Patrick

My pleasure. Let us know what you end up doing! Patrick

Hey Karate_John, Sounds like fun! My girlfriend, Kara, just got back from there! Here's what she said: She sent me a lot of pictures during the trip and it looked really great. Have fun! Patrick

If you want people to learn about your school, you should have a website. It's really that simple. If the above statement is true, I don't know if there are any good arguments against it. There are arguments of "I don't want to" or "I don't like it" or "we've been alright so far," but those aren't really arguments against having one. They're arguments against change, against understanding how other people find information and against making an effort or time. Framing it as a "need" allows people to feel defensive and/or dismiss it. Well, no, of course I don't need it, my martial arts style is legitimate, and we have a long tradition - word will spread! Or I'm already spending $X on X, so why do one more thing? Who Uses the Internet? It doesn't matter who you cater to, what age they are, where they are from, what their income level is, however you might segment potential customers, when people want to learn about you, a substantial portion of any demographic is going to Google and entering your name. They'll visit your dojo, shake your hand, go back home and Google you. It's not even just this generation. Pew Research conducted a study on how online U.S. adults use social media, in the spring of 2016. This is what percentage used Facebook a little under 1 year ago: All adults: 79% Sex Men: 75% Women: 83% Age 18-29: 88% 30-49: 84% 50-64: 72% 65+: 62% Education High school degree or less: 77% Some college: 82% College+: 79% Salary Less than $30k/year: 84% $30k-$49,999: 80% $50k-$74,999: 75% $75k+: 77% Area of Residence Urban: 81% Suburban: 77% Rural: 81% Also, since these are percentages of U.S. adults online, it is worth noting that, as of last fall, 87% of U.S. adults are online. And adoption is going up, not down. 48% of U.S. adults weren't online in 2000. In 16 years, it's down to 13%. Small Steps At the minimum, I'd suggest having a website and a Facebook page, even if they are bare bones. You should also claim and customize your Google My Business listing and your Yelp profile. There are a lot of things you can do, but don't worry about anything else. Don't worry about Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or anything else you may have heard of. Not yet. Again, these are small steps, which will make the time commitment minimal. Google My Business Just to briefly explain what this is and why it matters, take a look at this Google search for the name of tallgeese/Alex's school: https://www.google.com/search?q=Alpha+BJJ&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 See the section with the logo, phone number, etc.? That's what Google My Business controls. Add your hours, address, nice photos, a link to your website, etc. It'll take you a couple of hours. It's the first thing people see! Which is why it is important. (Also, when you view this search, you can also take a note to see how Alex has done good work. When you search Alpha BJJ, the first link is his website. The second link is his Facebook. The third is Yelp, followed by a local media story about the school opening, then his YouTube. It's all him! People who are deciding whether or not to visit his school go here, they search and they find it fast. It's a good impression.) Yelp and Online Reviews A word on Yelp: You will hear small business owners complain about it. You might even hear stories of business owners who "fought back" and really let those Yelp reviewers have it. Ignore and resist these stories with all of your strength. Simple truth: Yelp, and similar sites, exist. The only question is: Will you use them to help or hurt you? Help: As you have satisfied customers, encourage them to review you on Yelp, Facebook and/or Google (wherever they want) in a no pressure way. "I am so glad that you enjoyed class! No pressure, and I totally understand if you are too busy, but if you'd be willing to share your experience on Yelp or Facebook, it would mean so much to us." And leave it there. When negative reviews are posted, reply with the understanding that you are not just responding to that one person, who may or may not be reasonable, you are responding to EVERY PERSON who will ever read that review, and how they see you treat that unruly customer is how they think you will treat them. If you are nasty to that customer, they think you will be nasty to them. Hurt: Ignore these sites, tell yourself they don't matter. Complain about them to current and potential customers. Argue with negative reviews and really "put them in your place." All of these are bad moves that while temporarily satisfying, undermine your integrity and the trust people have in you, over the long term. Cost Time is your main investment. Setting up Facebook. Yelp and Google My Business is a matter of hours total, not days. Monitoring them, answering questions and posting the odd update or photo is something you can do a few days a week, taking up probably 30 minutes to 2 hours of your time each week. Creating the website can be a matter of hours, too. Updating it as needed. Start simple. Your location, nice photos, your philosophy, a list of what you offer, bios of your instructors, etc. That's all stuff you only need to update as needed, not regularly. Monetarily, the cost isn't prohibitive. Facebook, Yelp and Google My Business are all free. If you do the website yourself, you should register a domain name and pay for hosting. You are likely looking at $4 to $16 a month. Worst case scenario, you can use something like Wix, Squarespace or WordPress.com to make a website and it'll look decent. You can drag and drop elements around, and they make it pretty easy for you. If you feel totally out of your element, you can just ask an instructor or friend, who is more comfortable with it, to help you. But you can probably do it if you want to. A lot of great points have been made on this thread, so I'm just adding to those. Lupin1, Kusotare, ashworth, bushido_man96, JR 137 and Bulltahr all made posts that resonated with me. Hope this helps. Patrick

