This one is a simple idea that came up when I was visiting Cathlamet, Washington, population 553: Post your local hashtag where visitors will see it. The Cathlamet Chamber of Commerce does an awesome local photo contest. Most of the photo submissions come from locals. They use these on their annual events calendar and other […]
If they want to lead, empower them to lead
Guest Post by Paula Jensen Leaders are the essence of small towns and rural communities. The success or failure of any housing, community or economic development efforts in the places we call home often rests upon the level of engagement and investment of local citizen leaders. Yet, in so many communities I work in across […]
SEO for voice search is different for rural small business
For years, we’ve all worked on SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, to get our names out there and associated with specific words and phrases we knew our customers would type into a search engine to find us. Now that customers are saying their searches out loud, how does that change things? Today’s voice searches […]
The small town stereotype: Old White Guys in charge, stuck in the past
I often hear jovial stories and stereotypes, in and out of rural places, about how small-town people are stuck in the 1960s and refuse to accept change. They joke that we nostalgically hang on to our traditions, our history, our ways of doing things, and our small-town values. Personally, I choose to live in a […]
