Vol XI: Issue 8 A community newsletter from the Pawling Chamber of Commerce serving the Pawling, Holmes and Whaley Lake Communities. NOVEMBER 2014 New Developments in Pawling Village Inside this issue Business Matters: Use the Most Valuable Real Estate on Your Web Site Pawling Concert Series: The Sounding Brass Gallery on the Green: Earthly Delights II The Living Landscape Journal: Evergreening Up the Landscape The Computer Guy: Save Your Photos Automatically The economic development of Pawling Village is extremely important to the continued growth of our local businesses as well as a key driver of attracting new businesses to our community. Lots of great improvements have been taking place in Pawling Village...some you may have seen and others you probably haven't seen yet... Roads and Sidewalk Improvements Broad Street, Arch Street, Union Street and part of Charles Colman Boulevard have been recently paved and sidewalks added or improved, including making them handicapped accessible. This is just the beginning of a repaving project which is planned for other Village roads. A process has been started to apply for grants to fund this repaving and to complement what has already been done. This project is important to the overall goal of making the Village more pedestrian friendly and increasing business and tourism. Financial Focus: Prepare Far Ahead for Long Care Costs Member News and More GET PAWLING MATTERS ONLINE PDFs of this and past issues are available on our web site www.pawlingchamber.org 33 Main Street, the site of the old Reilly’s Garage (continued on page 3) Light Up Pawling This Holiday Season Pawling’s traditional celebration for the holiday season is just weeks away. The horse drawn wagon that brings Santa and his elves to Pawling, the tree lighting event at the Chamber building, the musicians and singers from our schools, the hot soups and hot chocolate, cookies and gifts for the children help us launch the holiday season in Pawling. Funding this event is urgently needed. The chamber and its volunteers are vital and appreciated as well as sponsorship funding for special activities including lighting the large 60’ tree, the chamber building, the wreaths and lights in the village and the horse drawn wagon for Santa. Charles Colman Blvd P.O. Box 19 Pawling, NY 12564 845-855-0500 Please support this year’s Pawling Decemberfest and Tree Lighting with a donation or sponsorship. Major sponsors will be recognized at our December 5th (continued on page 10) 2 Pawling Matters Pawling Matters Business Matters Brought to you by SCORE “Counselors to America’s Business.“ To learn more about how SCORE can help your business, e-mail them at scoredcny@hotmail.com or call 845-454-1700 x 1021 for the Dutchess Chapter, or find a counselor online at www.score.org. Use the Most Valuable Real Estate on Your Web Site To Capture Your Visitors’ Attention By Corey Rudl, Internet Marketing Center Just like in spy movies where the hero has 10 suspense-filled seconds to dispose of his or her latest assignment before it self-destructs, you have an equally short 10 seconds to grab your visitors’ attention before your chances of making a sale self-destruct and your firsttime visitors leave your site forever. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make those critical 10 seconds count by ensuring that the first fold of your Web site (the first screen of your Web site visible without scrolling) snags the attention of your visitors with a compelling benefit that persuades them to stay just a few minutes longer to find out what you offer. Pawling Events Calendar Pawling Concert Series The Rose Ensemble Friday, March 27 • Make visitors’ lives easier • Save them money • Save them time • Help them in their personal lives • Provide additional income (continued on page 8) Adult tickets are $30, students $15 and those 12 and under are guests of the Series. These can be purchased at the Book Cove in Pawling, at the door on the evening of the concert and through Paypal. A light supper of soup, salad and sandwich may be bought from 6 - 7:30 PM at the CAVE, located in the basement of Cluett. The Chapel is just steps away and is handicapped accessible. Parking is plentiful. Pawling Concert Series The Hot Sardines Friday, April 17 All Saints’ Chapel on the campus of Trinity-Pawling School will ring out with the sounds of the Empire Brass on Friday, November 14. The Boston Globe noted about the quintet, “a live performance sends a thrill of pleasure through your nervous system”. This thrill will be specially underwritten by Key Bank of New York. The five musicians - all of whom have held leading positions with major American orchestras - perform over 100 concerts a year in cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, London, Zurich and Tokyo. The artists have served as Faculty Quintet-inResidence at Boston University for 13 years. They have introduced The next concert is on Friday, December 5 and introduces our audience to the famous American Boychoir - perhaps an answer to the Boys Choir of Vienna? A salute to the holiday season! For information call 845 - 855- 3100. The Pawling Concert Series is underwritten, partially, by the New York State Council on the Arts and by Arts Mid-Hudson. Annual support is donated by Castagna Reality, Joe Pietryka Incorporated, M&T Charitable Foundation, Andron Construction and by Joseph Meunier & Sons. New Developments in Pawling Village SPECIAL NOTE: Next General Meeting is Tues,November 18, 2014, 6 pm Communicate Your Biggest Benefit