shopmidland.com

Lisa Cameron thanked the Club for the invitation to speak.  As many members are small business owners she thought there would be interest in an organization that could help them promote themselves and thus help promote the local economy.  Shopcity is an umbrella organization tht encompasses 8,000 community shopping guides where consumers can check out information on stores and product.  They partner with the local C of C, the city and with media to promote and sell on line a business directory, to run promotions and to generate increased traffic on business web sites and in the brick and morter stores.

Shopping locally has a multiplier effect - big box stores' profits go to head office somewhere.  Local profits circulate locally and accrue to the benefit of the community.  So shopmidland.com encourages businesses to shop among themselves which increases wages and taxes locally.  

This site takes advantage of the tendency of people to research on line and to create a site that will show alternatives to the big box store - that will compete with the big stores, in effect.  They use google ranking to enhance the visibility of local stores over the national chains and they will eventually link their site to the social media, giving the local outlets even more exposure.  It's a good way to reach younger shoppers.

The shopmidland.com package includes complimentary profiles, an online store using PayPal, a coupon publisher and help building a site.  Visits can be tracked to measure effectiveness.

Rotary could have a page and collect testimonials, publish online newsletters and link to other websites or to RI.  1,000 visits a day to the home page.