Bigfork Chamber launches website redesign
The Bigfork Area Chamber of Commerce
went live with an overhaul of its website Tuesday as the next step
in its effort to brand Bigfork.
The website redesign has been part of a
larger branding effort that began in January 2010 with the
formation of a marketing committee. It is meant to integrate the
efforts from the past year as well as create a better presence for
the community online.
Other phases of branding, including a
new slogan for the Village, “Where Flathead Lake begins,” and a
logo that incorporates it, were completed in 2010.
“We had two goals for the redesign —
give a fresh face for Bigfork that would correlate with the new
logo, tagline and branding, and also improve services offered to
chamber members,” said Mike Callaghan, president of Bigfork Web
Development, which worked on recreating the site.
Since the chamber’s website, still
located at the url www.bigfork.org, is the first that comes up in a
Google search for “Bigfork,” it was hoped that the site could be
transformed into a destination location for all things to do with
the Village.
“It’s part of a progression from the
Bigfork Chamber website to the Bigfork website — to promote Bigfork
for the benefit of members and nonmembers alike,” said Bruce
Solberg, the chamber’s executive director.
Part of the process in redesigning the
site was taking a closer look at how the prior website was
used.
“By far the most popular offering was
the photo gallery,” Callaghan said. “It told us that visuals of
Bigfork are important. It influenced the graphic designers to use a
lot of photos and visuals.”
As a result, one of the biggest changes
with the new website is its use of photos as well as videos.
The home page now has direct links to
photo galleries and video which can be viewed on that page.
The video work, compiled over the last
year, covers all the bases of Bigfork.
“We really went all out with this
video,” Solberg said.
All the member services still exist,
including a member login to update directories as well as post
events and job listings.
As members continue to add information
following the launch of the redesign, it’s hoped that the site will
develop to be a key web presence for Bigfork.
“When people need to know what’s going
on in Bigfork, that’s the place to go,” Callaghan said.
In addition to the website, the chamber
will also be integrating social media, starting with creating a
Facebook page.
“We’re doing all of this with the goal
to make Bigfork known as a year-round community at the local,
regional and national level,” Solberg said. “We’re strategizing how
to reach each of these to bring more people to Bigfork throughout
the year.”