Town of Claresholm to launch new municipal website tomorrow

By Rob Vogt, Local Press Writer
The Town of Claresholm is launching a new, user-friendly website tomorrow, and they want to know what everyone thinks of it.
The new site, which can be seen by visiting www.claresholm.ca, will go live tomorrow, Aug. 31.
“It’s completely new, built from the ground up, designed specifically for the municipality,” said Justin Sweeney, the town’s economic development officer.
The website is the culmination of a three-month process from start to finish.
It is a component of the town’s “Defining a promise” project, which includes a multi-year marketing plan to be delivered in September; and a town re-branding, which was concluded in late April and early May.
The third pillar of that project is the new website.
Sweeney explained the site was built in consultation among the web designer, economic development officer and assistant, with feedback from town council and staff.
It incorporates all the elements of the existing sites such as bylaws, applications, and pertinent information
“All of that is still going to be easily accessible on the new site,” Sweeney said.
The new site will also have a robust business directory linked to Google Maps with appropriate contact information and searchable by type of business.
The visitor section will have information from accommodations to a town map and more.
There will be a contact directory, which includes a “report a concern” feature. That is if someone has a concern, they can express it on the website, in lieu of a written report.
There will be tools for business, which is part of the town’s business attraction initiative. This allows people to be referred to a proactive, progressive website.
Visually, the website will look clean and simple.
People want to find information clearly, and not have to search too long for it.
Consequently, the site has five principal pages – residents; visitors; business; government; and contact – on the lead page with six sub pages.
“We’ve tried to make it so people can access the information in three clicks or less,” Sweeney said.
The new website was designed by Media 32 of Lethbridge. They were chosen after the town issued a request for proposal in late January to prospective designers in the Claresholm, Lethbridge Calgary area.
It was funded by a provincial government grant through the Community And Regional Economic Support program, with additional funding provided by Travel Alberta for digital assets, that is an inventory of images to be used for marketing.
Although the site goes live tomorrow, the town wants to continue to improve it.
“We welcome feedback,” Sweeney said. “We want this to be a very usable product and a service to the community.”
“This is meant to be used by individuals as a tool,” he later added.
“If people are looking for information on Claresholm, this is what they are going to access.”