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Berkeley Chamber’s Web site part of marketing plan
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has launched a new Web site as part of a marketing strategy to increase tourism in the area.
“The new Berkeley Chamber Web site was designed to include videos and easier navigation to show how beautiful the county is to new businesses and for anyone considering living here. The design was long overdue and we are proud of the new Web site,” explained Nick Matutina, Web development manager for the Berkeley Chamber, in a written statement.
The site was designed by Aristotle Web Design in Little Rock, Ark., which provides specialty sites for organizations in the travel and tourism, entertainment, medical and real estate fields.
“Tourism has always been our expertise,” said Rose Margarella, Aristotle’s public relations director. “The first sites we designed were for tourism organizations and chambers of commerce.”
Aristotle is an Internet and interactive media firm, founded in 1995 and providing Web development, Internet marketing, e-mail and Internet connectivity services to a nationwide client base. The company has been awarded 175 industry awards.
With 65 employees, most of them designers, programmers and technicians, the company has designed more than 180 sites, including the site for the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
“We hired a firm that had as their primary service the ability to design visitors’ bureau and chamber Web sites,” said Elaine Morgan, CEO of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce.
Morgan explained that the Berkeley Chamber has two main functions, as a chamber and as a visitors’ bureau.
“Because we have that dual position, our site needs to be able to carry on both functions in a proficient manner, and that takes creative knowledge and the experience of having done this before,” she said. “Knowing we’re small in staff, we wanted to go with someone who had experience.”
Morgan said the chamber sought out recommendations, calling other state organizations and other chambers that had joint responsibilities.
“This was a specialty thing we were looking for,” she said. “When we found out they had designed the PRT’s site, we decided on them.”
The initial design cost about $20,000, and the chamber has hired a webmaster to maintain the site, Morgan said.
“We’ve broken into the tourist destination arena and we want to move forward and have a strong identity as a chamber,” she said.
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