ONDERDONK TROLLEY POLE, Ridgewood

Forgotten New York -

Outside the circa 1710 Onderdonk House on Flushing and Onderdonk Avenues , the seat of the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society (which is recommended for a visit) amid glass wholesalers, auto body shops, and collision repair places, is an old relic utterly unrelated to the old Dutch farmhouse. It’s a trolley pole that formerly supported overhead [...]

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MERCER STREET, SoHo

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During December I was lollygagging aimlessly around lower Manhattan, seeking out oddities where I could find them, and toward the end of my walk I turned up Mercer Street toward Houston, which would eventually get me to the #1 train on Varick. I enjoy walking in SoHo, because of its historic cast-iron front architecture built [...]

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STATE STREET LAMP, Financial District

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A group of these nonstandard lampposts once stood outside #17 State Street at Pearl Street, which is the immediately recognizable 42-story building with the curved glass facade in lower Manhattan — a dramatic sight when approaching from the ferry. The building, designed by the firm Emery Roth & Sons, was completed in 1989 and replaced [...]

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PORT AUTHORITY MOSAIC, 14th Street station

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Just outside the turnstiles in the concourse of the 14th Street station on the IND 8th Avenue line (A, C, E trains) there’s a handsomely lettered sign in the black and gold signage that marks the rest of the station, with the addition of a red arrow. It points to the Port Authority Building (111 [...]

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ARROCHAR TO MIDLAND BEACH, Part 2

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Continued from Part 1 When I left off last week, I had just entered Midland Beach, which is only partially developed as the ground is quite marshy and punctuated by the meandering New Creek. I had just traversed Slater Boulevard, which crosses the marshlands, and found a row of ancient bungalows paralleling Father Capodanno Boulevard [...]

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HADLEY HOUSE, Riverdale

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The Hadley House, on Post Road between West 251st and West 252nd Street, isn’t mentioned in most of the guidebooks, but it’s centuries old and plays a part in Bronx history. Brothers George and William Hadley built the center section of this 2-story colonial on Post Road just north of West 251st Street in the [...]

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EMMA LAZARUS SCHOOL, East Flatbush

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PS 268, on East 53rd Street between Clarkson Avenue and Winthrop Street, bears an image of the Statue of Liberty on its front door, quite fitting because its namesake poet’s most famous work has been inscribed on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Harbor Lady since 1902. Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) was not an [...]

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HAMBURG AVENUE, Bushwick

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A remaining street sign for Hamburg Avenue remains chiseled into a building at Harman Street in Bushwick, close to the Myrtle Avenue el. Bushwick in northeast Brooklyn used to be heavily German, and was home for breweries such as Schaefer and Rheingold as well as mansions owned by the brewmasters. Some of the mansions and [...]

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MARITIME MURALS, Fulton Center

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I haven’t got a handle yet on the new Fulton Center, the new glass and metal stationhouse, due to be populated with stores and other amenities, that opened in the fall of 2014 at Broadway and Fulton Streets. The work on the station took approximately ten years, much longer than construction like this should, and [...]

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ISLE OF THE SQUAB, Woodside

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You could always count on Henry Stern, commissioner of the NYC Parks Department off an on for several years, most recently during the Giuliani administration, for whimsical names given to otherwise nondescript public areas. This traffic triangle at 37th Avenue, 69th Street and Broadway at the BQE in Woodside was given the alternate name for [...]

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FATHER DRUMGOOLE and the Korean War Veterans Parkway, Staten Island

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A busy, though unfinished, parkway runs through southwest Staten Island, connecting the junction of Richmond Avenue and Arthurkill Road with the Outerbridge Crossing, built in the 1920s as a connection to Elizabeth, New Jersey. The road has been in existence since 1941 and, for part of its history was one of two major roads named [...]

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RAILROAD SIGNAL, Richmond Hill

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When traveling the rails you will occasionally see signal stanchions like this one, with lights arranged on a circular metal background. These railroad signals were developed by the Pennsylvania railroad in 1918, and with modifications, it’s still used by Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and other lines (the LIRR was owned by the “Pennsy” for [...]

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How Dentists Can Embrace the Digital Age: Key Benefits and Elements

The digital age has had a profound effect on businesses of all kinds. This includes service providers such as dentists, who may not always think of themselves as good candidates for a website. The fact is, if you want to be competitive in today’s marketplace, you need a strong digital presence.

This means not only having a website, but having one that is able to reach as much of your target audience as possible. We will first explore some of the main reasons why you need a website. We will then talk about some of the features your website needs in order to get the maximum benefits from it.

