A good year

Date: 04-Oct-08
Author: Peter Firminger
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The first 12 months of Wollombi Valley Online has been (statistically) a huge success.

As a true "Community Website" designed for the locals, we never expected to have high visitation but the results speak for themselves. Build a website the right way and it will draw people in... the legacy of the use of Web Standards and an adherence to "best practise" in accessibility and usability.

chart

Obviously issues like the Cessnock LEP and the Sydney Gas invasion have helped with these figures, and for the last three months, WAGE has had it's own website and the visits and page views from that site are included in these combined totals. When we launched WAGE we redirected most of the gas-related traffic to the WAGE website.

Thanks to our audience and contributors, especially Steve Annis-Brown, Sean and Karyne Gough, Graham Taylor, Eden Anthony, Graeme Gibson and Caroline Maul.

We have just added a new section for locals to add stories of any type. It could be an essay, a poem, an historical observation, an account of a sighting of an animal or a rare plant or just a rant at the Government... anything you like. I have added some stories on other websites that I found interesting and I'll continue to do so, especially the fine works of Gaye from the Hunter's Hunter Valley Backyard Nature - one of my favourite nature-related blogs.

We have also been busy pumping in Hunter events through to June 2009 so if you have anything else to add, please jump in and add it.

Within a week or so we will be adding another section, spawned by Linda Booth from Yango Bend. This is a listing of rides or requests for rides in a car pool. In short, if you're travelling to Sydney or Newcastle or Cessnock or Singleton, anywhere really, it makes sense to share the cost of fuel with a passenger and save on emissions.

There are many people that could benefit from a lift either to save on fuel costs, or that don't have a car. We are also looking at extending this to picking up small items from town, a parcel at the Post Office etc. More to come...

Finally, for those south of Paynes Crossing, if you haven't see an issue of the Community Newsletter The Cockfighter - Linking the Communities of Broke, Fordwich, Bulga and Milbrodale (put together by Tom Jackson and Bink Creative) then I commend it to you. As they are published on the BFTA website we'll link to them here in our news section.

Peter Firminger

Comments (1)

Posted: 04-Oct-08 14:55 by Caroline Maul Permalink

It is very clear to see that the site works well.
I use it all the time to get information.
My guests find it a useful tool too.
Peter the site is a credit to you.
The idea of a section for locals to add stories and poems will be great.

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A good year

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