The old link system was outdated and the new one is more flexible and easier to update. The admin will get instant notification when a bad link is found so the directory will stay updated with nothing but valid links. 

New websites that have been added are - 

• Haynes Carpets
• Church Street Floor Covering
• Nice carpets 
• The H Man
• Occasions By JK  Major improvements were done to their site.
• Mattress Firm
• Beish Services
• David B. Wills & Associates
• Michael A. Haas & Associates
• Wei Acupuncture Of Newark
• JBA Architects
• Christy’s Pizza

The types of sites deleted due to failed websites - 

• Geese Control Company
• 1 Landscape company
• Licking County Sports score website.
• 4 Personal blogs that had either quit posting for years or were gone.
• 1 bed and breakfast
• 1 Hotel
• 1 office supply store
• 1 restaurant
• 2 Bars
• 1 clothing store
• 1 Pizza restaurant
• 1 Firearms instruction school.
• 1 Travel Agency
• 1 Golf Course
• 1 Clothes Cleaner
• 1 Tanning Salon

It’s sad to see so many sites leaving. Many are failed businesses and others are giving up on owning their own websites and resorting to the walled content at Facebook. As Facebook begins to lose followers, I expect to see some of these return to the benefits of owning their own website again. 

Some of the new websites are Yellowbook websites with nothing more than a few photos and a phone number. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. 

The new link system may not look much now, but I will phase in more functions later. It will also free up some time for other features that I’ve been wanting to add. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful. 

Some, but not many, of the links that have left have switched to using social media, primarily Facebook. I can see the appeal in being able to easily post for free, but I think that in the coming years, these businesses will regret that decision. Starting a WordPress blog is nearly as easy and the return over time will be greater. It’s always wise to own your own content and Facebook owns everything that you place on their pages. 

Due to these large volumes of changes I’m working on converting my old system to a newer system for keeping track of the link directory. This will mean an ever better organized list of active links. 

Here’s the list of recent changes:

Websites added:

• Massage and Prosper
• Arensberg Pharmacy
• Licking Land Trust
• The Ohio National Road
• Newark Kiwanis – major update and new domain name
• Caribou Coffee
• Legend Farm And Feed
• Pet Supplies Plus
• Heath Eagles
• Awaken Technologies – computer repair, web design, and consulting
• Jay Baldwin
• Licking Springs Golf Club
• LongHorn Steak House

Websites deleted:

• Multiple catering businesses
• Multiple churches
• 1 Engineering firm
• 1 radio station
• 1 clothing manufacturer
• 1 clothing cleaner
• 1 embroidery company
• 1 gift shop
• 2 local blogs
• 1 news website
• 1 motorcycle repair website
• 1 restaurant ceased to operate their website, but remain in business
• 1 winery
• 3 realtors
• 1 property management group
• 2 personal trainers
• 4 websites supporting local sports teams
• 1 firearms instruction school
• 1 website hacked and unusable
• 1 yoga center
• 1 hockey team
• Licking County Farm Bureau apparently chose to cease it’s own website, but larger organizational website exists.
• 1 apple farm
• 1 attorney
• 1 junkyard
• Multiple car repair garages
• 1 Christian school
• 1 child care center
• 1 limo service
• 1 rock band

Related articles

• New Links For The Directory (newarkohiolinks.com)
• How to Make Website More Sociable with 10 Joomla Extensions (prweb.com)
• New Links For The Newark, Ohio Directory (newarkohiolinks.com)
• New Newark, Ohio Website Updates (newarkohiolinks.com)

In the Newark, Ohio Restaurant And Bars category:

• The Steak Escape
• Christy’s Pizza
• Damon’s

In the Health category:

• Custom Care Giving
• Behavorial Healthcare Partners Of Central Ohio
• Primary Vision Care

In the Non-Profit category:

• Licking County Courthouse Lighting Committee

In the Local Bloggers category:

• Randolfo Stories And Photos

In the Recreation, Sports And Leisure category:

• Valley Zipline Tours
• Roscoe Village

In the Industry And Warehousing category:

• PCA – The Packaging Corporation Of America

In the Attorney And Legal category:

• Handleman Law Office

In the Financial category:

• McClain, Hill, Rugg, And Associates Inc.

In the Photographers category:

• Barclay Photos

In the Beauty And Barbershops category:

• Tan Pro
• BeachFront Tanning

In Food category:

• Al’s Meat Market

In the Retail category:

• T.E.M. Pawn Shop

In the Artists And Galleries category:

• Stained Skin
• Rising Tide Studio

The directory is at a total of 840 active links with only a small percent of the links not belonging to businesses, individuals, or organizations in the immediate vicinity of Newark, Ohio. As always, I’m looking for more to add and I always appreciate any help with errors or omissions.

Happy New Year’s and best wishes to all for 2012.

