News & Articles
March 30, 2007 - Bringing Winkler biz to World Wide Web
Written by: Ashleigh Viveiros; Winkler Times
The Winkler and District Chamber of Commerce is pairing up with Pixels to get the local business community online.
The Chamber is currently offering all of its members one free page on the Pixels-created Winkler Online (winkleronline.com) Web site.
“This is a huge opportunity for people to have a free Web page,” said Chamber executive director Brenda Storey. “It’s accessible, and it will make sure that all the businesses are linked together in one place.”
Chamber members who sign-up for the program receive one page on the Web site - which can include 250 words worth of information about their company, a company logo, and up to two photos - as well as a domain name, a link from the Chamber’s own Web site, and one update per year.
It’s a pretty basic Web page, but it allows businesses new to the Internet the chance to see what benefits a presence on the World Wide Web can offer, said Pixels owner Mandy Fehr. “It’s just a good start,” she said. “Then they can decide - if they’re getting 30 hits a day - is it worth it to put money into your Web site?” If a business wants to expand their Web page to include more information or pages, they’ll be able to contact Pixels for price quotes and ideas, said Fehr.
Expansions could include more pages and photos, online newsletters, a more personalized domain name, regular updates, a new design, and search engine optimization.
Ultimately, the cost of a state-of the-art, personalized Web site can run in the hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars, said Fehr, but it all depends on what a business wants.
“They don't necessarily have to spend thousands of dollars,” she said. Fehr also stressed that Chamber members have no obligation to expand their Winkler Online Web page if they don’t want to.
“The goal is just to try to get the business community online,” she said. “There's a lot of potential that could come out of this for businesses.”
Giving Businesses the Edge
Although some local businesses already have their own Web sites, there are plenty out there who haven’t made the jump onto the Internet just yet, said Fehr.
“Most people don’t see the benefits of it,” she said. But there are benefits, especially if a company wants to connect with today’s Internet-savvy customers, said Fehr.
“There’s such a huge percentage of consumers that are going to the Internet for information,” she said. “They might actually go to the Internet before ever checking out the business physically.”
A well-made Web site gives a business a chance to make a good first impression, said Fehr, and could give a company an edge over a competitor who doesn’t have a Web presence.
“It shows that you’re keeping up with the times,” she said. “It’s exposure.”
The Chamber’s Winkler Online site also serves another important purpose - it ensures visitors to our city can find information on our local businesses in one, easy-to-find site.
“If they ‘google’ Winkler, there will be so many Web pages grouped together on this one Web site,” said Fehr. “It makes it easier for Winkler to be found.”
“If we can get all the businesses online, that's just one more step ahead we are than all the other communities,” she added.
For more information, contact Pixels at 325-4139 or e-mail freewebpage@pixelsonline.ca.