The Coburn Group
Press Releases
(12/18/03)
Nite on the Town, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com to Join Forces in Offering San Gabriel Valley Diners Convenience, Savings
Nite On The Town is a unique membership dining club that offers members substantial savings at a wide selection of fine restaurants in the Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley area. Beginning its eleventh year, Nite On The Town has often been called “The best dining deal in the LA area”. Members typically recoup their $25 annual membership fee in one or two restaurant visits. “Our restaurant selection is unsurpassed and we think our members are among the most savvy and discerning diners in the area” says Nite On The Town president David Lunan. Nite On The Town’s motto sums it up well: “Fine dining for smart people”.
Now, by going to San Gabriel Valley Menus.Com and clicking on the link to Nite On The Town, members will be able to get fast information on new restaurant additions. They will be able to receive timely updates on special events, and other items of interest at participating restaurants. They will also be informed about additional time sensitive restaurant bonus offers open exclusively to them.
San Gabriel Valley Menus.com, a division of The Coburn Group, offers diners the opportunity to search for restaurants by city, by type of cuisine, or type of restaurant. Once the restaurant has been selected, the diner is taken to a page where it can view the menu of the restaurant, as well as location and contact information, hours of operation, and information of interest such as does the restaurant take reservations, have a kid’s menu, banquet facilities, senior discounts, food to go, etc.. In addition, the website offers diners the opportunity to download and print coupons from more than two dozen of the 69 restaurants that are currently on the site. Begun in June, 2003, the restaurant website started slowly due to other commitments, but since Sept. 15, has signed up 61 of the 69 restaurants. With 4,000 restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com has set a mid-2005 20% market penetration goal, (800 menus). By keeping the fee to a minimalist $5/mo., the site has been growing rapidly, and the goal is getting nearer all the time.
David Lunan is convinced that Nite On The Town’s large membership of active restaurant goers will flock to San Gabriel Valley Menus.Com. “In addition to being interested in information about their own dining club, our members are always on the lookout for new restaurants to try, and nothing tempts a foodie more than being able to study a restaurant’s whole menu”. At the same time he is excited about the possibility of exposing his popular club to even more people. “People coming to SG Valley Menus .Com, in addition to being able to browse through dozens of restaurant menus, are also going to be exposed to the best dining deal available in the San Gabriel Valley and given the opportunity to become members.” Bill Coburn, president of The Coburn Group stated that “it seems like four-way winning situation, in that the diners, including the Nite on the Town members, benefit by increased availability of savings and information about the restaurants on the net, the restaurants benefit by increased exposure, Nite on the Town benefits by expanding the services it has to offer to its members and potential members, and San Gabriel Valley Menus.com benefits by increased traffic and increased exposure to possible “tenants” on its site.
The new section of the website (scheduled to debut at the beginning of 2004, if not sooner) will offer the same brief descriptions of the restaurant that members receive in the Nite on the Town booklet, plus the updates and special offers. However, when a Nite on the Town Card member restaurant signs on with San Gabriel Valley Menus.com, their menus will be made available not only to Nite on the Town Card members, but to all who visit the website. Of course, only members of Nite on the Town will receive the Nite on the Town discount card. The website will also offer a downloadable form that diners can use to become members of Nite on the Town.
To access the Nite on the Town section of the website, you need only go to www.sangabrielvalleymenus.com and click on the link to Nite on the Town.
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Date: 12/8/03
Restaurant Website Expanding Rapidly, Offers Diners Convenience, Savings
Sierra Madre - With the addition of seven new restaurants in the last week, (Caffe Opera, La Parisienne Restaurant Francais, Mediterranean Garden Grill and Seafood Haven, all in Monrovia, and California Chicken King, The Original Green Onion and Villa Italia, all in Duarte), SanGabrielValleyMenus.com has now reached long term agreements to post the menus of more than five dozen restaurants on the internet. As of Friday, December 05, the website had reached agreement with sixty-two restaurants in eleven San Gabriel Valley cities to have their menus on the SanGabrielValleyMenus.com website.
The SanGabrielValleyMenus.com website allows diners to search for restaurants and their menus online, by City, type of cuisine, type of restaurant, or if you know which restaurant you are looking for, alphabetically. In addition, the website offers restaurant reviews and coupons, ranging from free sodas with purchase to 20% off or even, buy a dinner - get a dinner at some locations. Some restaurants offer free desserts with purchase, others offer a percentage off your check.
