Rural areas get makeovers of economic websites

Rural counties will present a more polished online look when Chamber of Commerce and development authorities get Web site makeovers.

The Web project will be operated by the Northern Nevada Development Authority, which plans to fund it with a grant from the Nevada Economic Development Authority. It's part of $3 million the state legislature earmarked for rural development.

"This is basic infrastructure," says Ron Weisinger, executive director of the development authority.

"Currently, a company wanting to relocate to a rural county in northern Nevada can research at 11 Chambers of Commerce, seven counties, four development agencies, and seven cities," he says.

And if those company managers let their fingers do the walking among Web sites, they may not be overly impressed with the virtual landscape.

Confusion can arise when incoming companies research an area and find conflicting information.

"The conclusion these outside people draw is that nobody knows what they're doing," Weisinger says.

The solution? A database manager will work with the state demographer so that factual information is consistent on all sites.

The project was proposed by Raphael Cappucci, owner and president of Vision ASP, a Web site development and hosting company. Cappucci is also vice president of the development authority.

"We did due diligence and needs assessment and spoke with the chambers," says Cappucci. "We then presented the idea to the NNDA."

Other makeover candidates include the development authorities of northern Nevada, Churchill, Mineral and Pershing counties. Towns and counties can also take advantage of information feeds for their Web sites.

Cappucci will work in tandem with Miya MacKenzie, partner at MacWest Marketing. "We'll be focused on design, content and overseeing project management," she says.

The two companies have already collaborated on a Web site for Storey County and an economic development site for Carson City.

The reason for the ragged online image found among the rural counties, says Weisinger, is that those areas lack the people, money or time to do a good job.

"Some want to keep their own sites," he says, "but want us to clean them up or redesign them."

Work is expected to start in October.