I don't know if you've seen the Town of Christiansburg's website recently, but it's SO 1994, and a poor introduction to such a great New River Valley community; certainly not fitting of it's title "Progressive Small Town Living At Its Best". Try to get information about upcoming events on there - when I wrote this post about 4th of July fireworks happening throughout the area, I had to *gasp* email someone at the Town for information and times!
It seems trivial to some, I know, but a Town website is the face of a community to a visitor to the New River Valley. The tone of the site tells you something about the residents of that community, amenities available, and the atmosphere you'll experience. Imagine you're considering moving to the New River Valley, and want to live in Christiansburg - what do the Frequently Asked Questions tell you? Not much, other than how to pay your utility bills.
All of that's going to change, and I hope very soon. Councilman Brad Stipes posted on his blog this evening that the new website redesign is well underway, and mockups have been presented for the look and design. The new site will not only bring the Town's internet presence current, but will also allow citizens the opportunity to pay their utility bills online (a very progressive step on the Town's part, I think). I'd encourage you to head over to Councilman Stipes' blog and post comments for him to respond to ... I can tell you that he's very interested in hearing what residents of Christiansburg have to say!
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I think this is a problem with a lot of NRV websites. Hopefully the localities will start to embrace the idea that their website may be a person's first (and only) impression of them, and make much needed changes!
Posted by: Carina | July 07, 2008 at 08:50 AM
Hey Carina! I'd agree that it's a problem throughout the Valley - a quick search of government and non-profit sites shows the same - but it's also something that is SLOWLY getting better. Last week, I participated in a roundtable with some of the IT staff at Montgomery County and members of the NRV Association of REALTORS ... organizations and companies are coming to the realization that their web sites and blogs can be - NEED to be - sources of information, combined with action items like paying bills online, etc.
This is a step in the right direction, but I hope they don't get satisfied once they launch it. They're discussing whether they should update it every day, and how to do that. YES YES YES.
Hope all is well in the new place!
Posted by: Jeremy Hart | July 07, 2008 at 09:11 AM