Your Patients Are Online

The simple truth is that your patients and potential patients are online, so you should be as well. Not long ago, there was a firm division between online and offline businesses. This is no longer the case. Even though you are operating from a physical office, you can be sure that many people who are seeking a dentist are searching online. We are no longer living in the age when people used the yellow pages to look up local businesses. Now they search online, either on a computer, tablet or mobile phone and type their request into a search engine. That’s why you want to be positioned so that people will see your business listed when they do a search for dentists in your area!

Why Your Website Must Use Responsive Design

More and more internet users are accessing the web via smart phone and tablet. In other words, they are no longer relying on desktop and laptop computers to browse the internet. In fact, if current trends continue, more people will soon be using phones than computers to access the internet. This has some important consequences for businesses who want to reach their client base.

Many traditional websites look fine when viewed on a computer screen, but distorted on smaller screens. In order to reach the widest audience, you need what is known as responsive web design. This means that your website can be viewed equally well no matter what kind of screen the visitor is using.

When you plan the design of your website, then, make sure that it’s responsive. Benefits of building a responsive website design.

Do You Need a Bilingual Website?

In many areas within the United States, the population speaks languages other than English. Spanish is especially prevalent in many metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Dallas, New York City and Miami. Check Hispanic Population in select US metropolitan areas. If many of your patients are Spanish-speaking, this means that you could be missing out if you only have a website in English. Fortunately, it’s not hard to set up a version of your website in another language. This involves a little more work, but it’s worth it if it means reaching a wider audience. Pages can be translated using various software programs, or by hiring someone like Hispanic Market Advisors who can do the translation for you (this is more preferred).

Having a website is a way for you to stay in touch with your existing patients and to attract lots of new ones. In the digital age, it’s very likely that someone seeking a dentist will be searching online. You want to be sure that your dental practice is visible in the search engines!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sebastian Aroca is an entrepreneur and a customer centric Hispanic SEO/SEM professional. He co-founded Hispanic Market Advisors and has over 15 years of professional experience managing search marketing programs and client acquisition strategies geared towards connecting innovative brands and professionals with U.S. Hispanic and Latin American & Caribbean markets. Sebastian can be contacted at Sebastian@HispanicMarketAdvisors.com

The post How Dentists Can Embrace the Digital Age: Key Benefits and Elements appeared first on HDA Service, Leadership and Advocacy for Hispanic Oral Health.

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Top Ten Tips to Increase Your Digital Footprint

It is difficult to believe that only ten years ago many organizations and professionals didn’t have a single website and often struggled to create them. While some businesses still lack a website, we cannot ignore the environment we are in. Not only is it a standard but a necessity to have web presence y in web presence where

In today’s world, digital presence is not an option. The new standard is multiple websites: main site, microsites, social sites, etc. Here are five of the top ten tips to increase your digital footprint (the next five will be shared in the next issue):

1 – BUILD A WEBSITE IF YOU DON’T HAVE ONE YET

Having a professional website that has an attractive look and feel is vital, especially if your profession requires a positive first impression.

Your website needs to have several elements: a local number or a toll-free number, and contact forms, and a combination of text, visuals and videos. Your site has to also offer easy navigation (user friendly) and it has to be also optimized for the search engines (SEO friendly). Also, if your practice is located in a city or metropolitan area with high concentration of Hispanics, it’s best practice to having a bilingual site, as Hispanic Internet users like to toggle between English and Spanish. Having a bilingual site increases your chances of being found by the entire spectrum of the Latino audience, regardless of the language preference. Hispanic Market Advisors can help with this website development or translation process –http://hmas.in/web-for-dentists.

Why is your main site so essential?

• Your website is like your Home - You need to have one in order before inviting your Guests (clients).


• Your website is like your digital brochure - You can email pages, including before and after pictures, to potential clients for them to read more about your practice.


• Your website is like an extension of your team - It works for you and your team when you are all sleeping, but you have to build it for visitors to come by.

2 –TRACK YOUR IN-SITE STATISTICS

Let’s say you now have a website. Do you know how many people are visiting you online? From where? Do they speak English or Spanish? All these questions can be tracked with the many tools available in the web analytics market. At Hispanic Market Advisors we recommend Google Analytics because it’s free and it provides enough data to keep you busy. Now, the information tracked by Google Analytics can be so detailed and vast that you can end up spending hours comparing and analyzing your website stats but you don’t have to go too deep into the numbers. You can leave that to the marketing professionals or digital marketing agencies (more often than not, a combination of both) to help you with these website tracking efforts.

