The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Celebrates the Launch of Their New Web Site

Sarasota, FL – The Greater Sarasota Chamber launched its newly revitalized Web site this week; unveiling it at the Annual Kick-Off Breakfast to an attendance of over 600 people congregated in The Ritz ballroom. The Chamber partnered with GravityFree, a local Web Agency, to help determine their strategic objectives and create a comprehensive, interactive Web solution. One that is cohesive to The Chamber’s brand, easy-to-use, well-organized, provides benefits to members and gets results, while empowering The Chamber with the ability to manage and grow it.

The impetus behind The Chamber’s Web site redevelopment was to better meet the needs of Chamber members by providing a comprehensive conduit to member services and events and to be a supportive tool for building bridges between private sector and local government, residents and other stakeholders. The site enhancements go way beyond a new look to coincide with the new brand, which rolled out last year. A re-organization of content was a main focus. Additional features and services make it more user-friendly, providing information for members as well as residents, media visitors and prospective relocating residents and businesses.

Brand new to the site is a section for members to log in and submit their press releases to a list of media contacts subscribed to receive these releases. A main area of focus was on elevating the level of technological integration with internal Chamber resources. The site now functions seamlessly with current Chamber management software, allowing for online event registration and payment capability, links to additional resources, enhanced marketing and advertising opportunities and more. A search mechanism within the site helps visitors find the information they’re looking for. Also, new to the site is an online “store” to purchase Chamber items such as maps.

GravityFree built into the site advanced content management tools that allow Chamber staff the ability to manage about 95% of all of the content on the site, build new pages as needed, etc., allowing The Chamber to better communicate with their members by keeping the content better updated and relevant. A content reviewer report reminds them to refresh content by showing them what information should be reviewed and when.

“Having already created an award-winning Web site for us and being our technology partner over the years, GravityFree understands the needs of The Chamber, providing Internet solutions that support our growth and our service to the members and the community,” says Steve Queior, Chamber President.

“It was exciting working with The Chamber again,” comments Scott Heaps, GravityFree’s owner. “They have tremendous vision for The Chamber and its role in the local community and are enthusiastic about leveraging the Web to support that vision. Our partnership has allowed us to do for them what we do best – create an effective digital strategy to meet their objectives and garner results.”