A Happy and Prosperous 2016 to All!

I hope everyone reading has been able to enjoy some time that does not involve nose-to-the-grindstone work:  by yourself, with family, travelling, or whatever makes you happy.

In the Duncan house we have a mix of work (there is no such thing as "vacation" for entrepreneurs), laundry, cooking holiday specialties, sports, play, and just lounging around until work and school pick up again.

SDOC had a banner year!  We built and launched new websites for:

• DeKalb Commissioner Nancy Jester 
• Timberhood Consulting (Dunwoody citizen-owned business)
• Learning on the Log (Sandy Springs service location with Dunwoody business office)
• Georgians for Local Area School Systems (GLASS)
• Kenneth Gordon - Private Jeweler (Dunwoody citizen-owned business)

SDOC returned to Business Radio X for a live interview and discussion of web trends and business needs.

SDOC was accredited by the Metro Atlanta Better Business Bureau - an achievement not made by most website design and development firms.


In addition, we continued our long friendships with these clients via hosting and maintenance services as well as long-needed complete redesigns that were not only more modern but improved mobile usability.

• Atlanta Alumnae Panhellenic Association
• RikEmmett.com

2016 is already looking bright.  We are discussing new projects with their clients.  Upgrades for our current friends are always in the hopper.  SDOC continually reaches out to build new relationships with organizations in need of a modern web presence and lightning-fast communications with people of all ages.  We might even treat ourselves to a new look on the SDOC website.  (Shhh!  Don't tell the owner.  It's a surprise!)  

SDOC is also returning as a Platinum Sponsor of the 2016 Taste of Dunwoody on February 20 at the Westin Perimeter hotel.  Get your tickets NOW before they sell out!

Thank you everyone for a wonderful 2015 and I wish you all the best in the coming New Year!

Dunwoody Crossing Residents Homeless after Apartment Fire

6 PM last night, DeKalb Fire and Rescue responded to a 2-alarm fire at the Dunwoody Crossing Apartments on North Peachtree at I-285.  The fire and extent were very similar to another apartment fire in January of this year.

UPDATE:  Two of the affected families have children at Chesnut ES.  Friends of Chesnut is accepting donations for these families as well.  From Friends of Chesnut on Facebook:

Update #2 (12/22) - per the AhA Connection, one of these families also has a student at Dunwoody HS and is a member of Lady Wildcats basketball.  A separate GoFundMe account is active.

We have two Chesnut families who lost all of their belongings in the fire last night at Dunwoody Village apartments on...
Posted by Friends of Chesnut on Monday, December 21, 2015

From Dunwoody Police on Facebook:

At 5:56pm, the Dunwoody Police Department and Dekalb Fire Department responded to a fire at the Dunwoody Crossing...
Posted by Dunwoody Police Department on Sunday, December 20, 2015

If you are able, please donate online to help get these 10 families through Christmas and the New Year.  (Donations coordinated by ICare Atlanta)

On a related note, incidents like  Dunwoody Crossing and the January fire at Dunwoody Glen are reasons why Councilman Terry Nall proposed requirements for fire retardant building materials on multifamily housing, rather than timbers and wood siding.  It's not about making building more expensive, it's about keeping all Dunwoodians safer - and not having to face Christmas burned out of their homes.

Dunwoody Town Hall Meeting on January 21, 2016

Use the Connect Dunwoody page to submit topics you would like to see discussed at this event.

(Click on "Town Hall 2016" under the "Open Topics" tab to add your feedback.)

Connect Dunwoody requests your address (which is kept private) so that those reviewing the responses can see where they are coming from.  As in which Dunwoody district, or from outside the city.

Anyone can answer and there is one vote/comment per person.

Event details:
Dunwoody Town Hall
All Saints Catholic Church Social Hall (the building next to the sanctuary, closest to the driveway/parking lot)
2443 Mt. Vernon Road
6 PM til 8 PM

Deadline to request a topic for discussion is 12 noon on January 21.

My first request will be to have a live video feed via YouTube, Meerkat, Periscope, Vimeo, etc.  Looking at my calendar I already know that 2 of my children have after-school activities and then I have to get dinner on the table and then my husband may not make it home in time for me to make a 6 PM meeting, and the youngest child has a 6:30 PM bath time.  Listening via streaming media is the only option many of us have to be informed of the conversation.

I'd also like to recommend accepting follow-up questions and commentary via Twitter or similar social media.  Again, this may be the only way of receiving real-time feedback from the demographics that are not able to attend in person.

Third paragraph, same feedback - when will the video on the agendas/minutes management system on the city website be upgraded to function in all browsers (instead of just Internet Explorer) and on mobile devices?

How to Prevent Speeding on North Peachtree Road

Shut the whole street down at its low point over the culvert leading to Kingsley Lake for culvert repairs.
Put up a bunch of signage announcing the detour.
Fine the hell out of anyone speeding through the work area.

