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March 11, 2015
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The Spring Trade Show Season Is
in Full Swing!
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 Although
we were really sorry to have
missed the Ohio
Campground Owners Association’s Spring
Conference last week,
thanks to a combination of
winter weather and airline
flight cancellations, we are
looking forward to the rest of
our spring trade show schedule.
We are driving to the following
events, so we can assure you of
our presence. If you belong to
any of the following
associations, we hope to see you
at one or more of these upcoming
conferences. First on the list
is the Mid-Atlantic
Coastal States Campground
Conference & Trade Show, to be held in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey on
Tuesday, March 17. See us in the
trade show hall at Booth # 2.
Next up is the Northeast
Campground Association’s
Northeast Conference on Camping,
to be held in Nashua, New
Hampshire from Thursday thru
Saturday, March 19-21. Be sure
to look for us in a marketing
seminar on Thursday afternoon,
the roundtable sessions on
Saturday afternoon, and at Booth
# 1 in the trade show hall.
Finally, you can catch us at the
Maine Campground Owners
Association’s Spring Meeting &
Trade Show, to be held
in Portland, Maine on Friday,
April 10. If you are not yet one
of our clients, we would love to
show you how we can help you to
grow your business and make it
more profitable. If you are
already one of our clients, ask
us about our exciting new
Referral Program!
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You Cannot Afford to
Ignore Mobile Visitors to Your
Website
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Statistics compiled by Google, based upon the Google Analytics software that is running on websites around the world
(and probably including your own) demonstrate that
50% of all website traffic is now mobile. In fact, this past holiday season, 22.5% of all online sales came through mobile devices (which are defined as either phones or tablets). Those numbers are impressive. Google is now warning website owners if their sites fall short of being mobile-friendly ... what they refer to as “critical mobile usability errors”, with the presumption being that these sites will soon be penalized in search results. Google is reportedly ready to begin downgrading those sites that are not configured for proper display on smartphones. The impact of that upon an older website could be tremendous, since the #1 source of new traffic to most websites is generated through organic searches on Google.
Taking steps in that direction, if you currently perform a Google search from your phone, the search engine results page will now label sites that are deemed to be mobile-friendly. Sites that fail that test typically display text that is too small to read on a phone, links that are too close together for fingers to navigate, or the lack of a mobile viewport (requiring users to pinch and zoom in order to view content). A site that is not mobile-friendly is not only at risk of losing out in its search ranking, it is losing its owner business today.
Before you panic, check your site. Fortunately, Google has provided a quick online test that will let you know whether or not your site is mobile-friendly. Go to the following link, where you may enter your URL:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

If your site passes the test,
congratulations are in order. If
it fails the test, it is time to
at least think about budgeting
for a replacement. If you are
concerned about mobile traffic
to your site (and you should
be concerned!), there are
decisions to be made, and you
probably do not want to
indefinitely delay making those
decisions. Your new site should
adhere to a specific set of best
practices. There are new
websites being launched every
day that are based upon old
methods. Investing in one of
those today is roughly
equivalent to going out to buy a
new car but coming home with a
horse and buggy instead.
Read this entire story on the
Pelland Advertising blog:
http://blog.pelland.com/2015/02/04/mobile-is-not-just-a-city-in-alabama/
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Take a look at some of
our latest responsive websites.
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A responsive website is, quite
simply, the only type of website
that your business should
consider today. It utilizes the
latest technology, allowing a
single site to present fluid
content that is optimized for
viewing on every device – from
desktop and laptop computers
through tablets and smartphones.
These are the sites that
consumers prefer, and these are
the sites that Google prefers.
Sending money on anything less
is basically throwing money at
obsolete technology. Pelland
Advertising has more experience
in building responsive websites
than any other company serving
the family camping industry. The
following examples represent
only 3 of the new responsive
sites that we have launched
within the last 10 days. We
would love to talk with you
about why your site should be
added to our list.
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Hickory Hollow Campground
Rockwood, Pennsylvania