Related articles

• New Newark, Ohio Website Updates (newarkohiolinks.com)
• The Latest Link Updates (newarkohiolinks.com)
• New Links For The Directory (newarkohiolinks.com)

Image via Wikipedia

The new links include:

• White Feather Farms - A turkey farm in nearby Pataskala, Ohio.
• Mid-Ohio Camper - Camper sales in Hebron, Ohio.
• Discover Diving - Newark, Ohio diving gear and training. They also specialize in paintball gear and skateboards.
• Edgewood Equestrian – Horse riding lessons and horse stables very close to Newark, Ohio.
• Licking County Equestrian – Numerous services available for horses and riders. Vet services, stalls, arena area, and more.
• The Grill’s Chophouse - steak restaurant in Downtown Newark, Ohio
• The Grill’s Deli – Downtown Newark, Ohio deli.
• The Grill On 21st Street – North End Newark, Ohio bar and restaurant
• Shepherd Hill - addiction treatment center in Newark, Ohio
• Papa Foti’s Pizza – Heath, Ohio pizza shop
• The Glass Guru – Glass repair and installation
• Richardson Glass Repair - Glass repair company that’s been servicing Newark for a very long time.

As always, send local Newark, Ohio links if you have them. Always happy to post them.

Related articles

• Link Updates For July, 2011. (newarkohiolinks.com)
• New Newark, Ohio Website Updates (newarkohiolinks.com)
• The Latest Link Updates (newarkohiolinks.com)

In the automotive category:

• Crispin Auto Wrecking
• Jim’s Transmissions

In the pizza category:

• Don And Sue’s Pizza - Previously mention as a Newark, Ohio Pizza Favorite that did not have a website, but they do now.

In the health category:

• Bafford Spine And Nutrition

In the Newark, Ohio Web Design Category -

• Exact Marketing Formula - Utica, Ohio based web designer and web promotion company. Careful! He’s new. These businesses should be thoroughly researched for buying their services.
• Kaleb Designs – Again, research first.
• Mid-Ohio IT - Again, research.

Newly Found Newark, Ohio Non-Profit Organizations:

• Newark, Ohio Jaycees

New retail stores:

• D And L Grain And Feed Hardware Store - Utica, Ohio store.

Licking County Agriculture Category:

• Shaw’s Local Produce

Reference Websites:

• Licking County Events – moderately accurate and up-to-date, but it’s just an automated service from what I can see.

 Hobbies And Crafts:

• It’s My Bag - I saw this on the back of a car in town, so if anyone is wondering, advertising on a car does work for websites.

Home And Building:

• RMSe – Retail store building and project management firm in Newark, Ohio

If you have a website, any mention on other websites helps promote it. If there is a local website that I have missed please submit it. If you’d like more than just a link submission, contact me and we can arrange to have more information posted. 

New websites -

• The Ohio Moose
• Chopper Bobs
• Settlers Baseball Team
• Girl Scouts Of Ohio’s Heartland
• Antritts Landscaping
• Albyn’s Landscaping and Nursery 
• Basic Tree Care

I hate to post these, but websites and businesses to close. Some of these make no sense to me because they are maintaining active Facebook websites, but letting their valuable domain names and aged websites close. I do not think they understand the value of the investment of the old website, even if it wasn’t a great site. With WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and other website systems that are available today, it’s easy to maintain a site that will outperform and coexist with a Facebook page and the cost is minimal. What are these companies  going to do when Facebook is no longer popular? If a website is maintained, it’s your property. With Facebook, your competitors are advertising on YOUR website! 

Here are the closed websites - 

• The Midway Tap. Biker bar that is still operating in Newark, Ohio. 
• Beckner’s House Of Rides. Custom motorcycle shop still operating a Facebook page. 
• Mattingly Foods. I’m hoping tough times are not the cause. 
• Country Music Fellowship Association
• Got Junk. Apparently no longer services the Newark, Ohio area. 

Thanks to all who enjoy and support Newark, Ohio Links. I hope you continue to find the efforts here useful. The events continue to keep coming and the visits to see them are increasing. I hope the increased visits are also increasing the numbers attending the events. 

Related posts:

• Promote your Newark, Ohio Event

• Mark Birk’s Photography – Local photographer.
• Tom Wilson Homes – Manufactured homes sales in Hebron, Ohio.
• The Reese Center - Building on the COTC/OSU Newark, Ohio campus available to public to reserve for use.
• The Buckeye Ranch - Services for families with mental health, substance abuse and other problems.
• The Energy Coop - Utility Coop for Licking County and some surrounding areas.
• Club Serenity - Newark, Ohio center for recovering addicts.
• Coshocton Chamber Of Commerce - Chamber Of Commerce in the neighboring county of Coshocton.
• Heath, Ohio Waterpark
• The Ancient Ohio Trail - Newark’s Indian Mounds are part of this ancient Indian trail system.
• Captain Woody’s Bar - Buckeye Lake bar.
• Phil’s Carpentry And Construction – Pataskala based contractor.
• Your PC Guy - Newark, Ohio Computer Repair.
• Licking County Board Of Developmental Disabilities

No checks have been made recently for deleted websites. In this economy, I’m afraid to look. Fortunately, sites added always far outnumber the sites that are no longer working. Let’s hope that trend does not change.