SanGabrielValleyMenus.com was started in June of 2003 with the intent of offering smaller restaurants an affordable web presence, and diners who didn’t really know what restaurant sounded good that evening the opportunity to search by category or location. In addition, diners have the opportunity to order food to be picked up, and to save money via coupons while doing so.
Nov. 25, 2003 – NEW RESTAURANT WEBSITE OFFERS DINERS OPTIONS, SAVINGS
(Sierra Madre) -- With the addition of four new restaurants in the past three days (Bean Town Coffee Bar and The Peppertree Grill in Sierra Madre, and Casa del Rey restaurants in Arcadia and Temple City), San Gabriel Valley Menus.com moved past the half century mark this week. With fifty-one restaurants in 11 San Gabriel Valley cities, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com is among the fastest growing restaurant websites on the net, and certainly the fastest growing within its limited target area of the San Gabriel Valley.
San Gabriel Valley Menus.com is a diner’s resource that not only allows people with access to the internet to find a place to eat without leaving home, but offers them the option of saving time by ordering food to-go for pick up from a restaurant’s online menu, and, in what may be the best news for San Gabriel restaurant goers, the opportunity to download and print coupons to save money when dining out. Diners can search for restaurants alphabetically, or by city, type of cuisine, or type of restaurant (family casual, fine dining, drive through, etc.).
Katie Coburn had just finished lunch at a small mom and pop type diner in lower Arcadia, when the thought struck her that many places such as the one at which she had just eaten really were not as well known as they might be because they did not have a web presence, due to the initial cost (ranging from a couple hundred dollars and up) to design a website, and the ongoing cost of maintaining the site (frequently $20/month or more for the hosting alone, and changes to the site bring additional design costs). It occurred to her that if there was one website where small dining establishments could put their menu online at a minimal cost, that website might draw traffic by virtue of the fact that there were many menus in one location that diners could review to make
their choice. If those restaurants added coupons, offering savings to the customers who found them online, word of mouth alone should soon make the website a valuable resource, not only for diners, but for the restaurant owners looking for new customers.
Katie is married to Bill Coburn of The Coburn Group, which offers marketing and public relations services, with an emphasis on web-based marketing. Bill has designed and/or marketed several websites, including SierraMadreNews.Net, SavortheFlavor.net, BRDCorp.com, Tycorwalls.com and others. When she broached the subject with him, Bill agreed that the idea seemed viable, and decided that he would try to make the idea a reality.
He approached nine Sierra Madre restaurants, restaurants that he had worked with on Sierra Madre News Net and other marketing projects in the past. Of those nine restaurants, seven signed up right away, and another, Wildflour Baking Company, has signed on this week. He also approached Matt Denny’s in Arcadia, which immediately signed up, even though it was not ready to post its menu at that time. Bill thought this was going quite well, and posted the website on June 19th, with those original eight menus.
Eight days later, on June 27th, he decided that even though it was quite early in the website’s lifespan, he was going to run some searches on the number one web search engine, Google, just to see if his website was showing up yet. He was pleasantly surprised, (shocked is more accurate), to find that when he entered the names of 20 cities with the word menu in the search engine, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com came back number 1 in the search results 18 times, with the other two results being number 2 and 3. When he ran the search with the city name and the phrase restaurant menus, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com came in as the number 1 search result 14 times, and in the other six cities, it was in the top five. He then took the word menus out of the search, and used the much broader “restaurant” with the city names. He found that in 16 of twenty cities, his website still came back in the coveted top 25 sites in the search results. Even in the “big” city of Pasadena, which returned more than 78,000 search engine responses, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com came in with a fairly good position at number sixty.
Due to some other projects, Bill didn’t have much time to work on the website during July and August, but turned his attention back to the website pretty much full time in mid-September. Since then, he has added 43 restaurants, ranging from bakeries, to sandwich shops, to casual and fine dining. The list ranges from brand new establishments like Bella Sera Trattoria in Monrovia and Don Reyes in Duarte, to long established restaurants, such as Restaurant Lozano in Sierra Madre, Domenico’s (Arcadia, Monrovia and Pasadena), El Encanto in Azusa, and Dino’s Italian Inn in Pasadena.
