campaign specific to your business. Leave with your completed PR campaign ready to implement.

In the workshop :

Get your business and get "media ready" with your very own updated media kit
Create the backbone of your marketing arsenal - your advocate list
Outline the key points of your next press release
Identify your target industries and related media connections
Get ready to shine the spot light on your PR campaign

Join us at this workshop to complete everything you need to be ready to launch your PR campaign

When: September 28 from 1:30-3:30 pm

Seating is limited to the first 30.

Reserve your seat today http://bityurl.com/PR-now-aa

The workshop is held at : Remax Professional Training Center 9200 E. Panorama Cir Englewood, CO

10 Critical Points To Get Your Press Release Accepted

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:00 GMT

10 Critical Points To Get Your Press Release Accepted Publicity is one of the best ways and most cost effective ways to drive traffic to your site. You already know it is an excellent marketing tool for your business overall. Because it is very cost effective it makes a great tool for small business owners and entrepreneurs. The key to success is understanding when, where, and how to submit press releases so they get accepted. Many of our clients use press releases on PR wire and PR Web as a way to drive serious traffic ( 1000’s of new visitors) to their sites, promote upcoming events, and they never even talk to the editors. Others send releases to the media (not online sites) and end up with the governor coming to their event. That is the power of publicity from the media. If you seek printing in publications, here’s an important fact - publications with under 30,000 subscribers – local publications - are THRIVING as the rest of the bigger boys are seriously struggling to stay in business. Keep your local focus, use your local publications, and build your local presence. You never know where that will lead since the A/P picks up lots of local stories for national coverage. Join us at our workshop Aug 31, 2011 and find out the Insider Secrets to Getting Publicity on a Shoestring Budget. Getting started:

At the top f your press release give the instructions about what the release is for. FOR RELEASE AUGUST 28^th, 2011 or FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Also include the type of release: News Release above the instructions .Submit releases about 1-2 weeks before an event if you want to attract media coverage. Submit them within the week for shorter turn times and if you have some relationship with the editor or reporter(s)
Type ,don’t hand write releases. Use double spacing and a large margin. Editors use the margin for their notes and get huffy if you use “their” space. Huffy means they easily may toss your release. They get hundreds per day for significant publications.
Use your logo and header above the actual press release. Send in as a .pdf attachment, submitted to the editors site online, or sent in by snail mail – not my favorite, but can work.
Use a headline that grabs attention and invites the reader to want more. Some examples: (Name of Company) launches new website for Your Target Market Free Information Available at Type of (Critical Business Resource, etc) Taylor Made Small Biz launches new website for Military Entrepreneurs Online
Start with the place the story originates as the first two words. Looks like this (City, State)…in parentheses and three dots or 3 dashes after. Denver, Colorado---August 28^th, 2011- A new website launched this week to help our soldiers coming home realize the benefits and ease of starting their own business. MilitaryEntrepreneursOnline.com offers free training to our veterans on how to start their business using online marketing strategies that are low cost, high tech, and very effective at getting more customers in the door.
KISS – Keep It Simple Sweetheart – Most of us struggle a little here, so get a good editor. Make sure your first paragraph answers who, what, when and why. ( See above example)
At the bottom include your short paragraph about your company About Your Company (Company Website)
Below the about the company provide the contact’s name. Include the first and last name of your contact person to call for more information. Show the email and if you really want to get contacted include home phone (or cell phone), as well as the business number.
Keep the release to a single page. If you have more than 1 page, number the rest at the bottom. Put “more”-centered at the bottom of each page. Don’t add another subject reference or headline on the other pages.
And most critical - At the end of the release, add –END- or three # signs centered on the page. Who knew ### could be so vital !

Best of luck as you present your grammy award winning story. So .. .Do you have a great or horrible PR story to share ? We love your comments so tell us your story. Join us at our workshop Aug 31, 2011 and find out the Insider Secrets to Getting Publicity on a Shoestring Budget. To get more information and assistance on creating your press releases and even launching a simple PR campaign check here.

