A culture change has come to the Oakley Chamber of Commerce as it can be summed up as “out with the old” and “in with the new” where about 70 people were on hand at Black Bear Diner last night to see the preview of the new Oakley Chamber of Commerce Website. The website will provide great value to chamber members while linking to the many social media sites available in today’s fast paced world.
During her presentation, Sallie Goetsch, the new Chamber President, shared what started out as simply making what they already had “better”, it turned into her husband Stefan Didak wanting to be “the best”. It turned into a labor of love as the project took three months to create and the Chamber now has a $20,000 website for free.
Oakley Member Profile pages will include:
- Business logo
- Contact Details
- Business Hours
- Detailed Business Description
- Location with Map Pin & Directions
- Social Media Profile Links
- Photos
- Twitter Feed
- Business Tags
- Events
- Deals
- Job Postings
For now, chamber members will be able to submit updates to their profiles which Goetsch and Didak will update as the requests come in which include information, pictures, videos and other goodies that will soon be available. Down the road, they hope to get the site set up for business owners to update their own information. The beauty of their setup is that there is many back end web features which will help search engines find our local business’ to ensure they are near the top of internet searches.
Goetsch was quick to point out at the conclusion that this chamber website should not replace your own personal site, that should be your first priority, but this site is an added benefit to help grow your business.
Along with the website, Goetsch shared the chamber will soon be working on expanding its community footprint by hosting more events such as a downtown event, try and bring back farmers markets, fundraisers such as poker tournaments, and publish Oakley events for greater awareness.
Councilmembers Kevin Romick, Randy Pope, and Doug Hardcastle were on hand to show support and to see where the Chamber is headed. It should be noted that Goetsch created Doug Hardcastle’s new website which is a beautiful design with easy navigation. You can view his new website by clicking here.
In watching the demonstration of the new chamber website, I see this as just the first step in a culture change with the Oakley Chamber of Commerce. They are moving forward in trying to create additional value in not only the chamber memberships, but trying to help their members increase their bottom line. It’s nice to see as that had been missing for the past few years. The preview was just the first step, the real excitement is coming when all the information is uploaded and the site gains more exposure.
What is going to happen is this will soon be the model website for other chambers to follow because it’s just that good.
The Chamber also had fun last night singing happy birthday which the Black Bear Diner staff also participated in as Jimmy D’Amico led the singing. Here is a video I shot.
To Contact Sallie Goetsch, her company website is http://www.wpfangirl.com/
Oakley Chamber of Commerce
3510 Main Street
Oakley, CA 94561
(925) 625-1035
(925) 625-4051 (fax)
[email protected]
1 comment
I am still not sold how a new website will increase business for Oakley. I guess I should wait and see how this plays out.
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