Greatest Cape

Greatest Cape - "Why We Love Social Media"

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Reflections On Our 2nd Anniversary

It's really hard to see how fast the past year has flown by. Now, I sit here and try and think back over our strides during that time...and I am pleased with our progress. Maybe the best way to describe the course of the last year is multi-faceted. We, as a community blog / social network have begun to approach concerns about our own growth. As a community resource, our biggest concern is greater community involvement in order to provide more for our membership, as well as our advertisers. All the while, we've worked to improve our brand awareness. Maybe you've joined My Greatest Cape, our Facebook group ?



This year promises many changes we believe will not only broaden our offerings, but, also, our audience.



We are still hard at work on the beta site ( Thanks to those who've been willing to Beta test ), and will continue to refine our integration. Thanks to our readers whose astute comments are the life's blood of our stories, we really appreciate your input !



On a quite positive note, during the last twelve months, we have tripled our membership. We want to send a 'thank you' to everyone who has registered ! Onward!

A Day for EXCELLENCE

Greetings !

It is with profound joy that I create this post today. After all, today is a day to remember. It is an historic occasion. The forthcoming Inauguration of our newly elected President, Barack Obama today signifies a shift in the public sentiment. Today sees the mood in America improve from "doubtful" to "hopeful". As I watch the people collect on the mall in Washington, D.C., I cannot contain my own hope, joy and exuberance. For me, and for so many of my fellow Americans these emotions are the confirmation of that change. Many of us would never have dreamed it was possible. Today represents the realization of "hope".

While I will not wax poetically about American ideals, I did feel the need to recognize the significance of this occasion. Today is A Day for Excellence ! With President-elect about to be sworn in as our nation's 44th President, our nation's resolve and re-commitment to the American ideal has never been stronger.

In keeping with that resolve, I want to re-confirm our own resolve and, as well, re-double our Commitment to Excellence. As Greatest Cape has grown from a small start-up business to having more than 1.500 members, we have sought to improve our offerings and services to our members first. While change is inevitable for all growing businesses, we will seek to guide our own with a focus on improving your experience foremost. At Greatest Cape, we are Committed to Excellence !

Thank you for being a member ! Please don't hesitate to share your own thoughts.

Who Cares About Excellence ?

Who really does care about excellence ? Perhaps you are one of those persons who, in fact, does care. I know that I do. When I built Greatest Cape, it afforded me the chance to give something back to my community of Cape Coral. I care about the people and businesses in my community of Cape Coral, Florida.



With the forthcoming General Election in November, each of us has a choice to make. Whether we choose to vote a straight party ticket or select the candidate we believe is best-suited for the job, the most important thing to do is cast a vote.



While I will say that I don't maintain a party affiliation, it is my present intention to support the Democratic Party candidates for President. I am doing so because I feel that the Republican Party President whose term has nearly expired, has brought our country disgrace, dishonor and shown a lack of concern for all but the wealthiest Americans and corporate interests.



I firmly believe that more than our country needs an experienced politician, we need leadership that best represents the majority of Americans needs.



Because I believe that John McCain is nothing more that a "Yes" man with a voting record that has supported Bush's initiatives, I was hopeful that he would have selected a running mate who DID possess some integrity and concern for American citizens. He did not do that. He chose someone who seems to thoroughly understand the political process and has worked to further her own interests and those of the oil industry. I received an email today from a friend of Sara Palin. I feel it is in the interest of my country to reveal this letter.



When the national economy and the majority of Americans suffer, my community suffers , too.



Because I am Committed to Excellence, I will cast my vote for those candidates who I believe espouse similar values, have principals and personal integrity and can change the course in which our country is headed.



Peace and Prosperity,
Wray

Reflections On Our 1st Anniversary

As it has been slightly more than 90 days since my last post, I must apologize for my neglect where regular posting is concerned. Where has the time gone ? It seems that so much has happened since I last checked-in. Most of what has transpired has been very positive.

This has been a challenging and rewarding year. If I had to do it over, I doubt I would do anything differently. Greatest Cape has become a significant presence among southwest Florida's online media entities. We are grateful for all of the notice and involvement of our community. Thanks to those who have created membership profiles and offered suggestions ! If you want to know the specifics of the past year's growth, simply click upon this postings title.

When I set out to write the business plan for Greatest Cape, I envisioned a web presence where I would have the opportunity to give back to the community I love. What I could not foresee was how rewarding and satisfying watching its growth would be to me.

I have often mentioned in various articles I have published is that "the best is yet to come". However, I honestly believe that to be true ! While the economic conditions are some of the most dire our country has seen in many decades, it hasn't stopped our growth. Our membership continues to grow at an exponential rate. Our Cape Coral Events listings have also grown. We initially had about 10-20 event listings per month. June has more than 75 event listings !

The number of Cape Coral businesses who have chosen to become a part of our Business Directory is growing, as well. While I realize that there are many free business directories online, we are a community resource portal that offers so much more. With more than 200 visitors and 30 unique visitors per day, our Business Directory members are afforded thousands of views monthly. With so many repeat visitors from our community, our ability to help these companies brand themselves within our community is, we believe, unsurpassed ! With that primary objective in mind, we're are presently expanding the scope and focus of our Cape Coral Business Directory to include an interactive, Flash®-based location map, as well as introducing a coupon page to help these businesses better determine their R.O.I. ( return on investment ) for their involvement.

