To Latham Jenkins, Native Son
You have your work cut out for you here in Tarboro.
Having your proposal for a new Tarboro website selected by the town council was the easy part. I apologize for you having to make the unnecessary trip from Wyoming to Tarboro to give your presentation. If that Melvin Muhammad had just kept his mouth shut at the March town council meeting, the others would have given their approval then and saved you the trouble of a visit. Look on the bright side, you got to see your old hometown, Tarboro.
According to Monday's presentation and from information on your company website http://www.circumerro.com/, I don't doubt that you can create a very impressive looking website complete with high quality video. The video example of Beaufort, South Carolina that you showed at the presentation was beautiful. Very impressive. Beaufort is a lovely city with a lot to offer.
I'm just wondering what kind of video you can make for Tarboro that truly represents what newcomers will find when they get here.
Here's an approach ...
"Welcome to Tarboro, a front porch kind of town. Our schools are not great but since you are retired that shouldn't matter to you. We also have a poor economy and not very many jobs, but again, since you are retired that won't be a problem. We have a few nice specialty shops in our semi-revitalized downtown, but if you enjoy shopping, we suggest that you drive to Rocky Mount, Greenville or even Raleigh just an hour away. For fine dining, we're very proud of our restaurant, On the Square, dinner is served Thursday - Saturday. If you are a sports enthusiast, we have an amazing sports complex where you can always go for a quiet afternoon. For your cultural needs, we offer an annual performance of the NC Symphony Orchestra, a civil war re-enactment weekend, and an annual arts and crafts event on our otherwised un-used and pristine town common. If quiet living and low crime rates are important to you, join us in Tarboro. We have many available homes to choose from and there's a front porch waiting for you."
I have no doubt that you can build a website that may even draw visitors to town, but what will they see when they get here? You can keep them on the website with lots of pretty things to look at, but what will keep them in Tarboro?
The council is expecting this project to bring hundreds of new residents to Tarboro annually. You do have your work cut out for you. I wish you luck and hope that the money paid to you from our tax dollars is money well-spent.
Grassroots of Tarboro
5 Comments
Reader Comments (5)
I would like to add a little something to that. How is it that you are going to make the towns website better and easier to find on the internet when your site can not even be found on the internet. I googled your keywords and only found you listed for circumerro. With the other keyword you were not even in the top thirty. So I ask how people are going to find Tarboro when we can't even find you on the web without knowing the name of your company. By the way I know a good SEO company to help make you more visible on the web Regency Interactive Corporation.
Oh don't forget that the nights On the Square is not open you can feast on sour grapes. They are cultivated and offered freely by many area residents.
Even though some of this may seem to be the cart before the horse, lets comeup with suggestions that can help start filling that gap.
In response to "C"'s comment:
I believe that we are trying to "fill in the gap". Starting off slowly with the 2nd Saturdays events and working towards an artists cooperative, newly revived farmers market and several other projects in the works. We've talked about ways of creating jobs right here in Tarboro. We've talked about creating a new brand for Tarboro that is "attractive" to visitors and new businesses. We're just getting started here and that is the point that I was trying to make. I have nothing against Latham Jenkins. I do have a problem with how his company was selected, but that was nothing that he did. I also have a problem with spending tens of thousands of dollars on this internet marketing "notion" that the town council thought was a good idea. I've said it before, "our home is not ready for company".
The "sour grapes" comment is way off base. The facts are that the Good Ole Boy Network is alive and well in Tarboro. How can the town have a 60k budget, have a council member raise concerns about the "selection process" - The budget is dropped to 44k - only to have an out of town, family member come in with a bid of 43k ?
I think this Wyoming company will do a good job, i just have concerns about how our town council made this selection. Were there not any companies in North Carolina that would have done this for 30k ? 20k ? 10k ?
Where did this 44 number come from ? And what about putting 44k towards the Police Department, Fire Department or Public Works.
One last question - When the masses start coming to the website and emailing the town, who will be replying ? Do any of these men even know how to use a computer ?
Kudos To Melvin ! It's refreshing to know that someone is asking questions as opposed to following the pied piper.
I, too, thought the "sour grapes" comment off target (and odd). The term "sour grapes" refers to an unsportsmanlike expression of anger or frustration at the failure to aquire something.
I believe that there may be a misconception by the town council (and the comment poster "C") that we, the Grassroots of Tarboro, are associates of Regency Interactive, the Rocky Mount company who also presented at Monday night's council meeting.
I met the young men representing that company one month ago at the March town council meeting. We talked for a few moments in the parking lot and apparently share some opinions on the importance of website SEO. They gave me a written copy of their proposal because I was interested in what they were offering, just as I had been interested in Market Force's proposal. We had no further contact.
I took an empty seat behind them at the town council meeting Monday night and Patrick Butler, who I also had not seen or spoken with since the last town council meeting, chose to sit beside me. He and I share computer geekness and whispered techie opinions during both presentations.
Perhaps when looking down on us from the raised platform it appeared that we were somehow in cahoots.