Anyone who has a business should take a look at Phil’s Carpentry And Construction. I know, it’s not the flashiest website ever, but it’s effective and it’s free, not to mention easy to do. I found him through Facebook. Here’s a business that is not “tech” centered at all and they are effectively marketing their business for free using Facebook and Blogger. The only part of this website that costs money is the domain name and possibly any help that was used for the setup. No ongoing fees, no contract, no strings. They can even transfer this to a better platform and it will retain it’s place in the search engines. This is a prime example of what any business can and should do. 1 job from these efforts is a huge return on their investment.

I found The Ancient Ohio Trail website during a visit to the Newark, Indian Mounds. There is so much new information being uncovered about the Indian heritage in Ohio that it’s much more interesting than I remember during field trips in school. Be sure to check the website out.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and from the huge number of visitors in search of information on the local fireworks, I’m glad that the event section of the website helped you find what you were looking for. I enjoy posting the events, so keep the submissions coming.

Related articles

• You: Mental health board welcomes members – The Newark Advocate (news.google.com)
• Merging localities seems unlikely (dispatch.com)

I have many of the popular events listed, but it’s tough to stay up-to-date with the poker runs and fundraisers that pop up frequently. I know volunteers put much time and effort into these and it can be costly and time consuming to advertise the events. I am getting frequent hits from searches for these events, so it’s worth your time to submit them here. Newark, Ohio Links is happy to help!

The only reason that the events page was started was out of aggravation with the local newspaper’s coverage. It’s discouraging to see that they have listed things like “$2 drink hours” as “events”. If you have a website with a better events listing than what is found here, feel free to send the link and it will be posted as well. Community garage sales for charity will be be accepted, as well as other charitable flea markets and sales, but non-charitable sales will not. Just about anything that is truly an “event” will be accepted.

Enjoy the links!

In the Newark, Ohio entertainment category -

• Iconic Tonic – a rock band featuring local musicians.
• Storybook Weddings And Balloons

In the Newark, Ohio Alumi category -

• Newark, Ohio High School Alumni

In the Newark, Ohio Restaurant category -

• Paco’s Tacos
• Dal Cielo’s

In the Newark, Ohio Motorcycle category -

• The Iron Pony – not in Newark, but the closest store of it’s type near us.

In the Newark, Ohio Plumbing And Heating category -

• Aqueduct Plumbing And Air

In the Wineries category -

• Flint Ridge Vineyard And Winery
• Stone Crest Vineyard

In  the Agriculture category -

• Walsh Tree Farm
• Skipping Stone Farm
• Spring Haven Horse Farm

Coming to Newark, Ohio’s Retail Stores Soon -

• Ollie’s Bargain Outlet
• Dick’s Sporting Goods

It’s no surprise that alcohol establishments like the wineries are gaining ground in tough times. I did find it interesting that farms are increasingly using websites. Farmer’s have been quick to adopt many advantages that the Internet gives them to support their business, but they’ve been slow to add their own websites. I’m glad to see the trend reversing. As for the new retail stores, we’re glad to see them come, but everyone wishes there were more profitable job ventures being created. We can hope that the owners of these store are optimistic about the economic outlook for the area. They could be a sign that the situation is finally changing.

Links for the site can be submitted here. I’m happy to add anything related to Newark, Ohio. I’m hesitant to add links that are not directly related to at least the Licking County, Ohio area, but I will if the there is no local comparable service available.

Related articles

• Newark mayor sees no conflict in sister’s at-cost work (dispatch.com)
• I got new excitment coming (birks.wordpress.com)

Numerous additions have been made to the agriculture section and to the lodging section. The number of area websites keeps increasing at a rapid rate. This is great! I’m glad to see people realizing the power of technology and utilizing it to enrich their lives for business and personal reasons.

I remember a time not to long ago when a person with a website was considered a geek. Nearly everyone has one now, at least in the form of a Facebook or Myspace page. Soon, I am going to be explaining the good and the bad of the websites I’m seeing listed. No, I’m not going to tell you about how dangerous it is to put personal info on a website. I’m going focus on some of the good and bad I’m seeing in the listings. Some topics will be:

• Who needs a website and why. (The answer is almost everyone.)
• Why high cost web design isn’t required anymore.
• How to get into the game with free and low cost websites.
• The type of design and information that should be used for your website.
• How to use any web communication to your benefit, even the average Joe.

There’s many things happening on the Internet that will effect our lives in Newark, Ohio and Newark, Ohio Links is a good way to stay current with the action.