With Your Headline Any professional copywriter will tell you that your headline can make or break your success. Unfortunately, this is an element that is sorely undervalued by most site owners. The very first thing that should draw the eyes of your visitors when they arrive at your Web site is a headline that clearly states the biggest benefit your site has to offer. Graphics, logos, illustrations, menus and links, should never overpower or distract from this critical element. Your headline should be located at the very top, center of the page in a larger font size that naturally attracts attention. It should communicate information about what you offer and how you’re going to: The concert begins at 8 PM and the artists will parade their techniques in the first half of the evening with works to include Scarlatti, Mozart and Bach. In the second half they will let loose with Miles Davis, George Gershwin, Fats Waller, Aaron Copland and even the Ode to Joy by Beethoven, among other stunners. Pawling Concert Series The American Boychoir Friday, December 5 I know this concept probably sounds simple enough; however, most Web site owners make fatal mistakes here that drive visitors away and limit the sales potential of their sites. In the process of trying to “tell it all”...“sell it all”...or “dazzle `em all,” they just end up “confusing `em all.” Or they assume that their Web site will sell the offer itself and don't provide any information. Think about all of those times you've arrived at Web sites that: We’ve all been to (and been frustrated by) these sites. So what can you do to ensure that your site isn’t one of them? audiences to the excitement of brass music that ranges from Bach and Handel to jazz and Broadway. The performers are Rolf Smedvig, Trumpet and a founding member, Derek Lockhart, Trumpet, Victor Sungarian, French Horn, Greg Spiridopoulos, Trombone and Kenneth Amis, Tuba. Tree Lighting Friday, December 5 The first fold of your Web site needs to be strategically designed so that, in 10 seconds or less, it clearly communicates the biggest, most compelling benefit you have to offer your visitors. • Overwhelms you with graphics • Points you in 14 different directions with links here, there and everywhere • Annoys you with flashy banners • Slows you down with a long, pointless Flash presentation • Spends the entire first page talking about “Mission Statements” • And just plain drive you away with a lack of relevant information The Sounding Brass Pawling Concert Series Empire Brass Friday, November 14 What’s Up With This 10-Second Rule, Anyway? The first fold is literally the most valuable real estate on your Web site because this is the screen that your visitors absorb during the first 10 seconds of their visit and use to make their “should I stay or should I go” decision. That's why you'll frequently hear me refer to “the 10-second rule.” RSVP: Marie 845-855-1632 Note to Member Organizations: The Events Calendar is for Chamber, Town, Village and cultural events. For any other events, member organizations can submit a mini article about the event, its background, its purpose, etc. to PM for consideration. Please prepare your information by the 10th of the previous month and deliver it to the Chamber building or e-mail to pccny@bww.com 3 Pawling Welcome Center The Pawling Chamber of Commerce’s office remains in the same building location on Charles Colman Blvd. which is now called the Pawling Welcome Center and is one of Dutchess County’s designated Tourism Information Centers. The building has been updated to include two handicap accessible bathrooms with a separate entrance. First time visitors to Pawling as well as residents are welcomed by a volunteer staff (the Chamber’s “Ambassadors”) who can offer a variety of information and related materials. The recently landscaped entrance and signage is impressive and will serve to bring more attention to the Village of Pawling. Old Buildings and New Businesses The repurposing of old buildings and new buildings in Pawling has been the topic of conversations for a while. There are several potential businesses looking at utilizing the old IGA store building at Pawling Commons. This would be a wonderful use of this currently empty 15,000 square foot building.In addition, The Morrison Building has recently been sold to a dental practice, Quality Dental Care, PC which plans to move their full service practice, including specialists, to this building in Pawling Village. (continued from page 1) Reilly’s Garage You may be aware that Mayor Robert Liffland owned this building on East Main Street, which was originally built in the early 1900’s. The property was previously deemed contaminated by NY State. After a significant and very expensive cleanup project, it was finally DEC certified to be useable. Over the eight years he owned, the property, the Mayor received many offers to purchase the property. However, he held off until he received an offer with plans which fit into the Village Master Plan in terms of how the new building would look and be used. The new owner is a Pawling Resident, who is very interested in putting up a quality building which will fit the look and feel of the Village. Unfortunately, what was left of the existing building and foundation was in such a state of disrepair, it had to be torn down. The plans for the new mixed use building include 3 floors and keep the same footprint, with a first floor of retail space and two floors for apartments. These are the latest in a flurry of new interest, construction and new businesses to Pawling Village bringing short and long term jobs, as well as tourists and customers to our community. 