3 – BUILD A DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

Once you have your main site up and running, don’t stop there. You can build the rest of the web properties around your main website. You may need extra help from a digital marketing agency at this point. Together with your in-house staff, your marketing agency can help you design a marketing strategy and execute it to boost your lead generation funnel, and optimize your conversion rates (more leads becoming clients).

All web properties combined will become your digital ecosystem. But what is a digital ecosystem? It is a set of relationships. A digital ecosystem visually clarifies how your mix of digital channels works together relative to your consumer’s journey.

Although each web platform (website, Facebook fan page, Twitter, YouTube channel, etc) will have a unique identity, they will all complement each other and will share a common objective which is build your brand, cultivate relationships, and ultimately generate leads or patients.

Think of the digital ecosystem as an orchestra with a shared goal, and all the web platforms are the various musical instruments that make part of the melody.

4 – SET UP LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORIES

Did you know your local business information can be found in dozens of online business directories such as Yelp? You can improve your digital footprint by claiming the listings and making them appealing, professional and inviting to potential customers and prospects. Claim your business directories; it will help driving traffic to your main site as well.

5 – CREATE BUSINESS PROFILES AND BECOME A BLOG CONTRIBUTOR

Simply put: Get your name out there! If you’d like greater visibility of your professional services and dental services you offer, you can take it a step further by creating business profiles in theme-related websites such as Odontologia-us.com. Sample: http://hmas.in/sample-profile

The perfect opportunity for any HDA-member dentist residing in the United States is now as you are eligible to submit up to two blog posts per month and to be featured at http://ift.tt/1yDrFt1. How to contribute: http://hmas.in/contribute-blog

Take advantage of this opportunity and reach people who may have otherwise never been able to find you!

What did you think of these tips? Post a comment (good or bad) and if you liked it, please tweet or email about it, and feel free to propose a topic for future posts!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sebastian Aroca is an entrepreneur and a customer centric Hispanic SEO/SEM professional. He co-founded Hispanic Market Advisors and has over 15 years of professional experience managing search marketing programs and client acquisition strategies geared towards connecting innovative brands and professionals with U.S. Hispanic and Latin American & Caribbean markets. Sebastian can be contacted at Sebastian@HispanicMarketAdvisors.com

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MYRTLE AVENUE – GOLD STREET STATION, Downtown Brooklyn

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When the 4th Avenue BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit) subway line, constructed in 1915 and extended over the Manhattan Bridge a couple of years later was competed, the Manhattan-Bridge-bound route included a station at Myrtle Avenue between 1919 and 1956. The short version of what happened to it is that the DeKalb Avenue interlocking was extended in [...]

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Hispanic Dental Association Announces Relocation of National Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: David Pena

512-904-0252

dpena@hdassoc.org

News Release

WASHINGTON, DC January 1, 2015 – The Hispanic Dental Association announces the relocation and opening of its National Headquarters in Austin, Texas.

“The relocation of our office is a strategic decision based on geography, the growth of the Hispanic Community and a greater emphasis on service at the grassroots level,” noted David Pena, Jr, Executive Director, Hispanic Dental Association.

NATIONAL OFFICE

3910 S. IH-35., Suite # 245

Austin, Texas 78704

512-904-0252

About the Hispanic Dental Association (HDA) @HDAssoc

The Hispanic Dental Association is a national, non-profit organization comprised of oral health professionals and students dedicated to eliminating oral health disparities in the Hispanic community by providing Service, Education, Advocacy, and Leadership. We are the leaders for Hispanic oral health providing Service, Education, Advocacy, and Leadership.

Download PDF version

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BROADWAY SIGN, Bedford-Stuyvesant

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If I didn’t tell you where this sign is located, your natural assumption would be Manhattan, whose Broadway runs from the Battery to the Harlem River and beyond. Actually, I shot this out the window of the J train at the Myrtle Avenue station, which is on a center platform and thus allows you to [...]

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NEW LOTS AVENUE STATION, East New York

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The New Lots Avenue station is the eastern end of the line for #3 and #4 IRT trains. This view, from NYC Subways’ 1980s collection, shows a pair of graffitied rolling stock idling in the station waiting for their citybound run to begin. Note that in the 1980s there were still a good number of [...]

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CHAMBERS STREET BMT STATION, City Hall

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I first visited the Chambers Street BMT station, which serves J and Z trains during the week and is the southern terminal for the J train on weekends, for Forgotten New York in 2003. I remember I also used the station on the exhilarating day I appeared on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC radio show, them produced [...]

