Welcome to the new Business Cornwall website.
Following on from Nick’s comments I wanted to take a few moments to introduce some of the new elements of the site and explain how these features could be of use to you and your business.
The new website is currently in ‘Beta’ mode, techie speak for ‘in audience testing’. However, you should find all the latest news at your fingertips just as it was before.
Below I have summarised some of the key changes and improvements made to the Business Cornwall website*. These changes represent the first phase in our redevelopment; however, we’ll be continuing to add new and engaging content to meet the growing needs of the business community in Cornwall as we move through the summer.
We are keen to hear your thoughts and feedback. If there is a feature you’d like to see developed or content you’d like to see more of please get in touch through traditional mediums such as email (aren@businesscornwall.co.uk) or phone (01209 718688) or new media such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
*Please note all red text links direct to that area of the site or external sites referenced.
Improved News Categories
Improving on the old site we have re-categorised news to match areas of interest such as geographic location or business sector. The new options to choose from are:
- All Latest News
If you want to see all the latest content, as before, select this option to see the main news stream. - News by Type
News stories related to main subject i.e. Appointments, awards, convergence etc. This matches the main categories found at the bottom of the old site. - News by Industry
Find the news relevant to you and your industry. New news items will be categorised to appear by the sectors they are relevant to. Be sure to add your own sector to your RSS reader if you have one. Categories include; tourism sector, finance and investment and so on. - News by Location
Giving you the local story. You can now find stories relevant to your nearest town. - Blogs
Here you will find the team’s personal commentary, views etc. Nick will be rounding up the week’s Business news on a regular basis, so keep an eye on his posts if you don’t have time to read all the news. - Features
A new introduction to the website, this section contains popular features from the printed magazine including; Face to Face interviews, the Last Word and Business Clinics. Archive content is being added all the time so please keep checking for updates.
Improved Networking Calendar and Contacts
The previous site had a networking calendar which was difficult to keep up to date and maintain. It was also not particularly easy to navigate and locate suitable events.
The new site has been designed to include:
At this stage it shows a few select events such as Cornwall Chamber breakfast meetings and Hub events. However, as we move through the month we will be asking event and network organisers to upload their own events directly to the calendar.
This new system makes it easy for you to view events and is easy to keep up to date as events can be set to repeat on their relevant cycle. For those more tech savvy individuals, or those using Google Calendar in the workplace, you will find that it is possible to integrate the calendar with your own internal calendar systems.
If you would like to add your events to the calendar please let me know and I’ll run you through the process.
Social Media Integration
The new site has a number of features which link wih other Social Media platforms. These features include:
- Share This Buttons
All pages and posts include a ‘Share This’ button with drop down options to share content across other sites, email it or text it to a friend. The button can be found in the header on pages or above the author biography on news stories and posts. - Facebook and Twitter Buttons
We have included buttons directed at our Business Cornwall Facebook page and Twitter account. Take a moment to become a fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news. Feel free to engage – share the story with friends or add a comment. - Twitter Search Display
The homepage features a Twitter box which streams mentions of the terms ‘Business’ and ‘Cornwall’ over Twitter. - Scribd Account
We have uploaded all past issues of Business Cornwall magazine to Scribd (a popular document sharing site) making them fully searchable on Google or on the service itself. Why not visit our account and check past issues for mentions of your own company. The innovative ‘iPaper’ system has been used on the ‘Current Issue’ page to bring the latest magazine to you in a fast loading, easy to read and user friendly format. - Team Links to Profiles
A lot of Social Media is about connecting with people – real people. Check out the Team page to find links to our profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. - Feedburner and Subscribe2 Email Updates
We offer two levels of news update; Feedburner offers a daily digest of news added to the site within the past 24 hours and Subscibe2 offers updates as new stories are uploaded. Choose the right level of update for your interest. - RSS Feeds
As before we have a number of dedicated RSS feeds covering each of the site’s categories and tags. You can now subscribe to the right RSS feed for your interest whether that be your local news (i.e. Truro News Feed), industry news (i.e. Creative Industries Feed), company or interest tag (i.e. Convergence Tag Feed).
Update 10/08/2009:Â We have added two additional features to the site since originally posting:
- Printable posts
We have added a link at the bottom of all new posts to format posts for printing. This follows a request from a site visitor. - ‘Tweetmeme’ integration
At the top of posts there is now an option to send the story over Twitter with a backlink to the article.
