Frequently Asked Questions

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About Keep it Local

You must be logged in. Choose ‘Manage Listing’ under either ‘Business Listings’ or ‘Events’. This applies to all who are registered with KeepItLocalCC. You can tell you’re logged in if your business or registered name appears: ‘Name|Logout’. If you don’t know your password, please click on ‘Forgot Password’. Enter the email you used to register your account with KeepItLocalCC. A new password will be sent to your email. Use this password to enter into your profile or type in the password you wish you use. Then follow instructions to add or modify your complete business profile or event on our Local Listing website.

Good news, the answer is no! You can add your business or event to our directory for free. For businesses, our only requirement is that your business is locally owned here in Columbia County, Oregon. For events, your event must be hosted in Columbia County to be posted; or if it's an online event, for Columbia County's citizens. All listings are approved before publishing on our local listing website . 

If you are interested in having your business listing rise to the top of the directory, above the competition, this service is at charge. See our bundles here to learn more (starting at $25/mo). 

Your listing(s) can been seen in various ways:

  1. When people explore the directory, your listing(s) will show up in searches that are relevant to your listing. For instance, if you are a baker in Rainier, your business listing would show up in the "taste" menu, in searches that look for "bakery," and in Rainier's business list.
  2. Your listing also feeds into search engines outside of the website. For instance, if someone looks up your name or event on Google, your listing will be a search result. Even if you already have a website, the more your business has listings in various places, the more likely you'll rise above the competition. 
  3. We will be actively pointing the community to our website through storefront stickers, seasonal events, and social media. This drives traffic to the site, which further helps people discover you. 

We are a small business marketing nonprofit that bolsters Columbia County’s economy by persuading residents and visitors to shop, taste, play, and buy locally. You can learn more about us and our story here

BUSINESS POSTS

Most posts are made by our team through random selection of recent news. Businesses can reach out to have their news shared. However, in most cases, we offer just 2 free posts a year per business, in fairness to other businesses. If you would like to guarantee we will share your business on our popular platforms (and get more posts), purchasing our business bundle ($500/yr) or sponsorship bundle ($1500/yr) will allow us to prioritize your requests AND we will schedule posts in our annual calendar to promote your business (in addition to these bundle's other benefits). 

NONPROFIT POSTS

Because of program's goal is to boost local commerce and businesses, our feed is focused on these kinds of posts. We are able to share your news for free so long as it's connected to boosting local commerce. For instance, if you partner with a local business or chamber on on an event.

SHARING EVENTS

Please add your event to our events directory. We use this directory to aggregate local events in our weekly social media events post. 

Our program is largely made possible by the Columbia Economic Team. Other operational costs are covered by our sponsor's support and by businesses engaging our business bundles/ seasonal programs. We also occasionally receive grants to develop specific programs. Because of this model, we are able to be assessable to all Columbia County's business, offering free services or opt-in fee-for-services programs that meet specific business needs (rather than a one-size-fits-all approach).

Learn more about the importance of our work here. Click here to learn more about our business promotional offerings and here to learn about becoming a sponsor.

We would like to give a special shout to these organizations who have helped lift up our program into what it is today.

  • Thank you to the Ford Family Foundation for granting us the grant that started our program in 2015
  • Thank you to Business Oregon, the Samuel S Johnson Foundation, & the Columbia River PUD for awarding us grants to be able to launch the new version of this directory and host our 2022 & 2023 marketing for Success Series
  • Thank you to all our volunteers over the years who have donated their time to support our program

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