Promoting Portobello On Line-Sign up here PLEASE

[Porty]

I came up with an idea how we can promote Portobello-On-Line with a view to broaden our membershipi, increase readership and profile . I have discussed the idea in detail with the Mods and they have given it their full support. Here is the scoop:

A couple of years ago I organised a school reunion, which was successful. To get in touch with lots of former pupils I joined Friends Reunited, prepared a standard email with information about the event. I then emailed everyone on Friends Reunited that left PHS in 1977 there was about 130 ex pupils registered at that time. The emailing was easy, just cut and paste and a few clicks. As I said, it was effective, if just a little time consuming for one individual. However, it was also totally FREE

I thought we could try the same approach here. I have carried out a little research and there are currently 5600 ex PHS pupils registered on FR. Believe it or not there are members dating back to 1918.

The plan is to contact all of these people by email. In terms of a target audience they could hardly be more suited; all have a connection to Portobello and all have access to the Internet. We will prepare a short message, including the web address (several times) and invite people to visit, see some of the great photos, keep up to date and even drop into the Forum to chat, perhaps meet old friends.

Naturally we will have to adopt a methodical approach to the email campaign and we will organize this if and when we get some volunteers. YOU! What we would like is for any of you that would like to help? To step forward and volunteer to post a number of emails even as few as 100 will help. In other words donate some of your time to promoting POL. We hope that whether you have zero posts or are in the top ten? You pitch in. If we get a good response from fellow forum users, then, we have been offered the Free use of an office in Portobello that has 7 Broadband connected PC’s and we could have a fun training evening/ weekend day. Of course you can also assist from the comfort of your own home.

You need not be an ex pupil of PHS, everyone can help, the email message will come from Portobello On Line not an individual. You do not have to be a member of Friends Reunited, as you will be provided with a members name and Password that will allow you to Email other FR members.

We think this is a great opportunity to raise awareness about Portobello On Line and the Community. We would greatly appreciate if you could give us a 2 or 3 hours of your time. We are hoping to complete the task by the end of November.

Porty's in for 200 emails, just 5400 to go....... Are you in?

[Guest]

I think this is an absolutely brilliant idea, so good in fact that I'm rather ashamed that I didn't think of it first!

Porty estimates that we can send out around 100 messages an hour, so if we get a few volunteers it shouldn't take that long to contact everyone and I'm sure it will pay dividends in attracting new registered members and raising the awareness of the website generally.

I'm in for 200 as well and looking fwd to our training course. Do we get coffee and biscuits?

[Porty]

Coffee and Biscuits, perhaps vino too. Thanks for the 200 donation Bob. We need another 5200.....

[Poppy]

[ecm]

[Jay]

[Porty]

[bellybabe]

[Poppy]

[Pal of Porty]

[Maria]

[Porty]

[Jay]

[Lizzie]

[ecm]

[Sandra]

[Dadaist]

[cornerboy]

[Porty]

[bearcub]

[Guest]

[Hell's Cat]

[bearcub]

like the new avatar Hell's Cat!

[Hell's Cat]

[CatzVP]

[Porty]

[Porty]

[Guest]

[DG]

[CatzVP]

[Maria]

We've twisted a few more arms CatzVP to get the numbers needed and instructions will be posted soon by Porty........

[Guest]

We need to get the web site working again properly first though. There won't be much point in contacting all these people if they find that nothing on the site works! Remember, we are promoting Portobello Online and not just the forum.

I'm raring to go, but we need to be patient for a few more days until the current problems are resolved.

[CatzVP]

[wangi]

[Porty]