Everything Aberystwyth

EverythingAberystwyth is a community website which aims to provide a hub of information for local people, students and visitors to the town and surrounding area. The site is supported by small annual subscriptions from local businesses in the area, and this goes towards maintaining and improving the site. The model of the site and its overall aims are very similar to that of the website used in Borth, which is also supported by local businesses. As the site is supported by the local business community, the site will also only look to work with the local business community, and not with national companies who have a presence in the area. The concept of introducing the site to businesses is very new having only began in February 2012, although the site already receives several thousand visitors a month. The more members we get, the more visitors we will get and the more exposure you will get. We aim to provide website members with a useful and cost effective tool to help gain vital extra exposure for their business. The site works to offer a real alternative to more traditional methods of promotion such as newspapers, which in many cases are not read by much of the potential target audience. A single year subscription costs just £90 (only £7.50 per month) which not only provides you with a full page listing for your business which can include downloadable menus, pricelists and other information but also gives you unlimited access to the website to add your latest offers, events, news and jobs at no extra cost. No special knowledge is required to do this, and we have already created a brief guide on how to use the site should you need it. We want to provide the businesses that help to make Aberystwyth unique with a better way to advertise and with unlimited access to the site you can add as much or as little as you like as and when you need to without incurring extra costs per advert. All information posted to the site is automatically sent out via social media such as Twitter and Facebook where we are already building up a strong following. These tools provide fantastic marketing opportunities to all businesses, but knowing that not all businesses have the time, resources or understanding required to make full use of them we are working to do it for you. We are also working on building a mass mailing list which will allow businesses to target specific groups within the town such as students more effectively. As such we will be looking to attend this year's fresher's fare to speak to students and to get them to sign up. The site is about community, and we do not want it to simply be viewed as an advert. It is about working to create a sense of membership and therefore ownership of the site, so that people feel that they can use it and contribute with idea towards its future development. The site aims to provide a real alternative to current services available to businesses, where excessive monthly charges and profits are the top priority. One small charge for the year gives you everything you need, and supports the upkeep of the site. As such the site will be looking to join the Aberystwyth Chamber of Commerce from April 2012 in order to begin to engage with businesses. We have also been speaking with key organisations within the town such as the council and the Welsh Assembly in order to highlight the work we are doing and there are some potential projects in the near future we will be looking to get involved in. We are also open to use by community groups, and access to the site is provided free of charge to non profit organisations and groups where possible so that they can also add their events and news to the site and calendar.