Glacier National Park and the Flathead Valley Have a New Guide

KALISPELL, Mont. - June 22, 2013 - PRLog -- The Flathead Guide is the official Flathead Valley Business Directory, a mobile-friendly listing of local businesses, visitor attractions and information including major events optimized for all viewing platforms including smartphones.

The Flathead Valley is a popular tourist destination boasting two excellent ski resorts and world-class hunting, camping, hiking and lakes and rivers that draw fishermen from around the world. Millions of people travel to the Flathead year round to experience northwest Montana’s natural beauty and outdoor recreational activities. Recently, Glacier National Park was ranked as one of the top ten travel destinations of 2013. The Flathead Guide, launched in January of this year, serves as a Northwest Montana business directory and handy visitor guide.

The Flathead Guide aims to make this online resource a one-stop travel companion for visitors and local residents by providing information that is accessible from any smartphone, Tablet PC, desktop or laptop. Unlike an “App” that must be downloaded, the Flathead Guide requires nothing except a visit to the website and a bookmark for frequent access. Users can search the directory listings by name, category, products and city or keyword tags.

Google has made “Local Search” one of its top priorities and The Flathead Guide maximizes local search by offering only local results; unlike other sites such as Yelp or FourSquare, the guide is hyper-local to the Flathead Valley.

Companies having a listing can access their private control panel where they can edit their information at any time. They can add promotions or service specials at their convenience. A basic listing performs as a smartphone-friendly “mini website” with text descriptions, photos, videos, a slideshow, links to social sites, a Google map and all the functionality of a mobile app such as “Tap to Call”.

Tom Heatherington, owner of the Flathead Guide says, “Visitors to the Flathead Valley no longer drag their laptops with them as they now rely on their smartphones, which are becoming the primary Internet access device worldwide. People need to locate restaurants, hotels, auto repair and RV facilities, medical resources and virtually every imaginable product or service found in northwest Montana. Businesses want to connect with the people searching for them and the Flathead Guide helps brings everything together. Smartphones have become indispensable and capitalizing on this is the purpose of the Flathead Guide.

Heatherington says, “Our goal is to eventually list every business in northwest Montana and make this guide a valuable resource for all concerned; that is why the price to participate is so inexpensive. For only $4 per month, a company doesn’t need to divert advertising dollars in order to afford being listed.”

The Flathead Guide has an aggressive advertising campaign in place which includes online promotion using social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and other assets. Offline advertising includes radio ads, print publications and other media.

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About

Tom Heatherington, owner of the Flathead Guide, is a well-known Internet business author and online marketing consultant to small business. His books include the "SEO & Social Media Marketing Guide" and "The Complete Small Business Internet Guide" (published by Macmillan/QUE). Tom is the former President (co-founder) and COO of Opinioneering Corporation and President of Netcom Interactive. In 1993 Tom co-founded PICnet, one of the first ISPs in the USA. Tom worked 13 years for NEC America where he served the last five years as Vice President of Wireless Products Sales. Learn more at http://www.flatheadguide.com