4 Pawling Matters Pawling Matters Gallery on the Green Presents Earthly Delights II Gallery on the Green announces its second group exhibition of works in Ceramics, Mixed Media, Sculpture and Textile. Exhibitors include Barbara Allen, Joel Brown, Deb Heid, Nancy Holmes-Doyle, Kyle Galloway, Lindi Gessin, Peter Kukresh, Deb Lecce, Alison Palmer and Missy Stevens. The show will open on Saturday, November 29th and run through the holidays. A reception is to be held Saturday, November 29th, 5-7 pm. The Gallery on the Green is located at 7 Arch Street in Pawling. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 5pm and always by appointment. To arrange an appointment, call 845.855.5642. For more information visit www.gotgpawling.com. Many of the ceramic pieces are informed by cultural and sociological influences. Each piece embodies experiences garnered in Asia, Africa and throughout the Americas. They are executed in figurative, sculptural, whimsical and even archeological styles using different processes and firing techniques, including reduction firing and wood firing. The show also features evocative prints based on man and nature. More information on each artist and their work can be found at www.gotgpawling.com/sculpture/group-show Gallery on the Green represents contemporary artists whose works range from representational to abstract. From painting to drawing, from sculpture to mixed media, it exhibits innovative artists who share a high standard of excellence and artistic judgment and is taking the lead in helping Eastern Dutchess County establish a major presence in the Tri-State arts scene. DA VINCI ROBOTIC SURGERY MAKES BIG THINGS HAPPEN Pawling Concert Series THROUGH THE TINIEST OF INCISIONS. presents with Key Bank of New York Empire Brass At Health Quest, our surgeons are using the most advanced technology available today — like the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System. With the help of this state-of-the-art robotic technology our specially trained surgeons are able to perform both delicate and complex operations through the smallest of incisions. That means less blood loss, fewer complications and most importantly, a shorter recover y time. It ’s no wonder 99% of patients who have had da Vinci surger y said they would recommend it to others. Friday, November 14 8 P.M. All Saints’ Chapel at Trinity-Pawling School It was a dark and stormy night many years ago when this iconic group overcame the weather and shook the walls of All Saints' Chapel in one of the best received concerts the series has ever enjoyed. Welcome back!? SMART GROWTH IS HERE CASTAGNA COMMERCE PARK Route 22, Pawling, New York FIRST PHASE BEGINNING IN 2014 80 Units of Senior Housing & 67,000 sq ft Medical Office Building Carefully Planned and Approved for Medical Office · Professional Office · Retail · Hotel and up to 400 senior living P U T N A M H O S P I TA L C EN T ER / MyHealthQues t VA S S A R B R OT H ERS M ED I C A L C EN T ER www.health - quest .org/daVinci Sources: American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), “Top Issues Facing Hospital CEOs 2009”; The Estes Park Institute, “The Top Issues in Health Care 2010.” Adults $30, Students $15, children 12 and under, no charge. Soup, Salad, Sandwich Supper 6-7:30 pm at The Cave. For information call 845.855.3100 “The Developer of Brady Brook Falls” 516.627.6700 5 6 Pawling Matters Pawling Matters The Living Landscape Journal: Evergreening up the Landscape This year, the Pawling Sports Hall of Fame will be inducting its first team, and next year will be the 40th anniversary of one of the best ball teams ever to take the field in Pawling High School history -the 1975 Baseball Team. This is the time of year when everyone starts to ask about what type of Winter we should be preparing for. Many Meteorologists across the area stick their neck out with this year's long range winter forecast. I've heard everything from the worst Winter in 500 years to an average Winter with more precipitation than normal, so I went to the local expert. I asked local Meteorologist, Mike Shustak what his long range forecast was for this winter. He looked at me as if he was rattling through long range weather maps in his head and asked me if I had a quarter in my pocket. I handed him the quarter and he flipped it in the air and said heads a bad winter, tails a mild winter. It came down "tails" so according to Mikes scientific analysis, we are in for a milder than normal Winter. By the way, I saved the quarter. November is preparing for a long Winter's nap as the Bear, Bat, Woodchuck, Skunk, Raccoon and Chipmunk prepare to go into a semi - hibernation state called "Torpor". The animals activity slows way down where rest and inactivity becomes the normal. The landscape in November looks unkempt as leaves, sticks and stems are blown around in the consistent November breeze. Evergreens become the focal point in the landscape this time of year. Fall is the season to add a full bodied Native White Spruce to that perimeter hedge row hole that needs to be filled. White Spruce is one of the more delicate looking, short needled Spruce and the tree cones at a young age. White Spruce is deer resistant and makes a great Christmas Tree. I recommend planting a grove of them for privacy in a sun filled location. Native Mountain Laurel, Rhododendron, and Andromeda are the perfect broad