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TYPE G CORVINGTON, Riverdale

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I’m happy to say I “discovered” this remaining Type G Corvington post, one of the lettered series of NYC lampposts in the early 20th Century, as early as the mid 1980s on my pre-Forgotten New York scouting missions, at Mosholu Avenue and Post Road in Riverdale, Bronx. I was preparing for Forgotten NY then, but [...]

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WEST 18th STREET CROOK, 1981

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photo: Bob Mulero What do I remember about my 6-month stint in 1981 at Lexigraphics, a textbook company at 150 5th Avenue, my first full time job out of school? Well, it was preternaturally quiet over there. The boss was a bit of a taskmaster, but the owner, Irv Roberts, was a kindly sort — [...]

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CURZON ROAD, Kew Gardens

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I first became aware of Kew Gardens’ winding streets when I was on jury duty — the year must have been in the late 1990s. You can be called to three different courthouses in Queens, and this time I was assigned to the Queens County Courthouse on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens. As is my [...]

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WHERE AM I?

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Where I am, it sounds like Texas. 1/11/15

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BEAVER STREET, Financial District

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One of Manhattan’s oldest streets was named very early on, in the 1660s, and commemorates the paddle-tailed, dam-building, aquatic rodent whose pelts made up the chief avenue of commerce between Dutch settlers and the already established Native Americans during New Amsterdam’s earliest days from the 1620s through the 1650s, after which sales of beaver pelts [...]

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FORGOTTEN QUEENS AT NEIR’S TAVERN

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Take a ForgottenTour Indoors® at Neir’s Tavern, one of Queens’ oldest watering holes (it opened in 1829, making it slightly older than me), when I will be showing off some photos from one of the hottest-selling Arcadia Books titles of 2014, Forgotten Queens, which I co-wrote with the Greater Astoria Historical Society. I’ll also have [...]

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WASH ‘N DRY, Gowanus

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Here’s a classic plastic-letter storefront sign at a launderette at 4th Avenue and Bergen Street in Gowanus, just south of the classic Williamsburg Bank Tower, or One Hanson as it’s called these days, King of All Brooklyn Buildings. I’ll be presenting a complete set of images of classic storefront signs like this on Monday, February [...]

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NYC TRANSIT AUTHORITY LOGO

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Various logos and graphic representations have been used for NYC transit companies over the years, but the handsomest has been the interlocking “TA” used by the New York City Transit Authority in the unofficial NYC colors of orange and blue, slanted forward to give the impression of traveling at speed. The NYC Transit Authority was [...]

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R-40 SUBWAY CARS

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On my last visit to the NYC Transit Museum (where I have been a member for over a decade) I noticed that a pair of R-40 subway cars, #4280 and #4281, had been trotted out. These were very futuristic-looking when they originally hit the tracks on BMT and IND lines in 1968-1969, even more so [...]

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MANHATTAN BRIDGE LAMP 1955

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What a treat it was for the young webmaster in the Swinging Sixties, when a parent or parents and I would board an express train from Bay Ridge to travel into Manhattan. Of course, on our weekly bus rides to one Brooklyn outpost or the other, I’d carry my pencil, flashlight bulb and plastic Carvel [...]

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DIVISION and CANAL, Lower East Side

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Division Street is one of Manhattan’s most unremarked-on thoroughfares. It hasn’t gotten much respect over the centuries and decades, either — it’s been reduced to less than half of its original length, first by placing a public park smack in its path, and the rest was later taken out by a massive housing project. In [...]

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CANAL STREET TWIN

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This classic Twinlamp with its unusual German helmet spike finial and extra ornamentation at the joints holding the Bell luminaires once stood in the traffic triangle at Canal and West Streets until it was torn down in the 1980s. Behind it is a trestle that carried the Miller (West Side) Highway over Canal Street. A [...]

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GREENPOINT 2014, Part 3

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I have visited Greenpoint a great deal for FNY pages, and have conducted two FNY tours in the Garden Spot of Brooklyn over 15 years. My last major survey, though, happened in 2005, almost 10 years ago! There have been plenty of other pages devoted to Eckford, Milton and Noble Streets and the shop signage [...]

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SOUTH FERRY STATION REPRIEVE

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The South Ferry station at the tip of Manhattan is a very complex operation that now comprises no less than four separate platforms that serve, or served, the IRT 7th Avenue Line (#1) and the IRT Lexington Avenue line (#4, 5). There are inner and outer loops that direct trains to each line; platforms that [...]

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