Wednesday, March 12, 2008

An "Official" Town Blogsite?

Welcome to the "blogsite" of the imaginary City of Spring River. This site has been set up to demonstrate how a town with limited resources can have a web presence which enables it to get its message out to its own community and to the world. The cost of creating, maintaining and hosting this blogsite is zero dollars. It just takes some vision, initiative and a belief that it is a good thing to share information with your neighbors in as many ways as possible.

To read about how a town blog might be used by your public officials, click this Town Council of Spring River link. At that page you will find information about the many possibilities blogs offer and how some folks are using them to advantage.

Why a Blog?


For organizations having a low or no budget for building or maintaining a website, a no-cost blogsite like this one or an online "group" (such as this Arkansas to Tanzania Yahoo group) are very attractive alternatives to full featured web sites. And one important advantage blogs have over websites is that they don't require the services of a webmaster to update pages. With a blogsite, there is no one standing between you and your audience. Anyone who is familiar with a word processor such as Microsoft Word can easily post and edit these messages - at any time and from any computer having web access.

Pictures might also be used to promote local attractions, dramatize serious issues or to celebrate accomplishments. Messages can be formatted to contain bolded and italicized words and links to other sites, such as the Sharp County website, can be used within posts.

It is also easy to "test the waters" and costs nothing but a few minutes time. Go to https://www.blogger.com, sign up for an account (if you don't already have one) and create a test blog. Experiment to see what you can do. If you get stuck or have questions, email me (Frank Fitzgerald) for help.


go to www.ozart.us and email me (Frank Fitzgerald). I'll be glad to help.