Getting Started With Social Media

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:51:00 GMT

Social Media is the exciting new tool of the future businesses today are using to expand and grow. To successfully and efficiently use Social Media, there are some key points every business needs to address. First of all, you must have a clearly started purpose, a select target market and a vision. After this initial step, you must choose appropriate platforms to cater to your purpose, target market and vision. Next, come up with a budget. How much do you want to spend/how much can you spend on Social Media? Once the budget is decided, allocate someone to manage your Social Media. Next, time and resources must be set aside to work on and maintain your Social Media efforts. Then you must decide which KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you are going to measure. These measurements will allow you to keep track of how your company is doing in regards to its Social Media efforts. Next, is it important to decide how you will integrate your Social Media with your conventional marketing and website. This integration is very important as it gives your target market a clear vision and understanding of your company as a whole. Next, decide how will you create the content for your Social Media. Also decide how much content you will present and how often you will present it. And finally, give examples of the content. This can be in the form of articles, eBooks, blogs, video, coupons, sampling, podcasts, contests/sweeps etc. Efficient Social Media efforts can lead to a more successful business, reaching its target markets and expanding its fan base. By following these steps, any business can effectively utilize Social Media!

Internet Marketing Makes Your Business Reach to Your Target Audience and Boost Up Your Sales

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:41:00 GMT

In the light of growing internet awareness in every part of the world and use of internet in purchasing products and services online in developed and developing countries, internet marketing has become all the more important and even overtaken traditional advertisement modes in case of many products and services. Strategy and process of internet marketing differ for different businesses and hence it needs to thoroughly analyze and apply various techniques of internet marketing that uniquely suit to your specific business needs. Internet marketing is a broad concept that encompasses various processes like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), PPC Campaign, Article Marketing, Press Releases, Link Exchange and YouTube Marketing etc. First of all, an expert internet marketing consultant decides which process will bring more business for a particular product or service in minimum possible time and then start working on that. SEO generally takes time but they bring quality business once the website comes on top ranks in different search engines through several business keywords. Similarly, SMM needs time to bear fruits. Hence, in the beginning one can run PPC campaign on search engines like Google and on social networking sites like Facebook. These will bring instant business leads. For SEO, the keywords analysis and selecting business keywords from which you wants your website to be visible on top ranks in search engines is very important. Ultimately, these keywords will bring traffic on your website and increase your sales leads. Once the website comes with different keyphrases, it is essential to constantly work on these keywords to maintain their ranks. An internet marketing company or a professional SEO service provider plays good role here. For social media marketing, it is necessary to catch the pulse of your targeted audience on different social networking sites like Facebook and accordingly attract their attention towards your Facebook Fan Page and towards your website too through the link given on the Fan Page. Similarly, appropriate work should be done on Twitter and MySpace as well. In some special cases, article marketing becomes important when the products or service needs to be described and circulated on large scale on internet. It works in two ways. First, the article gives the reader complete knowledge of products and services. Secondly, it brings traffic to your website through the links on the article. Similarly, YouTube marketing helps the customer to see the products in videos and understand the services perfectly. Recently, article and YouTube marketing has gained pace in business world. Press releases give you opportunity to highlight your business activities, products and services. It also enhances the traffic on your website. To sum up, different aspects of internet marketing that have potential to bring quality traffic and business leads must be analyzed, and finally the services discussed above need to be chosen keeping in mind the specific business requirements. Best planning and right strategy for internet marketing are pre-requisites of getting your business boost up on the internet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5926872