Now that we are into our second year, we will begin to invite corporate sponsorship for our banner advertising program, so as to grow our presence even larger ! This will allow us to seek out those companies that we believe have vision and understand that their involvement will help them to achieve their growth initiatives within the SWFL community.

When I posted at the 9 month mark, we were happy to be approaching our 300th member. As we cross the year mark, we are simply ecstatic that we have doubled that number. As we progress onward, we will look forward to welcoming our 1000th member soon !

Until Soon !
_Wray

Moving right along...at a fairly rapid clip !

Greetings All !

As it has been since November since my last post, I must confess to being somewhat remiss where being a more prolific BLOGGER is concerned. Actually, I will relate that as Greatest Cape has grown, so, too, have my administrative responsibilities. I do , however, want to relate to you about our successes as well as our set backs !

On March 8th, we will be 9 months old. Okay, I confess that we are still in our infancy, yet as much change and growth as we have experienced, it often seems to me that we are much older than that. I can remember watching the site garner it's first 20 members. I look back to that first month fondly. As we approach our 300th member, I can only say that I am very grateful for the involvement of our community, and some of the members whose leadership has helped our progress significantly.

Our site's functionality has grown well beyond it's original scope ! We have added a site-wide chat client, a media gallery, a sports feed, an interactive map, and a YouTube® Video of the Week feature for all of our members. For our Premium members, we have added a Personal Messenger, an Arts and Entertainment feed, a daily Stock Market index, and are putting the finishing touches on a My Greatest list builder for choosing a personal list of favorites from our Cape Coral's Greatest roster. I almost forgot to mention that it has been a wonderful addition to our site-wide stories and content to have been able to entice Ms. Robyn Mobley to contribute a weekly editorial column entitled Paradise Ponderings. (Thanks, Robyn ! You rock !)

As to the future of the site, it looks very positive ! Because of the addition of a Cape Coral Business Directory, we expect it to continue to grow. Since it's inception, we have effectively doubled it's size ! We have also (finally) managed to incorporate a banner ad management system to Greatest Cape. We will soon begin to offer corporate clients the ability to improve their own visibility by branding their presence upon our social network site.

While our content is varied, and our offerings numerous, we have sought to maintain a degree of candor that is, hopefully, refreshing, honest and forthright. Given our commitment to this level of communication, we have 'ruffled more than a few feathers', but we have not retracted one story or editorial. We can only strive to maintain that record. Put in layman's terms, "we call it like we see it"...and some of the pseudo powers ( or good ole' boy networks ) that be, have, quite likely, developed a distaste for us. But as our initial purpose was to provide a worthwhile and valuable resource for our community, we wont apologize for our observations. I think it was Theodore Geisel ( Dr. Seuss ) that said; “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

All in all, I am very pleased at our growth and progress up to now. I owe a debt of sincere gratitude to those who have chosen to become members of our site. I always appreciate their feedback and , in fact, encourage it. Interaction with our community has been our primary purpose and we will strive to increase that along with our offerings.

I'll see you online !

If You Seek to Find...We Deliver !

On the 8th of December, Greatest Cape will officially be six months old. For me, it's hard to believe ! It's not so much because the time has passed quickly, but more because we have evolved rapidly. Our site's visitors have communicated with us and shared what their needs and wants are for our future. Hopefully, we are rising to meet these challenges.



As our site has grown, so, too, have our desires to expand our own scope and focus within the community of Cape Coral. Of course, we are constantly seeking new visitors and members to our site, but we only want to do so by attracting them, rather than compelling them. While we can not deliver the world to our members within our pages, we hope to be able to effectively deliver our community here in southwest Florida.



As we began to look at our needs with regard to this expansion, one thing became abundantly clear. We needed help ! Because, up to this point, our site has been, primarily, the work of just one person. Greatest Cape's present and future needs have outgrown the abilities of your humble narrator.



So as we begin to expand and recreate our existence, we are seeking to enlist the help of some equally capable (...and likely more talented persons)to help this expansion. It has been a real pleasure to have brought aboard Ms. Robin Mobley, our new Editorial Columnist with her weeekly Paradise Ponderings. Her work thus far has garnered some strong and favorable responses from our readers. Now we are nearly finished implementing a new marketing system which will allow those southwest Florida ( and national ) businesses who are seeking to advertise with us a professional solution for doing just that !



This has created a need to bring aboard a sales professional who really understands our product. The person we seek is not someone who drives a Bentley and commands huge commissions, just someone who shares our vision and appreciates the ability to offer southwest Florida businesses a unique and very worthwhile audience for their own products and services. They will be a friend to advertisers, helping to construct campaigns that deliver customers, not a shameless profiteer.



I am hopeful that our next six months will see more rapid growth than our initial six. With that in mind, I had better get back to writing, as my workload has anything but diminished. Most importantly, we will keep the needs of our members at the forefront of our own ambitions for expansion.



Most importantly, thank you for being a part of Greatest Cape ! You are the reason we exist.