The site also currently offers more than 50 coupons, ranging from a free soda with purchase to reduced prices on pizzas, to 10% and 20% off at selected restaurants, and some restaurants even offer a 50% entrée or a free entrée with purchase of a second entrée.
Plans for the website include the addition of reviews (in the very near future, currently there are links to other sites that offer reviews), restaurant spotlights, and eventually, the ability to purchase gift certificates and marketing materials such as hats and t-shirts online through the site.
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Nov. 15, 2003 – NEW RESTAURANT WEBSITE OFFERS DINERS OPTIONS, SAVINGS
(Sierra Madre) -- With the addition of seven new restaurants in the past ten days (Badabing Pizzeria, Barney’s, Ltd., Equator Café and Soly Azul in Old Town Pasadena, Wildflour Baking Company in Sierra Madre and Mama Petrillo’s (Italian restaurants) in LaVerne and Temple City), San Gabriel Valley Menus.com moved past the forty restaurant mark and closed in on the half century mark during the past week. With forty-three restaurants in 11 San Gabriel Valley cities, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com is among the fastest growing restaurant websites on the net, and certainly the fastest growing within its limited target area of the San Gabriel Valley.
San Gabriel Valley Menus.com is a diner’s resource that not only allows people with access to the internet to find a place to eat without leaving home, but offers them the option of saving time by ordering food to-go for pick up from a restaurant’s online menu, and, in what may be the best news for San Gabriel restaurant goers, the opportunity to download and print coupons to save money when dining out. Diners can search for restaurants alphabetically, or by city, type of cuisine, or type of restaurant (family casual, fine dining, drive through, etc.).
Katie Coburn had just finished lunch at a small mom and pop type diner in lower Arcadia, when the thought struck her that many places such as the one at which she had just eaten really were not as well known as they might be because they did not have a web presence, due to the initial cost (ranging from a couple hundred dollars and up) to design a website, and the ongoing cost of maintaining the site (frequently $20/month or more for the hosting alone, and changes to the site bring additional design costs). It occurred to her that if there was one website where small dining establishments could put their menu online at a minimal cost, that website might draw traffic by virtue of the fact that there were many menus in one location that diners could review to make their choice. If those restaurants added coupons, offering savings to the customers who found them online, word of mouth alone should soon make the website a valuable resource, not only for diners, but for the restaurant owners looking for new customers.
Katie is married to Bill Coburn of The Coburn Group, which offers marketing and public relations services, with an emphasis on web-based marketing. Bill has designed and/or marketed several websites, including SierraMadreNews.Net, SavortheFlavor.net, BRDCorp.com, Tycorwalls.com and others. When she broached the subject with him, Bill agreed that the idea seemed viable, and decided that he would try to make the idea a reality.
He approached nine Sierra Madre restaurants, restaurants that he had worked with on Sierra Madre News Net and other marketing projects in the past. Of those nine restaurants, seven signed up right away, and another, Wildflour Baking Company, has signed on this week. He also approached Matt Denny’s in Arcadia, which immediately signed up, even though it was not ready to post its menu at that time. Bill thought this was going quite well, and posted the website on June 19th, with those original eight menus.
Eight days later, on June 27th, he decided that even though it was quite early in the website’s lifespan, he was going to run some searches on the number one web search engine, Google, just to see if his website was showing up yet. He was pleasantly surprised, (shocked is more accurate), to find that when he entered the names of 20 cities with the word menu in the search engine, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com came back number 1 in the search results 18 times, with the other two results being number 2 and 3. When he ran the search with the city name and the phrase restaurant menus, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com came in as the number 1 search result 14 times, and in the other six cities, it was in the top five. He then took the word menus out of the search, and used the much broader “restaurant” with the city names. He found that in 16 of twenty cities, his website still came back in the coveted top 25 sites in the search results. Even in the “big” city of Pasadena, which returned more than 78,000 search engine responses, San Gabriel Valley Menus.com came in with a fairly good position at number sixty.
