Website to promote St Elizabeth or?

Treasure Beach Forum: TB Runnin's: Website to promote St Elizabeth or?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Process on Wednesday, February 08, 2006 - 12:51 pm: Edit Post

Hello Eeveryone:

I am debating designing a website which would be free for a period to any business or organization wanting to advertise. I am debating including StElizabeth in the name or something else to include neighboring parishes. Comments are welcome.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann on Wednesday, February 08, 2006 - 02:48 pm: Edit Post

The current site covers quite a large area, however it doesn't incorporate the community of Black River.A similar site addressing issues in that area would be wonderful.Why not take this on as a new project, involving pupils at the local school to profile those in their community who have made a contribution to the town.Black River has been grossly neglected by successive governments and is in need of regeneration if it is to be taken seriously as the capital of the parish.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhosue on Wednesday, February 08, 2006 - 04:20 pm: Edit Post

Try to find a name for the url for the site that
would be words someone would logically type in
looking for information. www.treasurebeach.net for this site and .com for a tb villa site are already in the 'organic' listing section of searchengines--and taken. Then consider where business/groupadvertisers are going to
come from. Black River might be too limiting -- and known primarily to Jamaicans, not the world outside. www.southcoastjamaica.com is taken -- a variation on that named url might work -- and it would encompass a larger area -- with room for growth. Again, South Coast Jamaica is not what
most people will keystrike in to find an information site /most won't think
South Coast in the first place. It depends, too,
what the nature of the site is: COMMUNITY-oriented, BUSINESS-oriented, etc. Naming your site/url name is the first step to helping people find it -- without paying for Google Ad List or
Yahoo placement positions which can be pricey.
Take a look at your ideas for names vis-a-vis
what's already in the major search engines:Google,
Yahoo and msn -- the rest, a small fraction of
the market, can be ignored.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhouse on Thursday, February 09, 2006 - 08:06 am: Edit Post

Some more thoughts: No matter how good the graphics/content are, building a Web site without strategizing how people will find it is like building an advertising billboard in your basement/nobody will see it, unless you direct them there. It takes a good 3 months at least to get picked up by search engines when you launch your site and you'll often have to pay money upfront to jump the queue of new Web sites, thousands launching daily. So plan carefully up front. Take a 'grandmother count' on the names:
chances are, if your granny and your friends
don't make the connection between your site url name and what they'd type in when on computer, nobody else will. Always go for the lowest
'common denominator' -- the obvious choices.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By process on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 08:25 am: Edit Post

Excellent comments. I thank you for the input.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Process on Saturday, February 11, 2006 - 04:38 pm: Edit Post

Attached is the SAMPLE PREVIEW(5% complete) of how the homepage will look. More detail will be added as I discover places of interest to add (u can submit ideas). Visitors to the website will click each location and be taken to a link which will show Churches, Hotels, Business, Schools, Restaraunts, Parks, etc. I am still debating the wesbite name but I have some ideas.
afinal.jpg


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Frenchman/Canada on Saturday, February 11, 2006 - 05:26 pm: Edit Post

I can't wait to see this web site up and running


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eric on Saturday, February 11, 2006 - 05:40 pm: Edit Post

Here's my view on it:

-The image is stunning. No doubt about it, so that's a great start. But the use of the white buildings makes me think of high rise apartments. This may or may not be a good thing since its not representative of the area you're describing.

- This might be too picky, but if I didn't know Jamaica, I'd think that the island was orientated this way in real life. Did you rotate it to make it fit better on the page?

- There needs to be text on the home page, for the visitor to read and know what the site's about as well as for search engines to be able to index the page/site properly.

Good luck with developing it.

-Eric


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhouse on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 09:56 am: Edit Post

To piggyback on some good points above:

1) Color-equalize your graphics == make sure, since every browser is different and most people never adjust their color but just plug and play -- that it's not too dark -- it's running that way here. You can color graduate-shade it dark to
lighter, top to bottom, if you want, to emphasize the South Coast. But make the color 'glows' more which lighter, brighter shades will do. Also:a cast/drop shadow in grey at left and base of border will also make the graphic 'pop' more from page.
2) The angled island with a South Coast focus is intriguing but the Monopoly-set buildings make Jamaica look like Miami or Aruba -- too developed looking. De-emphasize for
Mandeville (it's not THAT big) and the curve
around the West End to Little London area in Negril which stretches a bit too far. If you want to -- and the idea's a good one -- emphasize that Negril, MoBay,
Ochie and Kingston are big developed cities, make
sure that Black River, Treasure Beach and
Mandeville have NO buildings and the type
is not black but DIFFERENT in their ID captions.

3) The page title/not seen here/ is very important and, so search engines pick up on you,
EVERY page should be strategized with a page
title that has important KEY words in it.
Search engines will NOT pick up any copy that
is set IN a graphic as part of that unit or set
in display fonts.So, AFTER THE PAGE TITLE,
the text on your first page -- what is this site offering, headlines, news, special features, the copy that intrigues the reader to keep going and how do I get to the info other than
the toolbar/navigation bar yet to come -- the
first words the viewer gets are as critical -- if not more so than your sweet graphic. Cuz that's what the reader as well as the search engine
robotic spider will pick up.

