Introducing MerchantCircle Moderator Joe Williams and Airbrush Gypsy!

In Columbia, VA, Joe Williams started Airbrush Gypsy as a side venture from his full-time job as a truck driver. His hope in 2005 was to someday give up driving trucks for a living to run his new business full-time. Of course, no business becomes successful without a few mistakes along the way.

“When I first started the business, I paid $185 per year to get my company listed on a site called Party Pop,” says Joe. “My Party Pop listing was showing up lower on search engine results than my free MerchantCircle ad, so I canceled my Party Pop account and now I only use MerchantCircle with better search engine results. I have become much more involved in the MerchantCircle community which has also helped my search engine rankings. More people find me on Google now and I get about 25% more customers calling than I had been receiving.”

When Joe first started, Airbrush Gypsy was just a temporary airbrush tattoo business with one family employee. It has since evolved to Airbrush Gypsy Entertainment with more than just airbrush tattoos. Other services now being offered also include airbrush face painting, balloon animals and tie-dye t-shirt classes, with 5 airbrush artists that travel all over the state of Virginia. On many weekends, Airbrush Gypsy Entertainment books up to four events at one time.

“MerchantCircle has really helped in the growth of my business,” says Joe. “Being able to send out invites to my business neighbors has led to real leads and repeat customers. I’m still a little bit away from giving up my full-time job, but a lot closer than I was before MerchantCircle.”

You can also find Joe in the MerchantCircle Forums, where he is one of a handful of merchant moderators. To learn more about how you can find new customers – click here. Visit Airbrush Gypsy Entertainment – Click here.

Thanks Joe! See you in the forums!

Sincerely,
Community Relations

Early Election Survey Results and Why You Should Vote

With election day just over a month away, our Presidential Election Survey is starting to yield some VERY interesting results. Amongst some of the questions to our merchant base: Will the Bailout help out small business owners? Does race or age play a factor in the way you vote? What are the most important issues to you? And of course, who do you plan on voting for? The early results, I think you'll find, are very interesting.

In particular, we have individual results in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, and New Hampshire.

In the meantime, it's important that we all get out and vote - no matter your age, race, gender or economic background. Our nation is facing a historic election that will need the support of all it's citizens. You can register up until October 20th.


Go out and be heard.

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations