Vermont Business Magazine As part of the Vision 2020 strategic plan that the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce unveiled last week at their Annual Dinner, the Chamber has launched one of their main promises, a new website. “This new website is a complete overhaul of the former website,” said Matt Harrington, executive director at the Chamber. “We modeled this off of many modern and relevant websites that we’ve been admiring for some time now. The important part of any website these days is the ability to combine beautiful design and strategic function. The visitors have to be wowed by the imagery and energy of the website, while still being able to navigate and find the answers they’re looking for. I think this website is a step in the right direction.”
The new website, located atwww.Bennington.com, features a new home page with slider imagery directing visitors to main attractions, events and programs put on by the regional chamber. Also on the main page is a sleek two-part navigation at the top. The first navigation directs visitors to various parts of the website including information about the chamber, regional events, the community calendar, what to do when visiting, a comprehensive Chamber directory of members, how to relocate to the area, and a special section for membership. Below that navigation is a second bar of navigation, which allows visitors to read stories written by the Chamber’s Media Project Team made up of staff and college interns. Story topics focus on eating, drinking, playing, arts and culture, shopping, business and politics in the region. Harrington continues,“This is part of the revolutionary element of the website. We know that frequent and relevant content, rich in keywords and imagery can drive people from search engines to our website. This style of content-driven website design has statistically been proven to drive 60% more traffic to a website. We are drawing people into the narrative that makes up Bennington, Manchester and the Shires of Vermont. We are crafting a story about all this region has to offer with applicable and sometimes tongue-in-cheek articles that I think both visitor and locals will enjoy.”
Joe Frey, new communication manager at the Chamber is the chief architect of the website.“We put well over 100 hours into this website, but it was worth it. We modeled this website off of some very modern design elements and used sites like Buzzfeed.com, Thrillist.com,vermontbeginshere.comandmanchestervermont.comfor inspiration. I especially like the‘On Tap’section that highlights the various brews that are on tap (or in bottles) in the area. We are asking local members who run dining establishments with bars to get reach out to us so we can constantly update what’s on their taps. Another feature that makes this website extremely relevant and useful is our community calendar. We have had over 50 events from various members already submitted and we’re looking for more. We are asking if non-chamber members would like to submit their events that they pay a nominal fee of $25 per event.”
Harrington continues, “At this point the website is primarily Bennington-focused, but our vision is to expand it all the way up the Shires corridor including much of Arlington, Manchester and the mountains with the potential of a new domain name to better express the full region in the future. First, we had to start with what we have which was a former website and our current members which are predominately Bennington. Our philosophy is that we are better as a region coming together to promote the various assets we all have. Our Chamber team is currently out talking with non-members throughout the region who might be interested in joining this next generation of the Chamber. This website is a great addition to the benefits that Chamber members have to help promote their businessesand draw visitors from around the world.”
Currently, the Bennington Area Chamber is running a special on membership with a purchase of an ad in their annual area guide booklet due out in May. The Chamber is offering anyone who purchases an ad in the guide a $99 one-year membership to the Chamber. For more information visitwww.Bennington.com/membership
Source: Bennington Area Chamber 2.1.2017