leaf evergreen shrubs to accent just about any foundation, hedgerow or raised bed planting. Mountain Laurel features my favorite broadleaf evergreen star shaped flower in red, pink or white. If not planted in the proper soil and exposure, Laurel Hall of Fame First Team In 2008 the Pawling Central High School Sports Hall of Fame was formed. Its purpose is to honor and perpetuate the memory of outstanding sports accomplishments, contributors or services by an individual athlete, coach, or team in the interscholastic athletic program of the Pawling Central School District. The rains began to fall in early October and in a month's time the water levels were up to almost normal. We got a bit of a scare in late October when the forecast was hinting at another Halloween snow storm. That would have been the third Halloween snow storm in five years. Let's be thankful that did not happen again. The 1975 Baseball Team was Bi-Valley Champions, Section 1 Champions Class C, Section 1 Open Champions Class B and C, Section 1 and 9 Regional Champions Class C and D. If there were state rankings in place in 1975, as there are today, this team would have been a strong candidate for State Champions. With a record of 20 wins and 6 losses, it took Class AA Champions Kingston N.Y. to end Pawling's run. The ‘75 team’s strength as with any great baseball team, was in its pitchers. Gavin Russo, Larry Jackson, and Clark Murray were three exceptionally good hurlers with very different pitching styles. Team captain, Gavin Russo, was the ace of the staff with a tailing fastball most batters couldn't see, let alone hit. Gavin's Varsity High School baseball career record at Pawling was 20 wins and 5 losses can be a tough plant to establish. Native Rhododendron comes in all shapes and sizes. The larger Rosebay or Maximum Rhododendron can reach 20' tall. The "Maxi" flowers in early summer, and it's not unusual to see this pink to white flower in full bloom early in July. Catawbiense Rhododendron flower much earlier in the season and has a full hydrangea looking flower in many different colors. In a naturalized bed the white, light lavender and dark purple flower work well together. Andromeda flowers in very early Spring and has a fragrant white bloom that has a similar bell shape look and color as the native Blueberry flower. 7 McKinney & Doyle Fine Foods “Finally a bar for grown ups” from 73' to 75'. Gavin never lost a league game finishing 15 and 0 in the Bi-Valley League. Gavin was All League, First Team, Most Valuable Player, and was named The Most Outstanding Baseball Player in Dutchess County in 1975. He continued his baseball career at Ithaca College and played professional baseball for the Newark Co-Pilots in the NY-Penn League. Larry Jackson was another hard throwing right-hander. Larry racked up 25 wins in his three years playing Varsity Baseball and pitched a no hitter against Rhinebeck. Larry went on to have a successful college pitching career at Jacksonville University and Cornell University. Clark Murray was the outstanding lefty on the squad and pitched varsity baseball for four years. After going 6 and 1 his sophomore year, he never lost a game his junior and senior years. Clark was 8 and 0 in ‘75 and set a league record striking out 19 batters in a no hitter against Millbrook. Clark had an unbelievable move to first base and was able to pick off runners at will. He was named All League in ‘75. Clark went on to Rollins College where he pitched against the Minnesota Twins. He struck out three Twins batters in two innings. Not only did the 1975 Baseball Team have great pitching, this team played sound defense in the field. The all left-handed outfield was the league's best. James Phillips was in right field. Jimmy was a good defensive outfielder and a great leadoff hitter. (continued on page 11) earthly delights II Most years, our garden soil freezes by mid December so we have a good 6 + weeks to add some handsome evergreens to our landscape this Fall. "Last one to the garden center is a turkey." - Pete and the Natives www.nativelandscaping.net Nov 29 thru Jan 9 Artist’s Reception Nov 29 5-7 PM Save Gas. Shop Pawling. 845.855.3875 www.mckinneyanddoyle.com &KDUOHV&ROPDQ%OYG3DZOLQJ1< Gallery on the Green 7 Arch Street / Pawling, NY 12564 (845) 855-5642 Wed–Sat 12–5 or by appt. gotgpawling.com 8 Pawling Matters Pawling Matters Most Valuable Real Estate on Your Web Site • Entertain them • Make them more attractive • Help them feel better Plus, it should be visually appealing. For your headline to be most effective, your visitors must be able to absorb the benefits it shares in a glance. So you not only need to write a killer headline, you need to strategically format it. Use bolding, italics, and underlining to tastefully emphasize key points. And watch where your lines break. To illustrate these points, let’s pretend that you're brainstorming headlines for your Web site that sells plastic cutlery (i.e. plastic knives, forks and spoons): Headline Comments: • “Welcome to PlasticCutlery.net” Your domain name should never be used as your title. It doesn't communicate a benefit or give visitors a reason to stay. • “Buy Our Perfect Picnic Pals” You know what this means, but your visitors won’t. Are you selling bug spray? Wine? Picnic baskets? Friends to picnic with? Visitors should never have to read through your site to understand your title. The benefit should be clear to everyone immediately. • “Stick A Plastic Fork In It When It’s Done” Don’t worry about being clever, worry about