Sometimes, a new website is not really a choice

When the Albion Chamber of Commerce could no longer make updates to their website, the choice was easy: Launch a new one!

Catchy Creations LLC was delighted to help! The Albion Chamber's website had been created on a platform provided by Yahoo for small businesses. Sometime in 2017, Verizon purchased Yahoo for $4.5 billion. When the transaction closed in the second half of 2021, Verizon not only moved all of the Yahoo-hosted websites to their own servers, they also announced that support for editing those sites would end on March 31, 2022.

Alas, the Chamber recognized it really had no choice but to start over. Our proposal was accepted in spring 2022 and a new site went live in late June. Our goals:

1. Establish design and messaging consistency.

2. Create an online presence that tells the Albion Chamber of Commerce story and encourages engagement.

3. Generate connections through online interactions to grow an email list of contacts.

4. Boost traffic and new customer visits through SEO and email marketing.

The tasks at hand included:

• Design a new logo and branding color palette

• Transferring existing content

• Editing and adding relevant new content, based on our discretion

• Creating a new member directory using dynamic data

• Providing a user interface for the chamber to add/edit blog posts

• Enhance user engagement overall with forms and other elements

• Enhance mobile user interface with updated features and elements

The old site

The "old" site was not responsive; viewing even on a large desktop screen revealed some very tiny type and small images with no options to enlarge. The site was not mobile friendly.

The existing member directory interface was limiting. Members appeared under categories, but searching for a member business by the name was not possible. Contacts for community resources such as government, schools, and churches were found in the member directory, even though many are not members.

These design limitations were based entirely on the lack of options provided by the simple Yahoo website building editor. Chamber leaders were excited to see the updates made possible by designing a new site using Wix.com, selected for its affordability and advanced features. The new site provides, in addition to an entirely new look and feel, many new features:

The responsive new site features a new logo and branding that pays homage to the Town of Albion's logo and downtown wayfinding signs, but offers a fresh and independent brand for the Albion Chamber. Animations and scroll features provide a fresh, interesting experience to users.

Using dynamic content, which can easily be updated by a volunteer, the member directory is sure to remain up to date and makes it easy for users to locate members, by name (All Members button) or by category (drop-down filter). Among new member services is the option to buy or renew memberships online, as well as update the information on their member profile page.

The dropdown menu allows the member to see what currently appears in the directory. If changes are needed, the button links to a submission form to provide updates. (Updates do not go live until the website administrator makes them.)

Brand new content to help those new to the community has also been developed, connecting with links out to several other local websites. Creating links back and forth between websites helps both sites gain a higher result in searches online. The ability for Catchy Creations LLC to provide editorial updates is made possible by living and working locally for over 50 years! Local companies and organizations place their trust in me over developers who lack any first-hand knowledge of our community.

What I was most excited about for the Chamber, as a result of this project, is the annual cost savings to be recognized by this local non-profit organization. Rather than paying $23.99 per month for hosting services, with no options to update content or design, out-of-pocket costs have been reduced to just $13 per month for a brand new, engaging website that can remain up to date and evolve with Wix.

I look forward to supporting the Chamber in the months and years ahead to help ensure they get the greatest results possible through their digital presence. It was a blast to complete this worthy project!

Albion Chamber of Commerce

Critical communications for Main Street program

I became involved in an incredible opportunity for the City of Kendallville through my work in local economic development in summer 2021. Following the development of a critical "pitch" presentation and helping to facilitate the production and showing of an accompanying video, my work expanded to include ongoing volunteer work to benefit Experience the Heart of Kendallville, that city's Main Street™ Affiliate organization.

The collaborations involved in making that pitch bore fruit when the City of Kendallville was awarded a $2M PreservINg Main Street grant and named a Pilot Community in the new funding initiative. One of the primary expectations laid out by grantmakers was a communications plan. Having recently donated a 5-page website development package, which was purchased by a key leader in the PreservINg Main Street project, we decided the best use of the free website launch would be a new Main Street website. The result is a new Wix website titled Experience the Heart of Kendallville with a URL of kendallvillemainstreet.com.

A key component of this project is the website's blog, which serves as a stakeholder communication tool. Stakeholders can easily subscribe to receive updates each time a new blog is posted so they stay "in the loop" as the grant program rolls out. This helps deliver easy access to grant guidelines, application for funding, a related resource library, and upcoming events and meetings.

As a big fan of the free calendars (that provide incredible customization options and functionality) offered by Brown Bear Software, I once again designed a companion calendar for this Main Street organization. I opt not to embed calendars, to maintain the integrity of built-in responsiveness, but do include a link from the website to the calendar, making it easy to find and accessible 24/7 from any internet connection. Brown Bear Software's calendars provide phenomenal options for users and administrators to subscribe and share updates, and self-manage their own interactions and entries. Additionally, a small fee removes all ads (which I highly recommend and opted to do on this project.)

Main Street Calendar

Kendallville Main Street website

Taking S.T.A.R. Team website to the next level

The Super Town of Albion Revitalization organization, better known as the Albion S.T.A.R. Team, has a mission I care about. It is, essentially, my home town's "Main Street" organization, led by a group of volunteers who work hard to make the downtown square a community meeting place and a thriving commercial center.

My interest was first peaked when my husband and I purchased a downtown building. We moved into the third floor apartment and opened an art gallery. My husband, a multi-faceted artist who primarily enjoys creating original oils on canvas, opened Noble Art Gallery on the first floor and maintained a studio on the second floor. As downtown business owners we took an interest in activities that might help bring more people through the gallery's doors.

Fast forward a few years, and although the gallery closed for reasons not solely related to lack of traffic, I found myself working exclusively in economic development at the Noble County Economic Development Corporation (EDC). My job as Marketing Director allows me to consistently look through a lens of "best practices" at how companies and organizations are using digital technology to enhance their efforts - or perhaps are not yet doing so.

When I reached out as a new volunteer to assist the S.T.A.R. Team, I did so noting the organization's website had not been updated for quite some time. I was learning more about what the mission is, who is involved, etc., and noticed the site did not reflect the progress the organization has made in our town. My offer to do some updating was met with an enthusiastic "yes" and, upon receiving the credentials, updating I did!

About a year passed when the organization's board president let me know the website editing platform on which the S.T.A.R. Team's site was built was about to go through a major overhaul and the domain name would be expiring soon. He noted this might be an ideal time to launch a new website - and I agreed!

The S.T.A.R. Team became my first paid client under my new company, Catchy Creations LLC. It could not be more fitting to have a small, non-profit group with admirable ambitions be the first chance I get as a small business owner to do good work and help transform the community I love!

Here is how the S.T.A.R. Team website looked in February.

BEFORE:

The new site went live in late March 2021.

AFTER:

The key design change to the Albion S.T.A.R. Team website was the choice to make the home page really highlight the beauty and opportunities available in town. Information pertaining to the organization itself were moved to other pages in order to make the website more appealing to the people S.T.A.R. Team hopes to engage.

In an effort to really increase the promotion of downtown businesses, an entirely new section was added to encourage site visitors to "Explore" Albion and to engage in doing business here:

The project came in at under $1,000 from start to finish, including a full year of website hosting services.