Bigfork Chamber launches website redesign

The Bigfork Area Chamber of Commerce

went live with an overhaul of its website Tuesday as the next step

in its effort to brand Bigfork.

The website redesign has been part of a

larger branding effort that began in January 2010 with the

formation of a marketing committee. It is meant to integrate the

efforts from the past year as well as create a better presence for

the community online.

Other phases of branding, including a

new slogan for the Village, “Where Flathead Lake begins,” and a

logo that incorporates it, were completed in 2010.

“We had two goals for the redesign —

give a fresh face for Bigfork that would correlate with the new

logo, tagline and branding, and also improve services offered to

chamber members,” said Mike Callaghan, president of Bigfork Web

Development, which worked on recreating the site.

Since the chamber’s website, still

located at the url www.bigfork.org, is the first that comes up in a

Google search for “Bigfork,” it was hoped that the site could be

transformed into a destination location for all things to do with

the Village.

“It’s part of a progression from the

Bigfork Chamber website to the Bigfork website — to promote Bigfork

for the benefit of members and nonmembers alike,” said Bruce

Solberg, the chamber’s executive director.

Part of the process in redesigning the

site was taking a closer look at how the prior website was

used.

“By far the most popular offering was

the photo gallery,” Callaghan said. “It told us that visuals of

Bigfork are important. It influenced the graphic designers to use a

lot of photos and visuals.”

As a result, one of the biggest changes

with the new website is its use of photos as well as videos.

The home page now has direct links to

photo galleries and video which can be viewed on that page.

The video work, compiled over the last

year, covers all the bases of Bigfork.

“We really went all out with this

video,” Solberg said.

All the member services still exist,

including a member login to update directories as well as post

events and job listings.

As members continue to add information

following the launch of the redesign, it’s hoped that the site will

develop to be a key web presence for Bigfork.

“When people need to know what’s going

on in Bigfork, that’s the place to go,” Callaghan said.

In addition to the website, the chamber

will also be integrating social media, starting with creating a

Facebook page.

“We’re doing all of this with the goal

to make Bigfork known as a year-round community at the local,

regional and national level,” Solberg said. “We’re strategizing how

to reach each of these to bring more people to Bigfork throughout

the year.”