being clear. While cute slogans might be fun to write, be careful that they're doing more than amuse—make sure they’re selling visitors on why your site is worth their time. • “Durable Plastic Nourishment Ingesting Utensils Comprised of Plasticizers, Fillers, Pigments, and other Additives” Huh? Speak in a language that your target market is going to understand. You’re only impressing yourself by overusing big words in long, complicated sentences. Good writing is clear and concise. So are good headlines. • “Choose From Our Wide Selection Of Brand Name Plastic Cutlery (Over 200 Tested, Proven Durable Styles)... Including The Top 10 Patterns The Hollywood Stars Use” Now I admit that this last headline is a bit of a stretch, but if you are in the market for designer plastic utensils, these might be the major benefits you are looking for. Notice that this headline clearly expresses benefits like: Choose from a wide selection of plastic cutlery (over 200 styles)... Choose from brand name cutlery... And choose from patterns the stars use. Capture Visitors' Names and Email Addresses The next critical element that should appear within the first fold of your Web site is an opt-in email form that offers visitors a compelling reason to become a subscriber. Not every person is going to buy from you the first time they visit your site, so it's very important that you capture their names and email addresses before they leave. You've spent the time, money and energy getting your site listed in the search engines, recruiting link partners, purchasing advertising in industry newsletters, writing free promotional arti- (continued from page 2) 9 Mike Pepper, The Computer Guy - Save Your Photos Automatically! cles, etc... Why would you let these targeted visitors slip away? Of course, these days including an opt-in email form with text like “Subscribe Now” or “Free Newsletter” is not enough. Email is no longer a novelty for most people, and there are literally thousands of sites pushing their “free” newsletters. So it’s extremely important that you give your visitors a compelling reason to share their names and email addresses. For example, referring back to the plastic cutlery Web site, a good subscription offer might read something like this: Subscribe to our FREE monthly “Plastic Cutlery” Newsletter and learn the secrets Hollywood stars use to throw some of the hottest, most talked-about parties... for almost no cost! PLUS, Subscribe today, and you’ll immediately receive our exclusive report, “10 Secrets About Buying In Bulk That Plastic Cutlery Manufacturers Don’t Want You To Know!” Smartphones and tablets with cameras are everywhere. These cameras are super easy and fun, and the quality of the pictures and videos they can take is really quite amazing. The problem is, the pictures are on your phone or tablet! Until recently, getting the pictures and videos off of your phone meant emailing one or two to yourself or maybe posting them in social media, like Facebook. Or you could plug your camera device into your computer and go through the whole download-and-sortout hassle. But now you can set up an app on your smartphone that will automatically transfer your photos to an internet cloud account, and from there to your computer or tablet or wherever you would like! Notice that you’re not only letting visitors know that their subscription will be free, you’re telling them exactly what your newsletter is about, how frequently they’ll be receiving it, and how they’re going to benefit from it. Plus, you’re giving them the added incentive of a special bonus report that contains information they're going to value (and that's going to establish your credibility). About as quick as you can take a picture, it is copied to the cloud and ready for you to use it as you please. Make Getting Around Easy With Your Navigation Menu First; if you don’t already have a free account with a cloud storage service, go sign up for one. Four that are easy and common are Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Apple iCloud. (Respectively: Dropbox.com, Drive.Google.com, OneDrive.live.com, www.iCloud.com.) The other critical element that should appear within the first fold of your Web site is your navigation menu, which should be placed somewhere on the top, left of every page. When visitors first arrive at your site, they should be able to see in a glance that your site is going to be easy to navigate. If your visitors are struggling to get around, then they're not thinking about your offer. And if they’re not thinking about your offer, they’re going to leave. So rather than scatter links around your homepage, group them together in a concise menu that's easy to understand and use. I should point out that part of making your navigation menu easy to use involves carefully choosing your menu button names. For example, a poorly labeled menu on your plastic cutlery site might look something like this: • What’s Cool • Meet Bob • Statistics • Background • Product This is a common mistake. Don’t assume that your visitors will instinctively know what these buttons mean. Choose compelling link and button names that are both benefit-oriented and clear. A better menu might look something like this: • Home • FREE Plastic Cutlery And, this is all FREE: for Apple devices, Android, and for Windows phones too. To get this working for you, here’s what you do. OneDrive and Google Drive both offer the most free storage (15 gigabytes [GB]), so if you don’t have an account elsewhere, you might as well start with one of those. 