Local Funeral Home Expands Obituary Notification Efforts as Newspaper Readership Declines and Residents Become More Mobile

MAPLE RIDGE, BC, February 06, 2012 (Press-News.org) As the general trend of newspaper readership decreases nationwide and with society today becoming ever more mobile, the Garden Hill Funeral Services has taken it upon themselves to make sure that the public is informed as quickly as possible about upcoming funeral service times. http://www.GardenHill.ca

Funeral Director, Nathan Logue says, "Since less people are reading the local newspaper as they did in the past, and that people who grew up in Maple Ridge and have now moved away, it has made it difficult to inform the public about funeral times. That is why we have taken the responsibility to do so with the creation of our Obituary Notification System."
The Garden Hill Funeral Services has implemented five new systems to inform as many members of the Maple Ridge community as possible of upcoming funeral service information.

The http://www.GardenHill.ca website has been created to notify Google and the other search engines immediately once an obituary notice has been added to the website. This will allow people who are searching for the deceased's name to find the funeral service information quicker. In as little as fifteen minutes for the time the obituary has been added to the website, people can Google the deceased's name and find the obituary and funeral information.

The Obituary Email Notification Service allows members of the public to enter and confirm their email address and then will receive a daily email with any new obituary notices in the evening and if there are not any new obituaries, they will not receive any notifications.

The next two new Obituary Notification features are for users of Social Media. As soon as the obituary is added to website, a tweet is sent to the funeral home's Twitter account (@mapleridgeobits - http://twitter.com/mapleridgeobits) so that followers on Twitter can receive the obituary information. The same is true for Facebook as a link is automatically sent to the funeral home's Facebook page.

The last enhancements to our Obituary Notification System are the Share Obituary features. One of which is an email form which is similar to a "Tell A Friend" website form. This is where one reader of the online obituary can easily email it to a friend who may not be aware of the funeral. For those who connect via Social Media, each obituary has 'Share' buttons at the bottom so that the reader can share the information through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social channels.
"It is amazing how many members of the Maple Ridge community use these features. Most people come to our obituaries from a Google search and secondly through Facebook. We have also found that a lot of people who have moved away from Maple Ridge use one of the subscription services, such Email, Facebook or Twitter to stay connected to their home town - this applies to snowbirds as well." Added Logue.

Logue also noted that they have started to add the Memorial Tribute videos to the obituary through YouTube so that those who were not able to attend the service can still see the deceased's pictorial tribute. In the condolences left by visitors, many people reference the video tribute.

To see all of the features of Garden Hill Funeral Services's Obituary Notification System, visit http://www.GardenHill.ca/obituaries.

About Garden Hill Funeral Services
Since 1982, the family owned and operated Garden Hill Funeral Services, located in Maple Ridge, has been serving the residents of Maple Ridge with care, compassion and consideration. The Garden Hill Funeral Services are recognized in the funeral profession as leaders in technology and online services.

Tim and Peggy Logue, active and respected members in the community and funeral service profession,along with their three sons Nathan , Nolan and Nick are in control of the day to day operations at Garden Hill Funeral Services. In 2004 a major renovation was completed to upgrade their facilities to serve the community and its families into the next generation. Nathan and his two brother's we born and raised in Maple Ridge and continually strive to provide the highest quality of care and professionalism set forth by their parents.

Contact Information:
Nathan Logue
Garden Hill Funeral Services
nathan@gardenhill.ca
(604) 463-8161