Old Hickory Hollow
Campground Website

Mountain Meadows Park Campground
Holland, New York

Old Mountain Meadows Park
Website

Riverdale Farm Campsites
Killingworth, Connecticut

Old Riverdale Farm Campsites
Website
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We are pretty proud of our new
work, and our clients are
thrilled with the results. Most
important of all, our clients’
customers like what they see,
and this translates into
reservation requests for the
coming season!
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Do Not Fall Victim to the Tech Support Phone Scam
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Everybody has problems with their computers from time to time. Files may get corrupted, programs crash, and sometimes a software update contains unanticipated bugs. Worse yet, you could inadvertently install malware on your computer, typically when opening an e-mail or an e-mail attachment. One of our clients recently called us, telling us that he was suddenly experiencing a problem synchronizing Microsoft Outlook with his reservation software. Later that day, he called again with the “good news” that Microsoft was helping him to resolve the problem. Out of total coincidence, he had been the recipient of a telemarketing call from a dubious outfit that calls itself “Tech Zone Windows”. The caller led our client to believe that he was a Microsoft representative, charged his credit card $199.00 (which was a less expensive alternative to his original $599.00 offer), and was using remote access to do who knows what with the client’s computer! Perhaps the company was actually scanning his computer and removing malware, something that anybody could do themselves for free. Far more likely, it was installing spyware and accessing sensitive information.
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Microsoft has actually warned consumers about this and similar scams, where the callers impersonate help desk engineers from legitimate software companies. According to a Microsoft survey of 1,000 English language computer users back in 2011, 15% said that they had received one or more of these calls, and 22% of those who had gotten a call were tricked by the scam and paid an average of $875.00. Continuing with the Microsoft report, 79% of those who were victimized by one of these scams reported some sort of financial loss, with 17% discovering money withdrawn from their bank accounts, 19% reporting passwords stolen, and 17% becoming victims of identity theft. A majority of victims also incurred significant costs in subsequently having their computers repaired or replaced after the experience.
If you are uncertain about a company, we always suggest performing a quick Google search from the company’s name followed by the word “scam” or “complaints”. In the case of Tech Zone Windows, a Google search for “Tech Zone Windows Scam” currently produced 2,970,000 search results.
Read this entire story on the
Pelland Advertising blog:
http://blog.pelland.com/2015/03/02/do-not-fall-victim-to-the-tech-support-phone-scam/
To read more about the Microsoft
user survey, read the following Microsoft security bulletin:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
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Despite the Rise of the
Internet, Print Is Not Dead
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At Pelland
Advertising, we have been
designing and printing highly
effective four-color process
brochures and related collateral
advertising products since our
1980 start in the New England
ski industry. We began producing
campground brochures in 1982 and
have become the leading supplier
of brochures and rack cards in
the industry. Our brochures and
rack cards stand out from the
crowd. Best of all, we
have a unique ability to design
websites and collateral
advertising that work
hand-in-hand, creating a
powerful branding and identity
for your business. There are few
companies that offer this
ability to effectively
coordinate online and print
advertising services in a manner
where the complete package of
services far exceeds the sum of
its parts. Here are a few
examples of collateral
advertising products
that we have produced for campground
clients in recent weeks.
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Riverdale Farm Campsites
Brochure
Front Panel |


Flat Rock Bridge
Brochure Front Panel |


Crown Point Camping Area
Rack Card Front |
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Please click any
image, above, for a more detailed PDF version
(requires
Acrobat Reader). |
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Are You Ready for a New
Site Map?
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Pelland Advertising has become a major source of supply for the production and printing of campground site maps, an alternative to waiting months (or longer) for a sales team to pressure every business in town to buy space that just ends up cluttering your map with ads. Our ad production and printing prices are probably much less than you expect, and
they are the perfect solution for campground owners who realize that “free” is not necessarily free.
Here are a few examples of maps
that we have produced for other campground
clients.
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Please click any of the maps below for a
full detail, printable PDF version
(requires
Acrobat Reader). |
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Scenic View Campground |


Bear Run Campground |
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Twin Oaks Campground |


The Ridge Campground |
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Again, we
hope to see you at an upcoming
trade event. If you cannot
attend one of these, please
do not hesitate to give us a
call or send us an e-mail. We
would love to spend some time
with you, if not face-to-face at
least one-to-one, answering your
questions and offering
suggestions on how we might help
you to grow your business.
Thanks!
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© Pelland Advertising • 25 Depot Road • Haydenville, MA 01039 • (413) 268-0100 • Fax (413) 268-0173 • Toll-Free 1 800 848-0501 |
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