What does google say about your Neighborhood?

Have you searched your community online? If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure you have!  Did you see more crime stats and warnings about your neighborhood opposed to the great things YOU know the community offers?    If so, it’s time for YOU to get  to Tweeting, Facebooking, Yelping and link that neighborhood into positive press!  

Most of our communities on the Westside are in a redevelopment or revitalization stage. We are actively recruiting home buyers.  With this in mind, did you know 88% of the people searching for a home review homes on the Internet FIRST.  After they’ve found a home, what do you think they look for next? Of course, ‘information on the community’ the home resides in!   It is important to  spread the good news occurring within our communities; don’t let the MEDIA develop the image; WE live here!   This is why I believe in writing positive reports and comments about the communities I serve in public forums. 

It’s disappointing when communities do not maintain or have a website.  What does this say about your neighborhood? Are you inactive and blighted?   Not innovative but outdated?  Disconnected and unconcerned about sharing your events? If you are disconnected and unconcerned, how safe can it be to live by  you?

 Here is a great solution,  Neighborhood Link will host your website FREE.  It’s  “plug and play”- just enter the information and it’s already designed.

A few other great sites:

Patch, Everyblock

These sites are syndicated- which means they will be picked up in a search -yes, on google.  The more you write- the positive press will move up in the search results.

Get to writing and see the difference you can make in your community!

West Fest Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ATLANTA, GA

 Atlanta’s Historic West End community invites you to West Fest 2011 (May 6 – 8, 2011), the hippest in-town festival south of I-20!

WHAT IS WEST FEST?

West Fest 2011 is brought to you by West End Neighborhood Development Inc. (WEND) and includes an annual benefit concert, dog parade, artist market and festival, and tour of historic homes. The concert kicks off the weekend of events with performances by soul songstress Dawn McClain. The West End Tour of Homes consists of a self-guided walking tour of over a dozen Craftsman, Victorian, & Queen Anne-style private homes. The large majority of buildings in the district are houses constructed from 1870 to the 1930s. The festival and artist market will kick off with a dog parade, feature local artists, face painting, and a live DJ.

SCHEDULE

Annual Benefit Concert featuring Dawn McClain and Eugene IV

Friday, May 6, 7-11pm

Wren’s Nest Amphitheatre

1050 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd SW, Atlanta, GA 30310

 Dog Parade

Saturday, May 7, 11am-12pm

White Street at Rose Circle, Historic West End, Atlanta, GA  30310

Neighborhood Festival & Artists Market

Saturday, May 7, 12pm-6pm

Gordon-White Park

Corner of Ralph David Abernathy Blvd and White St., Atlanta, GA, 30310

 Music will be supplied by House in the Park; food, beer & wine, and beverages will be available for purchase.

West End Tour of Homes

Purchase tickets and begin tour at the Wren’s Nest

1050 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd SW, Atlanta, GA 30310

Saturday and Sunday, May 7-8, 12pm-5pm

 TICKET INFO

Tickets for the Benefit Concert are $25 • Tickets for the Tour of Homes are $20, or $40 for a combo Concert + Tour of Homes pass. Tickets can be purchased online at www.atlantawestfest.com. Admission to the Festival and Artist Market is free.

Community and Public Policy Leaders Sound Out At Coffeehouse Jazz Concert

Media Contact: 

Carrie L. Williams

(4) 397-7667

carrielwilliams@yahoo.com

 

COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC POLICY LEADERS SOUND OUT

AT WESTEND “GROUNDS” COFFEEHOUSE CONCERT

FEATURING JAZZ SAXOPHONIST KEBBIE WILLIAMS

 

ATLANTA – Standing room only, with over eighty cheering community members packed into The “Grounds” to watch Barack Obama’s speech at the National Democratic Convention, West End’s Grounds Coffeehouse(898 Oak St SW, Atlanta 30310) is becoming known as a hub for multi-cultural community engagement in grassroots public policy issues – with an artistic twist.

 

This Monday evening, September 8^th, 2008, from 7:00 – 10:30pm, The “Grounds” will present a “Sound Out From The Soul” Jazz Concert – where metro Atlanta’s finest community leaders and public policy leaders will express their views pre-concert on defining and creating Atlanta’s culture, setting the stage for a night of jazz artistry by exciting young jazz saxophonist Kebbie Williams and group.

 

For the price of a cup of coffee or tea (or a smoothie drink), The Grounds will showcase Kebbie Williams, a Howard graduate in the West End, with international standing for his unique, vibrant style that captures listeners by its pulsating rhythms and lyrical turns.

 

“Grounds” Coffeehouse owners Percy Stith, Shannon Toney, and Maurice Sanders are just as unique as their coffee shop offerings. As renaissance “true neighborhood” advocates, with a love for music and art, their commitment to community is clear.

 

“We see The Grounds as our expression of what ‘true neighborhood and community’ can be – a place where neighbors get to know one another, and talk with each other, where we can meet and organize to get things done,” states co-owner Shannon Toney, pointing to recent “Save Fire Station #7” Coalition gatherings at the Grounds.

 

“We want to epitomize the ethic of neighborhood and community businesses,” adds partner Maurice Sanders, “that are owned, operated, and supported by neighbors living in the community.”  Sharing their active role in West End home renovation, Percy Stith summarizes:  “We want to encourage others in metro Atlanta that the West End is where sustainable rejuvenation of historic, cultural, geographic landscapes can happen – and is happening now.”

 

For more information, contact:  Shannon Toney, The Grounds Coffeehouse, (4) 753-7063 or (4) 242-1833, shanonltoney@yahoo.com.