A New Website
Here’s a look at the front page of our new website.
2020 has been an interesting year to say the least. Here we are, more than half way through it and thanks to the virus, a lot of us have been cooped up since April. We had a lot of plans that couldn’t happen this summer and, at the time of this post, there are some future events (Harvestfest), we are not sure will happen.
In the mean time we decided to do a makeover of our website. The last one, although we thought it looked nice, was way too slow. It got to a point we were having technical issues with the back end of it.
Before we explain some of the new features we wanted to show and explain some things happening when you search for Visit Big Valley. The result you will get will be the first item in a google search and will look like the image below.
All looks pretty good except for the lodging section. That should get updated when Google crawls the site again. This shows the sections of our site and what we have to offer without anything being clicked on. This will improve but for now we are pleased with things.
We are also happy to see visitbigvalley.com show up at or near the top of searches, when searching for our members online. We know that many members do not have an online presence and are available to help with getting those business up and running on social media or a website of your own. Just contact us and we will be happy to talk with you about it.
We are also happy say that the site looks really good on mobile as well. Here is a screenshot of it on an iphone. The navigation is at the top and is really fast. Our different member sections are the first thing seen by a visitor. Another benefit to our members.
We have mentioned our members and wanted to go over a couple things in our NEW members section. First, is the new look. We have completely re-worked that section. We would like current members to check and make sure we have everything correct. We would also like help in adding more information. We will be contacting every member in the near future to discuss adding to this. The more information we have, the better.
The first thing you will notice when going to the new directory is a map with location markers for every member. As you hover over the marker of businesses, and if they have a website, a thumbnail will pop up. Also in the pop up will be the name address and phone number.
Below the map is lists of our members broken down into four categories. Dining, Lodging, Shopping and Services. Just as they were before but now more information without clicking or going to another page. You’ll see the name of the business and a phone number. Again, a thumbnail if a website is available. Just under the listing there are icons you can click on. Say you are looking on your phone and want to call. Clicking on the phone icon will make it available to call their number without dialing. Next icon below is a link to the business website (if available), then social media and then, depending on how much information we have, an info button. When you click on this it will bring up a really nice pop up page with information that was provided to us. A business story, biography or basic info. If you are a member, tell us your story, so we can share it here.
We have also made changes to our photo section. We get a ton of response on our facebook page, so now we are making those albums available right here on our website. This will save us time and show every picture we post right here.
We will be fine tuning everything on this site over the next week months or year. Whatever it takes. If you see something that needs attention, please let us know. Again, you can contact us here.
Visit Big Valley
The Heart of Pennsylvania
visitbigvalley@gmail.com
814-641-1146
P.O. Box 803
Belleville, PA 17004
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