I checked out the NM Kids magazine that just came out, and for the first time in something like a year, we weren't listed in the calendar. I guess I might have missed the deadline to get the calendar entry in this time. I'm sad, because we get a lot of new people joining every time a new issue comes out.

On the other hand, this presents a new opportunity to figure out other ways to publicize this message board and our homeschooling co-op. What are some good ways to get the word out to the Albuquerque Homeschooling community that we exist?

flyers in places taht kids go, gymnasics,  etc where parents sit and wait...

You know I looked and looked and didn't see us either but I just figured I just wasn't seeing it.  On one hand I'm glad to know that I'm not THAT blind!  But, I'm sad it isn't in their either.  I will have to say though, people are still finding out about us if they try to find a homeschool group.  I think that Elizabeth's website for the co-op is the reason for that.  It is informative and attractive and that makes for interest.

I'm ok with just doing the NM Kids and having the website.  It seems like we are still getting new interest so I would have to say I am happy with the "publicity" that we have already.

Thank you Elizabeth!  

Amy  

I'll send the address to the other 3 groups that we're involved with, that will get it to a few more people.

I'm just curious, is there something wrong, we can always get it in the next issue of New Mexico Kids right?

It's up to NM Kids whether they want to include us or not. Sometimes they remove things due to "space considerations". So we may or may not be in the next one.

I'm not even sure if we get very many people finding out about us through the internet directly (like from links or searching for an Albuquerque homeschool group). Maybe there are more people looking that way than I thought. If so, it might also work to try to get more links to our web site from other homeschooling sites. Even register our own name, like abqcoop.com or something like that. I can look into that, someday.

Word of mouth as we get bigger is also helping...

I can't remember how I found out about the group but I do know it was either NM Kids or just by doing website research.  If it will help I can start asking people that email me for information how they found out about us.  What does everyone think about that?  Good or bad idea?


Amy  

I found out about this group through another site.  It was the site that has the listings for Homeschool groups and info for this area.  I can't remember the name of it right now.  Rio Grande Homeschool something maybe?

The newspaper occasionally has an insert that has a listing of local support groups.  I know that the Albuquerque Mother of Twins is listed there among others.  Maybe we could see about getting listed with those?

Jess

I found your site by typing in "Homeschool Albuquerque" in the Google search engine...Pediatrician/Dentist offices would be a good place to put some flyers.

-Denise

I too found this site through a google search....Albuquerque+Homeschool.  I don't remember what link brought me to this one though.  I would venture to guess that plenty of the membership came through internet links.  It was through this co-op that I learned what a great resource NM Kids can be.
-Kari

I found this co-op through the Rio Grande Homeschooling Network.
Angelica

I just checked the Rio Grande Homeschooling Network's site and they are shutting down due to a lack of volunteers.  That's sad, because I used to visit it to see what was going on.

Well, if they are shutting down and that is where a lot of us got the link for the co-op what can we do to preserve our "search status" when someone trys to find a homeschool group in this area?  I don't know anything about links so I am totally in the dark.  Any ideas link guru Elizabeth?  

If our link on rghomeschooling.org goes away, there isn't much we can do about it, unless we wanted to "buy" rghomeschooling.org if it's for sale, but I don't particularly want to do that. I agree that it's sad that it won't be around anymore, it has been a great resource. I'll contact Chris and find out if she wants me to preserve any of the info currently on that web site on our web site.

If searching and following links are a major way people have found our web site in the past, then the thing to do is to make sure that all the homeschooling sites out there that publish links to NM organizations have our web site and description. It wouldn't be hard for me to track down those sites and email them with our info. I had planned to do it anyway, but was going to delay until I could buy a domain name for us, since I don't particularly want to host us under my company (Ixacta, Inc.) site forever. I'll just look into doing that sooner rather than later. It shouldn't be too hard to do.

Thanks everyone for saying where you found the site, because up until now I was assuming everyone had heard about it through NM Kids.