NEWS

Take advantage of chamber's website tools

Jesselyn Bickley

jbickley@dvtnv.com

Owning and operating a business can be hard, but the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce and Chamber National are providing tools to help businesses present themselves online to draw a bigger customer base.

Chamber Nation gave the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce’s website an overhaul last spring. As an added perk, members can log on and have a traffic catcher site (TCS) set up by Chamber Nation for free. The traffic catcher page includes details about a business and can include photos.

"The Chamber website is designed to make it easier for businesses to reach their target markets, promote their goods and services, and thus increase their revenue,” said Ken Cook, Chamber of Commerce president. “The social media apps can attract some of the thousands of vehicles that pass through Mesquite on I-15 daily. In addition, the more 'hits' the website gets, the more it helps all Chamber businesses.”

However, last week during the chamber lunch, Chamber Nation CEO Richard Scully said only about 25 percent of chamber members are utilizing their traffic catcher pages through the new website.

"There is a big difference between 'using' the website and being 'registered,'" Cook said. "Utilization of the website is high, but only 25 percent have made the effort to register their own website (TCS) under the Chamber website. Without polling the membership, I can only speculate that, like with any new technology, there are 'early' and 'late' adopters."

This does not have to be a business’s main or only web page. Other web pages can be linked to the TCS.

Traffic is directed to the page through the use of chosen keywords associated with the business. For example, Desert Valley Times may choose "Mesquite news," "online news," "Mesquite newspaper" or other terms as specialized keywords. Then, when people use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo to search “Mesquite newspaper,” DVT’s traffic catcher site through the Chamber of Commerce would appear.

"Chamber Nation helps us and local businesses pull the pieces together to build and increase revenue to build a strong local economy," said Carol White, Eureka Casino Resort marketing coordinator.

Bryan Baird, the marketing executive for Baird Painting, said he had little trouble setting up the TCS for Baird Painting. Currently, Baird is working on setting up another website for the business, not through the Chamber or Chamber Nation.

"I mostly put it up for an informational site so potential clients can see our work," Baird said. "But I'm in the process of developing another business website and it’s a lot more challenging than the Mesquite one."

Webinars are available on how to set up the TCS at on YouTube, or a business owner can call the chamber at 702-346-2902.

"Chamber Nation is one of the most important resources for local information for guest’s who are arriving in Mesquite and want to learn more about our community and what services our local businesses have to offer," White said. "By aligning our mission with the Chamber Nation, the growth potential is significant."

The chamber and College of Southern Nevada-Mesquite Campus are also working to host webinars for interested businesses in the near future.

It’s important chamber members take advantage of the Chamber Nation TCS because the more members using the site the better the technology that comes with it, Scully said.

At the chamber luncheon, Scully talked about a “premium plus membership” in which a company would pay a "low" fee for the better version of the site. In the newer version, residents or even tourist, can text a keyword like “News” to a number (i.e. 72727) and the business information and a link to the website will be texted back to them.

However, this technology won’t be put into place if the basic package isn’t being used, he said.

"The important thing is that we are making progress," Cook said.

Follow Jesselyn on Twitter, @JbickleyDVT, on Facebook, www.facebook.com/JbickleyDVT or call 702-346-7495.

How to create your business traffic catcher site

First, go to the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce website, www.mesquitechamber.org, hover over the drop-down tab titled “member” and click on log in.

You will be prompted to enter a the username and password. If you don’t know your password, there is a box to submit an email or username to reset the password or call the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce at 702- 346-2902.

On the main page, after logging in, there is a button that says “Request Setup.” The link will walk you through the information that’s needed and allows you to submit the photos you want on the page. That’s all that’s required of the member; Chamber Nation takes care of the rest.

If you need to update something on the site later on, the site is easy to work with a “change profile info” option on the home page.

Businesses can also include a map and a “request appointment” button if necessary. There are several other options to customize a traffic catcher site under the “advanced tools” option on the main page after logging in.