ATHENS, Ohio -- The counties in Appalachian Ohio are working to promote their businesses, prospective industrial sites, tourism activities, and quality of life. The trick is getting the message out beyond county borders without incurring considerable expense.
A new Web site in the making, AppalachianOhio.com, will go a long way in bringing the business and tourism resources of this region to the forefront. This universal site -- or Web portal -- will utilize strength in numbers to provide economic development, tourism, and other information for the 29 counties of Appalachian Ohio to anyone searching the Web. It is scheduled to launch in June 2003.
The project, conceived by regional development professionals, has garnered widespread support throughout Ohio's 29 Appalachian counties. Through a series of meetings and presentations, the region's Governor's Offices for Economic Development and the three Local Development Districts have committed staff time to make it happen. Representatives from most of the counties have already shown interest in joining the effort.
Joy Padgett, director of the Ohio Governor's Office of Appalachia is encouraging economic development directors, chamber of commerce presidents, tourism officials, and others who have not yet joined the effort. She is also telling businesses and organizations to work closely with their counties to be included.
"The more organizations that join AppalachianOhio.com, the more valuable the site will become to businesses and people looking for the types of resources southeastern and eastern Ohio have in abundance," Padgett said.
Initial funding to launch AppalachianOhio.com is being provided by the Governor's Office for Appalachia.
"It is crucial that we use technology on a regional basis to propel Appalachian Ohio into the information-based economy," said Jennifer Simon, technology program manager. "We must promote our assets globally and this Web portal is one way to do that."
In October, Ohio's Appalachian Country -- the regional visitor and convention bureau board -- announced it will put funds toward developing the tourism portion of the AppalachianOhio.com site.
The site adds to, instead of replaces, Web sites for chambers of commerce, counties, economic development offices, visitors and convention bureaus, and other sites with similar purpose.
"By participating, organizations will get more exposure and also come away with better Web sites of their own," Harries said. The Appalachian Regional Entrepreneurship Initiative (AREI) will assist counties in standardizing their information, which will automatically display on AppalachianOhio.com as well as their own sites.
"A great benefit of participating is that Internet users outside Ohio will not have to know there's a Meigs County or a Harrison County to find an industrial site, the perfect labor force for their business or a unique historical site to visit with the family," said Amy Harries, community entrepreneurship development manager for AREI, which will provide the technical assistance for the creation, development and coordination of AppalachianOhio.com.
Marketing will be another key to the site's success. To increase the chances that tourists and business-site selectors everywhere click into AppalachianOhio.com, funds have been set aside for promotion, advertising, and purchasing search engine services that push AppalachianOhio.com high on the list of search results.
AREI is planning training sessions in spring 2003 for participating organizations on the process of updating their Web site content so it meshes with AppalachianOhio.com.
Any county partner interested in becoming part of the AppalachianOhio.com should contact Amy Harries at AREI, by calling (740) 597-2168 or e-mailing her at harries@voinovichcenter.ohio.edu for additional information.
