I think if we should start sending some press releases about our website to Pressc Information Bureau (PIB) of India or some other newspaper reporters such as Times of India, Indian Express and other local newspapers in different states of India, this will help us to start getting new members fast and the information available on this website could be shared by millions aspiring to immigrate to Canada. This will also help Canadian Desi website to mobilize some advertisement revenues, if need be. I am sure the local newspapers of India would like to insert our press releases and will benefit from the information available on our website.
So guys, what do you think?

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Sunil Sharma, P.Eng.

think thats a good idea. Maybe we can put together testimonials from a few people in Canada and India on how the site has contributed to providing them with information, contacts, oppotunities etc. These can then be used to court the press both in India and Canada.

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Sunil,

This is good idea. If you have any background dealing with media, I think you can lead this efforts.

Should we ask people to give their testimonials here so that we can compile and send it to various news agencies.

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A Proud Indian Canadian

Maybe we can have a new thread called Testimonials, and people who have already benefited from the site can post their testimonials on how the site has helped them personally?

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I don't think we need to be concerned about the testimonials, it shoud be a word of mouth! Is there anyway we can trace the number of hits on our website daily? that would be a better way to judge the popularity of the website.
Also, we do not expect to advertise anything from our end, rather, our intention is to make the people in India, well informed about the atmosphere here.
sorry, i do not have any background of dealing with media. however there is no harm in sending few emails to all the leading newspaper and magazines.

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Sunil Sharma, P.Eng.

If its word of mouth then we do not have to do anything....why do we need the press in that case?

If you are planning to approach the media then testimonials will help get their attention. Not needed but will help. e.g: how many newspaper reports have you read where people dont give their testimonials. The media always likes a good story. Just an article saying cdesi.com...for new immigrants...will not get us as far as people telling how the site has helped them in their lives. A nice press package goes a long way. It can include credible/validated testimonials(brief), webstats, # of members, activities, interviews and quotes from Masood and GG too.

There are other initiatives than the one you mentioned Sunil that we are trying to put together , as we discussed at the meeting. For those purposes courting the press will help for sure. The more organised the bigger the splash.

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All the web statistic is available as a webmaster to me.

Jake, yes we should have a story where somebody used CanadianDesi for their successful job search or something related than it would be a good article for media.

Let us work on it - but we need somebody to comeup with a story. In the first meeting we had few newly landed immigrants. They might contribute.

Another way is to compile all the stories in the "Articles" section and write a comprehensive report on immigrants perspective about Canada.

That would be of interest to many newspapers.

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A Proud Indian Canadian