Due to some other projects, Bill didn’t have much time to work on the website during July and August, but turned his attention back to the website pretty much full time in mid-September. Since then, he has added 35 restaurants, ranging from bakeries, to sandwich shops, to casual and fine dining. The list ranges from brand new establishments like Bella Sera Trattoria in Monrovia and Don Reyes in Duarte, to long established restaurants, such as Domenico’s (Arcadia, Monrovia and Pasadena), El Encanto in Azusa, and Dino’s Italian Inn in Pasadena.
The site also currently offers more than 50 coupons, ranging from a free soda with purchase to reduced prices on pizzas, to 10% and 20% off at selected restaurants, and some restaurants even offer a 50% entrée or a free entrée with purchase of a second entrée.
Plans for the website include the addition of reviews (in the very near future, currently there are links to other sites that offer reviews), restaurant spotlights, and eventually, the ability to purchase gift certificates and marketing materials such as hats and t-shirts online through the site.
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(6/4/03)
Coburn Group Announces Debut of New Construction Technology E-zine Website Sierra Madre business The Coburn Group announced the debut of a new E-zine website focusing on the design and construction industry, called Construction Technology Today, located at constructiontechnologytoday.com. The new website, designed and maintained by The Coburn Group, will feature both original and linked/referenced content of interest to those in the design and construction industry. The site will bring together articles of interest into one location, so surfers won't have to visit 6 different websites to get the information, they can find it all in one place. The debut issue features articles regarding a bridge rehabilitation project in New York, a paper by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute on the risks of tsunamis to California coastal cities, a construction event calendar, and much more. There is also a links page with links to the websites of dozens of design and construction organizations. Bill Coburn of The Coburn Group (yes, that's me) who spent several years as Operations Manager for an Orange County Structural Engineering office, will serve as Editor for the new E-zine. Publisher of the E-zine is Hanns Baumann, Structural Engineer and holder of several US and foreign patents for construction industry products, and principal of Baumann Research and Development Corporation in San Clemente, which has a 40-year history of assisting inventors with developing products for the construction industry. Use the links above to find out more!!
2/7/03
PAIR REUNITE TO PERFORM AFTER 81 YEARS
87-year-old Joe Hinojos and 90-year-old Bob Mitchell, who appeared together on stage at Sierra Madre's St. Rita's School in 1922, will be the featured speakers at the Kiwanis Club meeting Tuesday, Feb. 18th. Mitchell will perform on the piano, while Hinojos sings an old-time song or two. Hinojos also plans to cut the rug a little, dancing with long time Sierra Madre resident Snooky Gregor. Joe also plans to bring photos of Sierra Madre in the old days, and both will talk about their remembrances of Sierra Madre in its younger days.
Joe was raised in Sierra Madre, while Mitchell lived here from 1916 to 1926. Mitchell's father, Robert Mitchell, was mayor of Sierra Madre from 1918 to 1924. Hinojos went off to World War II, where he became staff photographer for the weekly newspaper at Ft. Ord, and took many of the photos that appeared in its pages, including several full-page cover photos. One action photo taken by Hinojos was used by the American Legion in a recruiting poster that was distributed nationwide, more than 50,000 copies. During his career, he got to know Gen. "Vinegar" Joe Stillwell, and took photos of Gen. Stillwell's daughter's wedding, which the General was unable to attend. Joe counts among his prized possessions a thank you letter he received from the General, who praised him for the fine job he had done. After the war, Hinojos returned to Sierra Madre, where he chronicled in photos much of Sierra Madre's history until he moved away in the 60s.
He has been a prolific donor to the Sierra Madre archives, which used several of his 1940s era Pioneer Days photos to promote last year's event. "Mr. Hinojos has been extremely generous with his photos, donating them back to the community, because he recognizes that the community is very interested in its history. His photos are incredibly detailed, and well thought out, and do a wonderful job of showing Sierra Madre in its early days. In fact, the owners of the new Sierra Madre Brewing Company 2, who are interested in possibly restoring the storefront to its earlier look have been using a photo of Joe's to determine whether or not it is feasible." Included in his portfolio are numerous photos of families and events in mid-20th century Sierra Madre, including many early Mater Dolorosa Retreat House photos, Pioneer Days photos, plus photographs of celebritys, stars and starlets, including Jimmy Durante, Judy Garland, Chilly Williams and Gen. Stillwell himself, photographed in his home.
