It’s almost Christmas!

Well maybe not quite… but I’d venture to guess that Costco thinks so as they always seem to have the Christmas merchandise up by August 1st!

We just enjoyed a fun-filled week here in Big Bear with the first annual Big Bear Cycling Festival.  It was kicked off with the Gran Fondo mountain bike ride last Saturday and concluded yesterday with the Tour de Big Bear road ride.  The town seems to be thriving with cyclists enjoying both the road and dirt trails here – an exciting time here in Big Bear!  It’s been fun to be a part of the growing cycling culture here.

Which leads me to my next thought (yes, let’s move past the idea of Christmas in August shall we?) – Networking and Social Media.  I’m finding myself working more and more with friends who are small business owners.  I think it’s important to support one another in our respective endeavors to help grow our businesses.  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. have become critical components to search engine optimization.  Google digs these sites.  No pun intended.  Well, maybe a little.

The General

The content on your website should still be your number one priority, but its popularity is also an important piece of the puzzle. Let’s help each other out here.  Mention your friends and their businesses in your Facebook posts; share their Facebook and/or blog posts.  Ask them to do the same with yours.  It all helps to create exposure and boost search engine rankings.  Have some fun with it.  Frank Harrison of General Air Conditioning has some great posts with “Where in the World is the General?”.  And trust me, you never know where Frank and Charlene may show up with the General. That little guy gets around.

So if you see me tagging and hashtagging folks like Daniel Morello of Mountain Mobile Massage, Annemarie Alf of Olympus Movement and Mobility or Cyril Jay-Rayon of Feed The Machine, now you know why.  They’re friends of mine with small businesses who are working hard, giving back to their community and are simply just great folks to work with.   And did you see that ’72 LT1 Corvette that I shared from Corvette Mike last week?  You’d look good in it.  Really… you would!

Happy August,

Laura

PS: For you cycling enthusiasts – Derek Hermon at Bear Valley Bikes is the best!