AMBIT News

Edition 1

July 2009

What's New

The Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. (AMEP) is excited to announce the first edition of the AMBIT News. AMBIT News is produced to provide you, the Alaskan entrepreneur, with information about tools and resoruces to help you market and grow your business. Each section provides information that we hope you will find useful in running your business.

The Meet the Staff section will introduce you to the people who work for the program. Each week the How To... section will feature a refresher on how to make changes to your web page. The Tip of the Week will focus on ways to market your business.The Term of the Week section will explain a word or idea relevant to conducting and marketing business online.

We hope that AMBIT News will become a valuable resource for your business. We appreciate your feedback.

-The AMBIT Team

Meet the Staff

AMBIT trainer Amanda Myers works with Monte Handy of Handy Rods, LLC

Amanda began her career with AMEP in October 2007. Born in Texas and raised in a military family, Amanda has lived in many parts of the country.

Among the states she has lived in, she calls Alaska and Nebraska home, having spent 18 years between the two. She is part Vietnamese, German and 1/32 Blackfoot Cherokee.

Amanda is the designated AMEP Alaska Business Industry and Technology (AMBIT) Program trainer. As AMBIT trainer, she walks clients through the process of setting up their pages on the Alaska Business Portal. She provides ongoing assistance to clients, answering their questions and recommending page improvements. She has a natural talent for marketing and design and is currently pursuing a degree in marketing at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

We Want to Hear From You

Term of the Week

AMBIT staff regularly gathers feedback from clients to improve services. We would love to hear from you about what type of impacts our services are having on your business and your community. Please call us at (907) 279.2637 with any comments or questions you have about the AMBIT program.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization means that your website is designed for improving its search engine ranking and the likelihood that it will be viewed.

Tip of the Week

How can you attract more customers to your Alaska Business Portal page? One simple step you can take is to step into the shoes of your customers. What language or product photos do you like to see when deciding whether or not to purchase a product?

Have friends and family look at your page and be open to their opinions.

If you were considering a similar product to the one you are selling, what features would you want to know more about or want to see in a photograph? Answering these questions can really help you to figure out the best way to present your products and services in a way that will be appealing to potential customers.

Remember, keep your pages as accurate and up to date as possible. Small businesses especially benefit from a reputation for integrity and quality. Some of the best advertising you receive may be word of mouth.

How To...

Let's say you wanted to highlight a new item on your page to make it more noticeable to customers. One way to do this is to move the item up on your page so that it is one of the first things anyone viewing your page sees. You can do this using the item's inventory number.

Inventory numbers can be used to change the order in which products are displayed on your Alaska Business Portal page. Items with lower numbers appear higher on the page. Here is how to change the inventory number to move an item up on the page:

1. Log in to your AMBIT account.
2. Click on the My Ads Tab
3. Click on My Items for Sale
4. Click on the Item you would like to highlight
5. Change the Item Number so that it is lower than any other item number on the page. Click Save.

AMBIT is an affiliate of the Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. (AMEP). AMEP is one of 59 centers located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. each center was created by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) to help stem the loss of American manufacturing jobs. Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

A public and private partnership funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, The Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. is committed to developing the state's economy through the provision of technical, business and economic training and assistance to Alaska's small manufacturers and to rural Alaskans producing, marketing, and distributing Native art and other home-based manufactured products.

Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership

701 Sesame Street, Suite 200

Anchorage, AK 99503