Mitchell began playing piano at silent movie theaters in the 1920s, and a recent AP Wire Services article which was published nationwide celebrated the fact that at 90, he was still doing so in Los Angeles. In the interim, he had a successful career as the founder of the Bob Mitchell Boys Choir, a world famous choir that appeared in more than 100 movies in the 40s and 50s, possibly best known for its appearance in the Bing Crosby picture "Going My Way". The Mitchell Boys Choir gave a start to many young men, among them singers for The Lettermen, The Sandpipers, and The Modernaires.
A sample of Joe Hinojos photography can be found at http://www.sierramadrenews.net/joe_hinojos.htm, and for more background on Mr. Mitchell, visit http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/849770.asp. Age has not slowed either of these gentlemen down. Hinojos is currently writing his memoirs, and working on a screensaver of his photographs of old-time Sierra Madre to be sold locally, and Mitchell is on a tour playing silent movie theaters, with recent stops in San Francisco and Sacramento.
The Kiwanis, a service and community-oriented organization celebrating its 75th year in Sierra Madre, holds its meetings at the Masonic Temple, at 33 E. Sierra Madre Blvd.. The meeting will take place at noon, and there is a $6 charge for non-members. Guests who plan on attending are asked to call in advance so plans can be made to have enough lunches for this event, which is expected to draw a larger than usual crowd. Please call Judy Webb-Martin's voice mail at (626) 578-8408.
Photo attached: Joe Hinojos photo of Bob Mitchell Boy's Choir performs at Alverno High School, in the early 1950s Please give Mr. Hinojos photo credit if used.
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Dec. 02, 2002
Contact: Bill ( 626) 355-4972 or bill@thecoburngroup.com
RESULTS OF SIERRA MADRE MERCHANTS’ HALLOWEEN/HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE DRAWING Here are the results of the drawing for the Halloween/Holiday Open House coupon/drawing promotion in which 8 downtown businesses participated:
$10 Village Pizzeria Certificate - The Rosner family of Arcadia
$10 Village Pizzeria Certificate - Chris Oliver of Glendale
$20 gift cert. to Paint "n" Play - Anita Haggstrom of Pasadena
Happy Jack's Video free rental - Shawna Regalado of Monrovia, Joel Verburg of Arcadia, Marci Schultz of Monrovia, Kristen Annes of Sierra Madre, M. Kramer of Sierra Madre, Rod Diener of Sierra Madre, Jim Annes of Sierra Madre, Linda Wochnik of Sierra Madre, Chrystal Gray of Sierra Madre, and Stephanie McNabb of Sierra Madre
Lailey and Co. $25 gift cert. - Elizabeth Barrios of Cypress
Professional Skincare & Bodyworks free facial - Cheryl McPhillips of Sierra Madre
Professional Skincare & Bodyworks free 1/2 hour massage - Cara Jaffe of Sierra Madre
Sierra Juice free sandwich, chips and smoothie - Doug Eberlan of Sierra Madre
Harmony Day Spa free 1/2 hour massage - Sandra Hall of Sierra Madre
The Bottle Shop also participated in the promotion.
October 13, 2002
Coburn
Group President Meets w/City's PR Firm: Blaze
Company VP Steve Spurgeon met at Beantown with Bill Coburn of The Coburn Group
for a little more than an hour Saturday, where they discussed upcoming
promotional efforts by Blaze Company, the Coburn Group, the City and the
Chamber. Spurgeon spoke about the resident focus group that Blaze had
hosted that morning, stating that he felt that it had gone quite well, and
that there had been a good cross section of Sierra Madreans, with good ideas,
and strong, well-articulated opinions. He discussed the upcoming
downtown Grand Re-opening, stating that Blaze's media push is already under
way, with releases having been sent to media calendar venues so they could add
the event to their calendars. Additional media releases will be sent at
the beginning of the month, with two separate pushes being made, one promoting
the holiday aspect of the planned events, the other promoting the end of the
construction, and the facelift the downtown district has undergone.
He stated that Blaze's efforts will be focused regionally, and will include
electronic media, print, radio and television. Spurgeon said that Westways
magazine will be doing an article soon about Sierra Madre, which was confirmed
for Coburn later that day when he spoke with Spinning Wheel owner Helen
Elliott, who said that Westways photographers had been to her store that day.