Thanks for sharing this with us! Keep going. I'll be thinking good thoughts. Patrick

Welcome to KF, syed1. Glad to have you. When did you first start taking a martial art? Patrick

Hey Dani_001.

Hey LiamODell. Welcome aboard. Best of luck with your test. Patrick

Belated welcome, mandarin. Glad to have you. Patrick

Nice. I don't know what budget you might have, but maybe keep an eye on http://www.secretflying.com. I assume flying from Boston is probably your best bet for finding that sort of fare. Patrick

Happy birthday to Devin (Lupin1)! Thank you for all of the great contributions that you have made to our community over the years. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for February is... Dani_001. Congratulations! Thank you for the great contributions that you have made to our community so far. Sincerely, Patrick

Very sorry to hear this, LLLEARNER. It can be so frustrating not to know what's going on. Hoping for the best here. Patrick

Belated welcome to KF, Wayofaswede. Happy to have you. Thank you for the kind words about the community.

Belated welcome, Whisky147. I appreciate the kind words about KF. Patrick

Welcome to KF, TeamAlphaBeast. Patrick

Hey The Pred! Thanks for posting this. I'm so glad that you found our community. Patrick

Welcome to KF, danbrendel! Noah (Wastelander) knows a fair bit about hand conditioning as well! Please feel free to start a new topic with any questions, and I am sure some members will be happy to offer some help. Thanks, Patrick

Hey all, I happened to see, on Facebook, that MasterPain shared a link to this GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/help-cole-and-hotle-rooms-also-gas MasterPain's first great-nephew has been born prematurely, and this has placed the family under a bit of financial strain. They're asking for help. Seeing this, I asked MasterPain if I could share the link here, and he said I could. If you'd like to contribute, please visit the link above! Thanks, Patrick

You currently have 5,555 posts, Danielle! Yay symmetry! Lately, I have been on a little bit of a veggies and hummus kick. Baby carrots, sliced cucumbers (in like a chip shape), radishes (same) and grape or cherry tomatoes. The hummus is new, don't have it every time, but it's a good snack. I'm kind of fortunate in that I generally like those veggies (and also raw broccoli and cauliflower), where a lot of people don't really. Look forward to seeing what others recommend! Patrick

I've got the Falcons, Patriots, Chiefs and Cowboys this week. Agonized over the Cowboys/Packers game.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for January is... twistkick kid. Congratulations! Thank you for the outstanding contributions that you have made to our community and for being a member for (coming up on) 8 years! Sincerely, Patrick

Happy birthday to Brian (bushido_man96)! As demonstrated recently, you mean a lot to many of the members in our community. Thank you for finding us. Patrick

Happy birthday to Heidi (ninjanurse)! Now in year 14 (!) of being a staff member, it's amazing to think back to everything you've done here. Thank you. Patrick

Congrats MatsuShinshii!

Oh well. We got crushed. Thanks Bob.