15GB can hold between 5000 and 6000 high resolution photos. iCloud starts with 5GB free, and Dropbox gives you 2GB. As I say, all four of these are available for users of Apple, Android, and Windows devices.Second; from the app store for your device, install an app on your phone or tablet that matches up with your cloud storage service and which will do the automatic uploads for you. Third; set up the service app to automatically upload your photos. All of the services refer to it as “Camera Backup” or “Photo Backup.” Notice that none of these buttons give the visitor information about how they're going to benefit from clicking on them. (continued on page 10) photos. Use the WiFi-only setting to avoid using your data plan allotment of bytes. For Google Drive, the settings for it will be found in your phone or tablet’s settings. Ditto for iCloud on iPhone and iPad, though on Android and Windows devices you will have to go to an app’s settings to set it up If you use OneDrive or Dropbox, open the app and sign in with your account, then go to the settings and turn on “Camera Backup”. The options for your service app will then ask if you want to back up only via WiFi versus also using your data plan to upload the It may also ask if you want to back up at the highest quality possible or at a more compressed quality level. More compression means that you can store more photos and use less of your data plan to upload them to the cloud, but the image quality may be degraded. If you want to make prints, upload at the highest quality level. I prefer to upload at the highest quality, but I set the option so that photos and videos are only uploaded when the phone is connected via WiFi so that it uses none of my data plan bytes. If you shoot a lot of videos with your phone or tablet, make sure to use the “WiFi only” settings. Fourth; viewing your photos on your computer or TV: For whichever cloud service(s) you use, there is a corresponding program or app for your computer – and maybe for your TV too. Once you install that program on your computer, log on to your cloud service account, and within minutes, if not seconds, your photos will download to your computer for you to view, sort, edit, enhance, and share as you wish. Crop them, brighten them, add captions and share on Instagram or Flickr or Facebook. Fast and easy-peazy. As always, I hope that this is all quite clear and useful; but if I can help with this, or anything on your computers, please don’t hesitate to call: Mike Pepper ~ Computer Guy. www.PawlingComputerGuy.com 845-855-5824 10 Pawling Matters Pawling Matters Most Valuable Real Estate on Your Web Site 11 Financial Focus (continued from page 8) Prepare Far Ahead for Long-Term Care Costs • Hollywood Star Favorites • 200 Cutlery Designs • Cutlery Care Tips • About Us • Contact Us #3: Avoid Sharing Ordering Information Too Soon While your product type and offer will ultimately dictate how you lead your visitors to the sale, it’s generally a good idea to avoid any mention of ordering or buying until you’ve established the value of your offer as this tends to scare people away. Notice that each of these menu options clearly tells the visitor where they're going to go or what they're going to get by clicking on them. Avoid These Common Design Errors Once you understand the key elements that should immediately grab your visitors’ attention within the first fold of your Web site, the elements to avoid become obvious: #1: Avoid Links and Banners that Drive Traffic Away From Your Offer Be careful not to drive traffic away from your Web site with distracting banners and links. While there are some situations that warrant placing a banner at the top of your homepage (i.e. you’re promoting an affiliate product or you’re selling your advertising space), you need to make sure you’re not driving your traffic right into the hands of your competition. For example, if you’re selling books about plastic cutlery, you shouldn’t have a link to Amazon.com at the top of your homepage. Amazon.com is a huge, well-established bookseller that has already established its credibility with online book buyers. If you present your visitors with the choice of purchasing their plastic cutlery books from you or Amazon.com, they’re likely going to choose Amazon.com. Think carefully before placing any links or banners within the first fold of your Web site; this is where you should be directing visitors towards your offer, not away from your site. #2: Avoid Distracting Graphics and Animation Words sell, not graphics. So if visitors spend the first 10 seconds at your site trying to figure out how to make your long Flash presentation stop, or waiting for large graphics to load, you can be sure that they’re not going to stick around. While there is a time and place for graphics and animation, be certain that if you've chosen to include any on your site, you’ve done so to strategically enhance your message and illustrate a benefit— not for your own self-gratification. Your friends and family will be far more impressed by the long-term profits your site generates than by flashy, spinning images. Tree Lighting Like any good salesperson, you first need to establish your credibility and explain how your product or service is going to benefit the visitor before asking for the order. #4: Avoid “About You” Text Like Mission Statements To begin with, just how expensive is long-term care? Consider this: The average cost for a private room in a nursing home is more than $87,000 per