Additional discussion during the meeting centered on efforts by the Chamber's
Promotion Council, led by Karma Bell, which is working with local merchants
(member and non-member merchants) to create a Dickens Village atmosphere for
the upcoming holiday season. Coburn updated Spurgeon about several
marketing efforts by The Coburn Group, which include distribution of a
downtown district street map to 61,000 San Gabriel Valley homes with another
6,000 in racks and newsstands the week before the Nov. 23rd event (the map is
a joint venture with Gwen Gordon/Graphic Solutions), a multiple merchant
coupon tying together Halloween with the Grand Re-opening event, and
neighborhood advertising supplements in a local paper, planned for January,
among other things. Also discussed was a recent request by a senior
contributing editor of Trail Runner Magazine to include the Mt. Wilson Trail
Race as a
2003
USATF Mountain Running Team Selection Race.
The meeting ended with both parties promising to keep the other apprised of
their continuing efforts to promote Sierra Madre. Prior to the meeting,
Spurgeon was seen at Savor the Flavor (whose owner Karen Keegan will be part
of a merchant focus group hosted by Blaze this Monday), and after the meeting
was off to meet with Carol Wehling, the owner of 55 North, located on N.
Baldwin. For those who aren't yet familiar with it, 55 North features luxury
bed and bath products, contemporary weekend wear, loungewear, etc.. It's
been open more than a year, so if you're not familiar with it, it's time for
you to stop by and become familiar with it.
October 11, 2002
Local Company's Work Debuts in Osaka, Japan
Side by Slide Multimedia Presentations, a division of the Coburn Group, which sponsors this website, was recently hired to consult on a PowerPoint presentation by Baumann Research and Development Corporation of San Clemente, CA. BRD Corp. hired SBS to refine their existing slideshow prior to its presentation at the Structural Engineer's World Congress in Osaka, Japan. The presentation was presented Oct. 11, and has now also been converted by SBS for viewing on the Internet. BRD Corp. also asked SBS to convert their Word document of the paper, titled "Recent Advances In Reinforcement of Ductile Concrete Members and Shearwalls In Tall Earthquake Resistant Buildings," into the accepted internet standard cross-platform program Adobe Acrobat, so that engineers worldwide would be able to access both the paper and the slide show. The paper's subject was a new type of patented labor-saving concrete reinforcement for earthquake resistant high-rise structures which has been gaining favor here in the US, and which BRD Corp. hopes to take worldwide via its association with, BauTech, Inc., its exclusive US licensee. You can see the paper or the slideshow by clicking here, then clicking on the link for the presentation you'd like to view. To view Side by Slide's newly revised web page, click here.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/11/02
CONTACT: Bill Coburn
Phone: (626) 355-4972
E-mail: bill@sierramadrenews.net
Sierra Madre Merchants Join Together For Online Contest/Sales Promotion
Sierra Madre, CA – Sierra Madre merchants are joining together in the First Annual Super Syber Shopping Sale Extravaganza through May 19th. Twenty-one Sierra Madre businesses, artists and realtors are participating in this online experiment, designed to promote the City’s arts, its outside dining and its downtown business district. The contest features prizes of a $25 gift certificate to Eastwicke Village, (2) kebob dinners at K’s Deli, a $25 value, a $50 gift certificate to Savor the Flavor, and a grand prize of dinner for four at the acclaimed Sierra Madre Restaurant Lozano PLUS four tickets to champagne opening night at the June Production of “Wait Until Dark” at the Sierra Madre Playhouse. Deadline for entry is set for May 19th, the weekend of the Friends of the Library 40th annual Art Fair, the drawing for winners will take place on the 20th.
In addition, 17 of the merchants have added a coupon to the entry form, offering services, discounts, and free gifts upon presentation. Contestants may enter entry forms from as many participating merchants as they wish, but only one per merchant. No purchase is necessary, and you can drop entry forms from all merchants at any one of the more than one dozen downtown drop-off locations.