Great start--let's see more, eh?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Process on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 11:06 am: Edit Post

The Critiques along with the suggestions are excellent. The image is in 3D that's why it may appear long\short in some areas. That has to do with 3d perspective. Here is an update(6% complete). Keep the ideas coming. A listing for those that get posted, complete with a picture and contact\info, will be free for a period of time. Thank you.
afinal4.jpg


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By TBNet on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 11:27 am: Edit Post

Two more thoughts:

1) Your first graphic looks one heck of a lot better than the one that I first planned this web site. (Remember that train-wreck, Rebecca? :-)

2) Don't get caught up putting all your time into the graphic. Its CONTENT that keeps people coming back, as well as getting you listed in search engines. And if you don't have good NAVIGATION, people can't find the content.

Keep going.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Interested on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 02:22 pm: Edit Post

Some comments/questions:

Sorry, but what are those things in the water? They look oddly like whales surrounding the island.

Also, the tipped image is still a bit strange to me. The compass rose helps, but the foreshortening gives a really skewed picture of the island.

And I agree that you need text. The graphics can be fun, but if the text isn't working, the site won't go anywhere. With excellent content, you could get away with the most basic of graphics.

If St. Bess is your focus, why put so much energy into depicting other parts of the island? A plainer image of the whole of JA with a blown-up image of St. Elizabeth pulled out of the map might work better to highlight the parish. That might also enable you to use some other kind of graphic for people to click on because the blocks are so plain and 'building-y'. You could develop icons for particular types of locations: government buildings, hotels, restaurants, scenic spots ... something like that. Give the map more variety than the little boxes let you have.

Just some thoughts!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Process on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 05:28 pm: Edit Post

Excellent Critiques, suggestions, Comments. Site detail will develope as listees come in. The plan will reveal it's self in due time. St. Elizabeth will be the main focus\detail, benificiary, spotlight, interest at first. Sourounding areas are included for future growth plans. We all want cheap advertising prices and the plan is to keep it that way. I want that little corner shop in Top Hill, selling ackee and salt fish, to get exposure. Treasure beach tours to get exposure, this Forum to get exposure, Sandy banks little school children to get exposure, Local Government to get exposure, Churches, etc.

Each area on the map will have a hotlink that details that area. Attached is a updated sample(10% complete). From hear on out, the iamge will be distorted and color reduced for obvious reasons until the live post. Tell your friends. We all will win.

afinal6b.jpg


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhouse on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 06:55 pm: Edit Post

I like this. Keep it for further refinement -- the graphic -- and go on to CONTENT and all the search engine pick-up 'tricks'.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tiverotnhouse on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 07:02 pm: Edit Post

Your 'symbolic' graphic map of island does NOT have to be literal -- since people will take it in at a grasp. It's got a good solid impact. Nice concept/good graphics. Leave the tweaking for later. One can get 'too anal' about the less important things...


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhouse on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 07:13 pm: Edit Post

K.I.S.S. /Keep it simple, stupid -- is one good rule to follow. The 'whales' the poster above mentions above I thought were 'helicopters' -- just goes to show what an 'undefined detail' can elict. Which means you shold delete 'em.
You got all that space in the blue ocean on base of map that cries out for a punchy headline, rather than just a compass rose. Few people know what's north/south/east/west on island and it's extraneous, given the symbolic graphic you've created which is superb.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhouse on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 03:14 am: Edit Post

The new scribed black line circles detract rather than enhance. My first thought was:an oil exploration map, not exactly the best of references given recent news.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhouse on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 03:37 am: Edit Post

Note how the copyright line gets too much eye time. Put it in 2 pt as a footnote below the active area of the screen not on map -- it's not important info. C in circle . Name of company . All Rights Reserved -- once on home page protects
the entire site. Go on to content...the map graphic is getting a little too slick now and overworked...


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tivertonhouse on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 03:56 am: Edit Post

You've got a great little 'swoosh' graphic from
base left into the sea --It's like a finger that points where you should set a headline or a changeable block of
copy -- special news -- or an explanation (not a mission/vision statement) of what the site's about which will balance out your navigational tabs 'weight' at left.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Process on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 08:39 am: Edit Post

Hey all. Thanks for the Comments, Critiques, Suggestions. The image with all those circles is just a distortion so no one can download and "use" the template before the site is up. The Copyright and all those black circles will go away. Trust me. U will be proud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eric on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 10:26 am: Edit Post

BTW, Process, why the pseudonym? Seems like you're asking for help but being secretive about it. Who are you?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Process on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 11:30 am: Edit Post

The name Process is a title I like to use and was a family format emphasized from age 1-12. We also have future plans for that name. Everything I do is procedural. Some don't understand some greatly appreciate it. We don't want to tip our hand to others as it pertains to the site, the pending "secretive" haha..website name is being tested as we speak. We want to make sure it can be applied to other islands. Thus the delay in the sites complete name. My name is Michael. I have lived in Jamaica, Haiti, Caymans and the Bahamas MANY years ago and have plans for the area.

The only help we ask for are your critiques and comments, any are appreciated. I am trying to gather info on what works, where and how. I am invloved in several other disscusion groups for different islands. We have plans for the carribean. Broadband is now widely being made available to residents in the carribian and a K.I.S.S. website is a fair-perfect way for small\large merchants to gain exposure. Here is an article from the Chamber of commerce St. Elizabeth. "The St. Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce will be holding a number of seminars geared towards the business community. So if you are a business owner or intend to go into business, contact the St. Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce for more information." I plan to contact them about this pending website. Everyone will appreciate this website when it goes live. Process, Process, Process. Tell your friends. We all will win.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Troubled on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 09:15 am: Edit Post

You 'have plans' for Jamaica? I hope that means something not nearly as ominious as it sounds. Makes you sound a bit land-grabbing-developer-ish.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By chrissy288 on Saturday, August 26, 2006 - 12:03 am: Edit Post

Hi "Process"
any update on this pending website?