Michigan Antiques Directory - Newsletter the "MAD RAG"

January 2008

Hello and welcome to the 6th issue of the MAD RAG.

We have devoted this little corner of the website to keeping you and all interested parties abreast of what is happening with the Michigan Antiques Directory. We hope you have taken a moment to read our "About Us" page so you know how we got here. Don't miss the news in "The Booth".

Greetings!

We hope this issue finds you in good health. We hope this also finds your business prospering but we know that these days here in Michigan are proving to be quite difficult (is that a nice word for these days here in Michigan? :) We are a hardy lot here in Michigan, weathering blizzards, recessions, the auto industry's ups and downs and downs and downs… and now this 'economic downturn' (not nice words but politically correct, we do believe and consistent with the down word). At the same time, we don't have much in the way of natural disasters and possess an abundance of natural beauty. The bad, the ugly and the good - in that order. So, while we don't want to minimize the economic problems that we are experiencing, we don't want to dwell on them either, at least not for the moment.

In a complete about face of topic, let us share some funnies that we came across today at a flea market. A vendor was selling magnetized banners - little ones that measure about 3 by 8 inches. Here are a couple of them (if my memory serves me) that tickled our funny bone:

I used up all my sick days so I called in dead.
I childproofed my house but they still manage to get in!
Honk if your family embarrasses you.

Soooo… they may be kind of lame but we found them quite funny. We hope you do, too. We'll save the serious business of our business for another day and we welcome any comments that anyone would care to share about the effects that the state of our state has on our business. We really mean that. Just let us know what you think about the economy's impact on the antique business in Michigan and ways to effectively deal with it. We would love to publish those thoughts, anonymously or not. One man's perspective might be another man's answer…(totally politically incorrect, the gender specific thing and all of that …)

Our New Slogan

As we peruse the Internet and continue to verify the accuracy of our website, we see more and more Internet directories claiming to promote antiques. While the promotion of antique stores is certainly a part of these directories, so are many other things. With that said, let us point out that we are committed to our mission statement in its entirety:

To build and maintain an accurate, cost-effective and user friendly website devoted to the
promotion of antiques & collectibles stores and malls in the state of Michigan.

We have adopted a slogan that we feel reflects the uniqueness of Michigan Antiques Directory. A large part of that uniqueness is that our users - your customers - do not have to flip through scores of pages and categories to find your listing. And once they find your listing, they find it loaded with the information they need to decide to visit your store. In these two BIG ways Michigan Antiques Directory stands out from the rest. All for the price of one large café mocha per month. We look forward to your continued support in our efforts to support you.

Michigan Economic Development Corporation

In 2006, we contacted the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, a division of Travel Michigan of michigan.org about placing our rack cards in their Welcome Centers. The MEDC staffs and operates the 13 Welcome Centers stationed around our state and are adding #14 at the foot of the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit this year. Michigan Antiques Directory has been invited to participate in their literature distribution program for the third year in a row. In 2007, close to 9 million travelers stopped at the Welcome Centers. That’s a lot of people! We consider the continued request by the MEDC of our rack cards to be good evidence of the viability of this particular advertising venue.

Our New Look

We are revamping the website to freshen it up a bit. A little bigger font, different type, more color and less words. That's just the eye candy. We've improved the functionality of the site in ways to enable the search engines to find you. We welcome any and all comments and suggestions.

Our Charter Membership Offer Continues !

As 2008 arrives, our Charter Membership drive is still on going. Remember that a Charter Membership entitles you to a 20% reduction in the costs of our products for as long as you keep your subscription current. Visit Our Products page for details. Once we have personally extended this offer to everyone we can reach within the state, this offer will end.

Please don't wait for us to contact you. By purchasing a subscription with Michigan Antiques Directory you will lock in the benefits of a Charter Membership and ensure that your listing is accurate and descriptive enough to show up in the searches made by potential customers.

The Booth

We created this part of our newsletter as a display for "this and that." We welcome your experiences and news. Maybe you have an idea that you would like to share. Tell us how people have used MAD to find your store. Just send us an email. Please feel free to jump into future issues of the MAD RAG.

Submissions:
From us here at MAD:
- We invite all our customers to send us some interesting news about their store, antiquing, their part of the state or something you think people who visit MAD might find interesting..
MAD News:
Our referral program is still available to our valued clients of Michigan Antiques Directory (MAD). We know that word of mouth continues to be a most reliable form of advertising. When people find a good thing, they naturally want to share that information with others who would benefit. We propose taking advantage of your conversations with other store owners about Michigan Antiques Directory to build our client base – a win for us! In return we would compensate you in the form of cash or credit to offset your advertising expenses – a win for you! Please visit our Referral Program page for details.
Over the years that Michigan Antiques Directory has been in existence we have worked hard on our search engine placement. As the years have progressed we have seen our ranking steadily improve. Our city level indexing is working within the search engines and many people are finding your stores using content searches that pick up your descriptions within your listing. If you would like to update the description of your business listing, just send us an email.
Remember... Michigan Antiques Directory is an antiques and collectibles business site that can help any antiques and collectibles seller within the state of Michigan have a central location on the Internet -- no matter how far off the beaten path their establishment may be.
If you have any questions, concerns, comments or suggestions please let us know. We look forward to hearing from you

Thank you for reading this issue of the MAD RAG — John and Leslie Victor