Businesses participating in the contest/promotion include Believe in Angels, Best Buy Drugs, the Bottle Shop, K’s Deli, Eastwicke Village, Peppertree Grill, Savor the Flavor, Village Pizzeria, Webb-Martin Realtors and many more. Some of the coupons being offered include 30% off any one item at Believe in Angels, a free 32 oz. soda from the Bottle Shop, a free magnetic back massage by Harker Magnetics, a free medium soda w/purchase of two slices at Village Pizzeria, 10% off all sunscreens from Julia Rocks, $10 off a 60 or 90 minute massage from Professional Sports Massage & Bodyworks, an hour of free computer tutoring from Side by Slide and much more.
To get an entry form, contestants must visit the Sierra Madre News Net web page of the participating businesses. There they will find a link to the Super Syber Shopping Sale Page, with links to each business’ web page and a description of what their coupon offer is. At each participating businesses’ page is a link to an entry form/coupon. Contestants print the entry form, detach the coupon, and fill out the form. Drop the form(s) off at one of more than a dozen downtown locations, and you can have as many as 21 chances to win the Grand Prize. And pick up your free gift, if you drop it off at one of several downtown merchants. Details are available at the Sierra Madre News Net website, www.sierramadrenews.net.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 12, 2002
Contact: Bill Coburn
Phone: (626) 355-4972 FAX: (626) 355-4972
E-mail mailto:bill@sierramadrenews.net
Coburn Group Releases First Quarter Traffic Figures
Sierra Madre, CA – The Coburn Group released first quarter figures related to traffic at its Sierra Madre News Net website today. The popular community-oriented website has served 15,000 "visitor" sessions through the first three months of the year, with those visitors viewing more than 52,000 pages on the News Net site. If those numbers can be maintained, more than 60,000 visitors will view more than 200,000 pages about Sierra Madre, its events, and its businesses on the News Net site during the course of this year.
‘A more commonly used standard for counting traffic to a website is the number of hits; most people ask us how many hits do you get?” said Bill Coburn of The Coburn Group. “While we have a significant number of hits, (more than 120,00 hits this year so far), I believe that figure can be misleading, as it represents the number of files accessed on the site during a given time frame. Our site has some pages that have 10 files on them, so by a surfer accessing those 10 files, plus the page file itself, we’ve received 11 hits because one person visited one page. Some sites, in order to get the page to load faster, will put 20 or more small picture files on their home page, the most heavily traveled page, and that (intentionally or not) skews the site’s hits figures. That’s why I think the figures that are more important for a business trying to determine where it should advertise on the internet are the number of sessions served, and the number of pages viewed, in addition to the site’s search engine results placement. Obviously, Yahoo doesn't need to worry, but at the same time, we are more of a specialized website, and are quite pleased with these traffic numbers at this point, though we intend to make them grow. And even though I discount hits as a yardstick for business owners, since our numbers project to 480,000+ hits, don't think I won't let you know if we achieve half a million for the year.”
A session is defined as one or more transactions (such as page file transfer) between the Web server and a specific IP Address. Sessions expire after 15 minutes of inactivity. This means that 15,000 times so far this year, visitors have accessed at least one file/page on the News Net site. Coburn cites this traffic as one of the reasons the Coburn Group was able to sign up 12 more Sierra Madre businesses and/or artists to rent web pages in the month of March alone.
The Sierra Madre News Net website is a regularly updated, 1,100+ page community oriented information website featuring nearly thirty Sierra Madre merchant/business web pages, a Sierra Madre restaurant guide, Real Estate and Homebuyer information including schools, parks, churches, and utilities info, a business directory, a Community Events Calendar, an expanded arts section, town demographics, a City and Government information section, Senior and Youth activity pages, jokes and quotes, and the most comprehensive Sierra Madre photo archives collection on the internet, including more than 1,000 photos and downloadable video files taken at popular local events such as 4th of July, the Friends of the Library Art Fair (in its 40th year), Huck Finn Days, the Mt. Wilson Trail Race, Pioneer Days, the Wistaria Festival and many other events dating back to 1998. Trail Race applications and 4th of July Parade Participant applications can also be downloaded from the News Net site.