year, according to the 2014 Cost of Care Survey produced by Genworth, a financial-services company. Here’s a personal pet peeve of mine. Sites that seem intent on boring you to death with long, elaborate pages that talk about company goals and mission statements. Think about it for a minute... A mission statement is about what your company wants to achieve, not about how your visitors are going to benefit from doing business with you. And the average cost of an assisted living facility, which provides a level of care that is not as extensive as that offered by a nursing home, is $42,000 per year, according to the same Genworth study. All long-term care costs have risen steadily over the past several years, with no indication that they will level off. Yes, in some cases these benefits may be implied in your mission statement. But you can’t honestly expect your visitors to wade through all of your pomp and ceremony to figure out how you're going to help them. If you must include this information on your site, don’t place it in the first fold of your homepage where visitors are looking for clear, specific details about why your site is worth their time. Many people, when they think about long-term care at all, believe that Medicare will pay these costs — but that’s just not the case. Typically, Medicare only covers a small percentage of long-term care expenses, which means you will have to take responsibility. Of course, if you are fortunate, you may go through life without ever needing to enter a nursing home or an assisted living facility, or even needing help from a home health-care aide. But given the costs involved, can you afford to jeopardize your financial independence — or, even worse, impose a potential burden on your grown children? The first fold is the most valuable real estate on your Web site because this is where new visitors make their 10-second decision to stay or go. That’s why you need to side-step the tempting design errors like misplaced banners, distracting animation, wordy mission statements, and premature ordering information, and use this space to carefully: • Communicate the biggest benefit your Web site has to offer, • Persuade your visitors to opt-in to your mailing list, • And convince them that your site will be a breeze to navigate. This is how you’ll not only dramatically increase the average length of a visitor’s stay, it’s how you’ll also dramatically increase your overall sales. Need help trying this in your business? Connect with a SCORE mentor online or in your community today! About the Author - Corey Rudl, president of the Internet Marketing Center, is the author of “Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet,” the comprehensive “How-To” guide for e-business success. For free tips and resources, please contact questions@marketingtips.com. (continued from page 1) Tree Lighting event and listed in the January issue of Pawling Matters. The response to our appeal last year was impressive and deeply appreciated. We ask again for your financial support now to help us “light up” Pawling this holiday season with your sponsorship. To become a major sponsor or make a donation, send your check November is Long-Term Care Awareness Month – a month dedicated to educating the public about the need to prepare for the potentially devastating costs of long-term care. And the more you know about these expenses, the better prepared you will be to deal with them. made out to the Pawling Area Chamber of Commerce for the 2014 Decemberfest and Tree Lighting. Checks may be mailed to P.O. Box19, Pawling, NY 12564. The Chamber of Commerce is a notfor-profit organization, so your contribution is tax-deductible. Thank You To prevent these events, you will need to create a strategy to pay for long-term care expenses — even if you never incur them. Basically, you have two options: You could self-insure or you could “transfer the risk” to an insurer. Hall of Fame First Team He was a natural hitter and his batting stance and swing is reminiscent of Rob Carew's. Robert Manzino was in center field. Only a sophomore, Bobby was intensely focused and played smart. He hit the ball with authority and was always taking the extra base. Peter Muroski was in left. Pete had a good glove and a great arm, but couldn't figure out whether he should be batting lefty or righty. The infield was solid with sophomore Tim Nelligan ably manning the shortstop position. His brother Tom was a good fastball hitter. Tom’s quick bat provided spark from the right side of the plate. Eugene Donnelly was a smart, slick fielding third baseman, while Irwin “Bruddie” Coombs was a line drive hitter who played a steady second base. Bob Dumas, James Loper, and Dennis Bourdon provided strong depth around the diamond, with Jimmy being a valuable late-inning base running threat and Bobby providing a good bat as the fourth outfielder. Carl Gilletti was the starting catcher on the ‘75 team. Carl moved from first base to behind the plate after all-star catcher Sal Mussella graduated in ‘74. Carl stepped up to the challenge and did an exceptional defensive job, called a great game, and had a good arm. Carl If you were going to self-insure, you would need to set aside a considerable sum of money, as indicated by the costs mentioned above. And you would likely need to invest a reasonably high percentage of this money in growth-oriented investments. If you chose this self-insurance route, but you never really needed a significant amount of long-term care, you could simply use the bulk of