Google Plus

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:00 GMT

Google Plus is the newest social networking site to hit the Internet. Being as its from Google, it's no surprise that this is going to turn out pretty big. While the network is still in its infancy, anyone who has a Gmail account has access to the network. Due to the huge number of users of Gmail, the number of uses in Google Plus skyrocketed as soon as the network was made available. However, since it still has not officially launched, there are many things lacking in Google Plus that Facebook has. For example, businesses are not allowed on Google Plus yet, making the avenue inadequate for advanced marketing. There are many things that make Google Plus quite unique, and it will take some time for Facebook to catch up. Many people theorize that Facebook has been slacking on updating its features, because until now it did not have any major competitors. MySpace unofficially died long ago, and frankly I have always hated the extremely cluttered look of the site. Facebook will always have a place in the social networking world, as it will be forced to innovate, but for now Google Plus has some very interesting features. Google Plus's two most innovative features are Circles and Hangout. Circles is what all the high school and college users of Facebook are really excited about. It allows you to exclude certain categories of people from certain postings, and is much more efficient than the Facebook system of categorizing posts. You can create as many circles as you want and name it whatever you want, and your friends cannot see the name of your circles. For your work supervisor, you could friend him and put him in the circle of "Dumb boss", and he/she would not be any the wiser. It truly is an innovative system! Then there is Hangout, which is a really awesome feature. It allows you to video chat with multiple people at once. You can get all your friends together and chat in the same place, which is an unparalleled social networking feature. The future is finally here, and it is only a matter of time before we are speaking to each other using holographic representations of ourselves. It might sound crazy, but such technology already exists, and at the rate technology is changing we will probably see that in the next couple years. It is going to be pretty incredible! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6455881 At Taylor Made Small Bizwe can help you create a online business strategy that incorporates all social media platforms to help you gain an ROI quicker.

Women Entrepreneurs Foster Global Entrepreneurship – one village at a time

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:00 GMT

iCast recently featured three incredible women who are from Pakistan , educated in the US and have gone back to Pakistan, using their Harvard and MIT education to give back to their communities . Using micro loans and entrepreneurship to empower the women in their villages, they have already brought solar electricity and water to their villages, education for girls (almost unheard of in many small villages), and young women. Most impressive is that this has been done in a sustainable manner . Their micro loans are used to generate the initial capital for a business idea that the village women all participate in and the loans are rapidly paid back at 97% payback rates against U.S. loan repayment rates of just 72% at this time. Patrice Barber was invited to attend this exclusive event and is delighted to be providing online business support with internet marketing and mobile marketing to these women celebrating the empowerment of women entrepreneurs world wide. http://rockies.tie.org/event/46/recharge-pakistan-through-empowering-women-tie-rockies-collaboration-icast

Shiny new things that will burst your bubble on Google Places.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

If you haven’t checked lately you may be in for a surprise on your Google Places page. First you will start seeing a Write review red button to begin capturing Google reviews which of course will be highlighted before the other reviews like from Yelp or Merchant Circle and others. This is a wonderful addition that your clients will find helpful. Encourage them to use it as it is going to be very powerful to your business. This will be interesting to watch as Yelp takes a back seat to Google. Next you may find you are missing reviews. Google is not showing your reviews from non Google reviewers ( like Yelp etc) AND some of our clients have found even their “Google Reviews “ have gone missing . hmmmm. In addition, check on your Details section as some are finding that their details are not showing up. For service based businesses like us that provide our services for a wide area, the Service Area Map was quite useful and for the time being has gone missing too. Overall there is a long term “nit” between service based business and brick and mortar businesses both of whom would like to take advantage of the SEO (traffic driving) advantages of Google Places. There are of course new, alternate ways to accomplish the online traffic driving goals. Our online business clients are getting the details of how we will be fixing their pages to continue to optimize their online business. As always, we have followed @Perry Marshall age old advice and don’t rely all that much on Google directly BECAUSE it changes and is not predictable. If you haven’t considered widening your traffic generating strategies beyond your Google usage, perhaps now is a good time to reconsider all the aspects to growing your online business. Find out more about google places change here http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/07/ongoing-evolution-of-place-pages.html