Websites for small towns make sense
Why NOT a 40 hour week for N’hood Houses?
September 24, 2006An ‘overnight Plug-In Hybrid’ vision
September 26, 2006They win newcomers & visitors by providing friendly community info
Why would a newcomer choose Wee Waa over Walgett (NSW) as a home base? Because www.weewaa.com answers a heap of ‘need to know’ questions and gives a nice, welcoming ‘feel’ with its photos and business/community info.
Kate Schwager, Home-Based Businessowner of the Rural Small Towns Web Package and 2006 RIRDC (NSW) Award Winner, told PWF this story and it makes good sense.
A website – run as a business so it’s kept up-to-date and not left to committees that come and go – can provide enough info to promote a town as:
- a place to visit;
- a place to live and work;
- a change of scenery or a move to the slower pace.
Kate has found that a cooperative website is a great place for all the businesses in the town to advertise for a small fee all year. She says most small towns have a lot of ‘behind the scenes businesses’ where they do not have a shop front. What better way to advertise than in a local online directory?
Kate now has 7 towns who have taken up her Rural Small Towns Web Package, with a few more in the pipeline. She is passionate about spreading the idea and has registered ‘Southern Cross Communities’ which she sees as a central website linking all the participating towns – with live links to individual town sites and the capacity for a technical Q & A support system for members.
How do you go about setting up a small town website?
Kate’s package is an easy to use, cost-effective web template that is very similar to Word to use – ie it is NOT highly technical!
Moree is building its website now and it’s taken about 4 weeks to get the right ‘look’. Now they have to gather all their info and possibly start selling advertising.
St George set up their site without first gathering ads and found that on the night of the launch, businesses were so impressed they placed advertising orders there and then.
Price range for advertisements
- $60-$80 per half page pa
- $120-$150 per full page or Banner ad pa
As Kate says this is not a lot for a business over one year.
The basic Rural Towns Package package consists of:
- Software licence for http suite content management package;
- Initial layout of website;
- Assistance with insertion of initial content;
- Detailed end user manual for the content management system;
- Assistance free for the first 3 months, then there is an hourly support charge.
The cost of the website package?
- A one-off fee of $2,640 (AUD) which includes a $400 (AUD) licence and hosting fee for one year;
- Ongoing support costs $40 per hour.
There is also a Business Module available @ $500 which includes Search Engine Submission and Marketing Support.
For more info, contact Kate:
T/F: 02 6796 7243
M: 0407 665 357
E: bkschwager@bigpond.com
AND check out these websites:
www.weewaa.com
www.trangie.net
www.hughenden.com
www.stgeorgeqld.com
www.cobarnsw.com
www.moreensw.com
PWF would love to hear if your town is considering this option, and what the pros and cons might be?
1 Comment
Hi Gail,
Thank you for posting this story, I appreciate it. I would just like to add that the last two sites are still in progress and not live as yet but it wont be long as the women and daughters who are doing them are very excited about earning some off farm income but also having the support of there community to run a business. I also wanted to add that I have been named a finalist in the Regional Achievement and Community Awards which are run Australia wide I am under the category of Business Enterprise award. This is a great opportunity for me as well as the towns who have bought the package from me. You can find this award at http://www.awardsaustralia.com website. I would reccomend these to regional busnesses who believe in what they are doing and that it can benifit not only you but the people you support. I hope there are more women out there who are passionate about their town who have done alot of community work and would like to start a business from home online to give them an income source so they can really promote there neck of the woods.