the money for your normal living expenses during retirement and earmark the remainder for your estate. However, if did need many years of nursing home care, you could end up going through all your money. As an alternative, you could transfer the risk of paying for long-term care to an insurance company. Many plans are available these days, so, to find the choice that is appropriate for your needs, you will want to consult with a professional financial advisor. Here’s a word of caution, though: The premiums for this type of protection rise pretty rapidly as you get older, so, if you are considering adding this coverage, you may be better off by acting sooner, rather than later. None of us can know with certainty what the future holds for us. Ideally, you will always remain in good shape, both mentally and physically, with the ability to take care of yourself. But, as you’ve heard, it’s best to “hope for the best, but plan for the worst.” So, take the lessons of LongTerm Care Awareness Month to heart and start preparing yourself for every scenario. This article was written by Edward Jones and Provided by Celeste Bevilacqua, Financial Advisor, Edward Jones, she can be reached at 845-471-6346 or celeste.bevilacqua@edwardjones.com (continued from page 7) batted cleanup and was a clutch hitter who drove in many key runs. And who can forget the "Big Guy", Howard Britton backing up Gilletti behind the plate. Like all successful teams, the 1975 Baseball Team possessed unique team chemistry. For sure it was talented, but it also was well-prepared and fundamentally-sound thanks to the exceptional leadership from Coach Marco Sartori and his assistant Rick Vogel. The 1975 Baseball Team along with individual sports standouts Kathryn O'Rourke, Taren Tanner, and Coach Catherine Senkier will be honored for their outstanding sports achievements at the 7th Annual Pawling Central School Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Wednesday, November 26th at the Pawling High School Gymnasium from 9:00 - 9:30 A.M. A very special congratulation goes to the team I played on -- the 1975 Baseball Team, the first team to be inducted into the Pawling Sports Hall of Fame. Our High School Sports legacy lives on. - Pete and the Tigers 12 Pawling Matters Member News Ribbon Cutting – The Blue Olive On Friday, November 24th, an enthusiastic group of people gathered for The Blue Olive’s official opening and Ribbon Cutting ceremony. Officials from the Pawling and Dutchess County Chambers of Commerce were present, as well as Rob Liffland, Mayor of the Village of Pawling and Pawling Chamber President, Peter Cris. The Pawling Chamber of Commerce is very pleased to welcome this new business – to the Pawling community! The Blue Olive is located in the Dutcher Building at 26 Charles Colman Boulevard. Pawling's Biennial Service for Admiral Worden On Saturday, October 18, at 11:00 A.M., the Admiral John L. Worden, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Camp 150 held its biennial graveside service at Pawling Cemetery on the 117th anniversary of the death of Admiral Worden. Following the ceremony, all were invited to the John Kane House for coffee and doughnuts and to view the Admiral Worden/Toffey family story boards and a new World War II exhibit. The event was hosted by the Pawling Historical Society. The Blue Olive served refreshments including tasty treats made with their own products as well as cider and cake. Their tasting room was busy with customers trying all the wonderful flavors of their awardwinning extra virgin olive oils and exquisite specialty vinegars. During the event they offered customers a discount on all products. Membership in the Chamber of Commerce Includes CHAMBER COMMITTEES Membership in the Chamber includes: reduced advertising rates in our monthly newsletter, advertising in the local newspapers, radio and cable stations to increase your exposure, free listing in the Chamber Website and Guidebook, the opportunity to participate in the gift certificate program, and monthly business networking meetings. Fees are: $160 for a business or $45 for a not-for-profit and $35 for an individual membership. Please send your check to: PCC Attention Andrew Carlucci, P.O. Box 19, Pawling, NY 12564 Editorial Notes The Chamber thanks the following members for contributing their time and talent to making this publication possible: Pete Muroski, and the staffs of Morales Communications and Phoenix Marketing. Volunteers are what make our chamber work. Please contact the committee chairperson for information and opportunities available. Beautification Chair: Steve Parrino 845-855-5415 Events Chair: Marie Stewart 845-855-1632 Financial Chair: George Apap 845-855-3300 Green Committee Chair: Pete Muroski 845-855-7050 Marketing & Communications Chair: Peter Cris 845-855-7000 Merchant’s Committee Chair: Pat Martin 845-855-3397 EXECUTIVE BOARD Information about special events, as well as any comments and/or corrections to this newsletter, should be dropped off at the Chamber building, The Yarn & Craft Box or email: pccny@bww.com. If time and space permit and within the context of editorial judgment, the information will be used. To advertise in Pawling Matters please contact Peter Cris at petercris@aol.com President Peter Cris Vice President Jay Morales Secretary Marie Stewart Treasurer Andrew Carlucci George Apap Pat Martin Celeste Bevilacqua Peter Muroski John Burweger Steve Parrino David Daniels William Ward David Kelly
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