Stay safe, folks.  Take this opportunity to remember the regular speed limit is 25 MPH and yes, you do have to ride your brakes on this road to stay at that limit.  No, you do not get a pass if you live in Dunwoody.

Counting Down to Small Business Saturday and the 2015 Holiday Shopping Season

It's just over a week until every retailer's biggest time of year.  Small business - companies with less than 10 employees - make up 80% of Dunwoody's registered businesses.  There's plenty of opportunities for our residents and commuters to patronize a Dunwoody shop or service in the coming months.

Dunwoody's population quadruples during the day, every work day of the week.  Don't forget the commuters in your promotions.

Are you ready for the seasonal stream of customers that November and December bring?  Can your customers find you online?  Take these few days to put your best foot forward online.  SDOC is burning the midnight oil to assist our website customers for the season.

1)  Go Google Yourself  (or Bing yourself.  or Yahoo! yourself)  Search for your company or products online.  See where your company ranks in the results.  You probably can't change your search engine ranking in time for Black Friday or Cyber Monday but you can still create or update your business listing maintained by each search engine.

Even if you are not using e-commerce on your company website, a free business listing in the search engines is critical.  According to Google, almost 90% of shoppers will search for a business type online before shopping.  Your listing makes it easier for your shoppers to find you, or call with questions, or get directions to your door.  Make sure your phone number and hours of operation are correct.   Plus search engines will direct shoppers to the location nearest them.  It's easy and only takes  a few minutes each!

Google Local (requires free creation of a Google+ page, also helpful for search engine rankings)

Yahoo Small Business for local listings. (Customizing your listing for search engine rankings is free, but a paid directory submission service is available.)

Bing Places for Business (Same idea as Google and Yahoo but owned by Microsoft. Requires a free Microsoft account)

2)  Visit your website.  Better yet, have your mother visit.

Have you looked at your website lately?  Do you know what's there?  How do your customers react to it?  Is everything working?  Better to take some time and check.  Get someone who is not familiar with your website to do the same.  A set of fresh eyes will spot mistakes or problems that you might miss.  

• Click on all of your links.  Fix the broken ones.  
• Check your website's images.  Add fresh ones if the others are looking stale.  Maybe take some new photos of your store's decor for the holidays
• Make sure your contact information is easy to find.  
• Make sure your telephone number is a tappable link on phones.  
• Does your website have a search function?  Try it out.    Ask your web developer to make sure all of your website pages meet Google's latest SEO guidelines.  
• Double check your social media links and integrations.  
• Are you using e-commerce?  Try the store out as a customer and find any mistakes or problems.  Check your inventory.  Remove discontinued or out of stock items and add your new inventory for the holidays.  Are your prices correct?  Coupons and discounts updated?  Added value upsells included?  Gift Certificates configured?  Your web developer can expedite these fixes

3) Take all the free publicity you can get.  Start with #ShopSmall Saturday

American Express began the Shop Small Saturday movement several years ago to bolster their small-business merchants.  Through their website, your business can get more online exposure and marketing materials to use in your shop or online.  

Get signed up at the official Small Business Saturday website.  There is no business too small - home based, solopreneur, Etsy shop, all are welcome if you accept American Express from customers. That also includes PayPal, Square, WorldPay users!

Your online marketing materials will include custom- made Facebook banners and graphics like the ones in this post and on SDOC's Facebook.  There's also some boilerplate copy you can include in social media or website/blog posts.  (Just be sure to customize it for your company and your products.  There's nothing worse than overlooking an (insert product here) tag in your post!

We wish all of our visitors a successful and prosperous holiday season in their enterprises.  For Dunwoody's visitors and residents:  don't forget to patronize local restaurants and coffee shops when you've shopped til you've dropped!

This week, SDOC will be taking exactly these steps to assist our website customers with their online outreach.  Drop a line if you're looking for some last minute help before the big shopping rush hits next weekend!

Can You DIG Infrastructure Improvements?

The following blurb came via the City of Dunwoody e-news updates.  It's easy to get antsy when you see workers near your property and you may not have gotten a heads-up.

AT&T is installing their fiber optic cables and AGL is doing some work on their system.  Call the utility company directly (numbers below) with concerns.  (Read:  don't call the City of Dunwoody, they'll direct you to the utility.)

Many of the commercial areas and some neighborhoods in Dunwoody have recently received visits from utility crews such as AT&T or AGL. At any given time, a number of utilities could be performing general infrastructure, transmission and equipment upgrades for their established services in the city. Oftentimes these utility providers are conducting work in the right-of-way adjacent to streets, businesses and residential properties. Though the work is permitted through the city of Dunwoody the contractors performing the work are hired directly by the utility companies. Concerns related to work being done in the area should be directed to the primary utility provider by calling AT&T (fiber optic installation projects being performed by Ansco) at 800.278.8213 or AGL at 404.584.3142.