The Coburn Group also periodically stages promotions where participating local merchants and businesses that have pages on the site offer coupons, available only at the News Net site, for discounts or gifts. The next event, scheduled in May, offers a chance to win fabulous prizes from Eastwicke Village, K’s Deli, Savor the Flavor, and the Grand Prize: dinner for four at Sierra Madre’s popular Restaurant Lozano PLUS Champagne Opening Night tickets for four to the June production of the Sierra Madre Playhouse, show TBA.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/15/02
CONTACT:
Bill Coburn
Phone: (626) 355-4972
E-mail:
bill@sierramadrenews.net
Sierra
Madre Merchants Help Coburn Group to Reach Milestone With A Flurry of Activity
Sierra
Madre, CA – The Coburn Group announced that it has reached agreements to
provide web page design and hosting services for more than half a dozen
Sierra Madre businesses in the last 30 days, bringing the number of Sierra
Madre businesses that can be found at its Sierra Madre News Net website
to 25. Businesses with whom the company has contracted within the
last month include “A Better Nanny”, “Believe in Angels”, “Eastwicke Village”,
“Gwen Gordon, Graphic Artist”, “Harker Magnetics,” “Mountain View Restaurant”
and “Ruth Richardson, Portrait Artist”.
A Better
Nanny is one of the premier domestic agencies in the area and was “formed
in 1988 to provide high quality, English speaking, in-home childcare for
your family”. Believe in Angels has been providing angel related gifts
and items for over 7 years, and is one of the charming, unique shops found
in Renaissance Plaza in Sierra Madre. Eastwicke Village (also in Renaissance
Plaza) has become known for its extremely popular hand-painted animals on
rocks and mailboxes, but they have hundreds of other items in their inventory
as well. Gwen Gordon and Ruth Richardson are popular local artists,
Gwen does graphic arts, and Ruth does fine art/portraits. Both create
work known for its beauty and character. Harker Magnetics is an independent
distributor of the multi-national Nikken wellness products, and has recently
expanded its line into shoes. Mountain View Restaurant is Sierra Madre’s
newest hot spot for fine dining, and features the culinary works of Chef
Jim Spencer, formerly of the Chronicle Restaurant.
‘It’s no
secret that many downtown merchants are looking for ways to increase traffic
to their store, and recent indications by the City that it intends to hire
a marketing firm to promote the City is a step in the right direction.
But it’s nearly a year away before any plan gets put into action, and some
of these merchants need increased foot traffic now if they want to still
be around when that market plan gets put into action. The Coburn Group
is doing what it can to help promote the merchants and to increase customer
traffic NOW, and I consider it to be a tremendous show of faith that this
many merchants have signed up recently,” said Bill Coburn, president of
The Coburn Group. “I believe there are several factors involved.
First, we intend to run regular multi-
merchant
cooperative promotions, at least 3 to 4 times a year, designed to increase
traffic to the stores, while reducing advertising costs by sharing them.
This is something that has been sorely lacking since the Marketing Committee
of the Chamber was disbanded. For example, during the month of May,
we will be running “The First Annual Sierra Madre Super Syber Shopping Sale
Extravaganza”, a News Net Merchant coupon special in conjunction with a
contest giveaway that accents two of Sierra Madre’s greatest assets, its
outside dining and its Arts community. Secondly, we make it easy for
the merchant. While merchants are welcome to design their
own page if they like, we take the worry out of it for those who know nothing
about computers. We will design your page as you want it, we’ll post
it, and we’ll make sure you understand what we are doing for you.
Thirdly, we have tremendous search engine placement with MSN, Google, Alta
Vista, Excite, Lycos and other popular search engines. Because of this
placement, merchants who are associated with the News Net website will be
in the catbird seat when the City’s marketing plan begins to work, and more
people with a new or renewed interest in the town begin looking it up on
the internet. Just last week alone we had more than 1,900 sessions
served on the site, and 15,000+ hits. We’re obviously not Yahoo, but
we’re not trying to be. We’re trying to be the top online source of
information about Sierra Madre, and I think the 11,000+ visitor sessions
served on the site so far this year is a decent start. With this initial
contest in May, we hope to begin to better determine how many of those visitors
to the site can be converted into customers in the store.”
The Sierra
Madre News Net website can be found at www.sierramadrenews.net and features
a host of information about Sierra Madre, its merchants and its events,
including an upcoming events calendar, current scheduling information and
photo archives of popular town events such as Huck Finn Day, The Mt. Wilson
Trail Race, the 4th of July parade, the Friends of the Library Art Fair,
Pioneer Days and Wistaria Day, joke pages, quotes pages, and much, much more.
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