Chamber of Commerce Web site gets makeover By JASON VALLEE, The Herald Press 07/05/2006

NEWINGTON -- Web surfers in town need to look no further than the chamber of commerce's brand new Web site to meet all their business and community needs.

The chamber has launched a new site complete with a variety of features, including a site to locate tourist attractions and other popular sites throughout Newington.

"We conducted a members' survey and one of the biggest requests we got was that they wanted was more information about the town and a list of local businesses they could search through for all their needs," said Chris Sparmer, chair of the Chamber's marketing committee.

Sparmer said the site will continue to grow throughout the summer and will be adding two additional features in particular.

A "Discover Newington" section will provide information about lesser known places as well as history about the town, while a specially designed "tourism" section will help reveal the town's finer spots for visitors.

The site also features a special contest, "find the typo" in which the winner will receive three-months of free banner advertising, Sparmer said. The contest is designed to entice users to explore the site's new features.

The site itself was created by two members hired to lead the effort, said Sparmer. Anna Eddy of Learning Services by Design worked as the content writer and David Schreiber of Kurbot.com was hired as the page's graphic designer.

"It's a free public site that features all aspects of Newington," said Michael Crouchley, President of the chamber of commerce. "In addition to getting the Newington-at-a-Glance and the community events calendar, each chamber member receives a free listing on the business directory."
The chamber's old Web site had been receiving approximately 9,000 hits per month said Gail Whitney, executive director of the chamber in a press release and the expectations are that those numbers will increase significantly in the future.

The site is free and open to the public. To view the site or for more information about the chamber, visit the site at www.newingtonchamber.com.

Jason Vallee can be reached at jvallee@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, Ext. 236.