Everyone's got a website these days, haven't they? I once swore I'd never make a blog, but here we are.
Blackpool Council has not one, not two, but ten websites. Ten.
That might not be such a surprise to some; large companies have more than that in some cases. It was, however, a surprise to me, a lifelong resident, because I had only heard of one of them.
Here's a list:
Visit Blackpool
The official tourism website for Blackpool
Blackpool4Me
Has the amazing hook line, "where local people and communities create the site". This site allows local clubs and organisations to have a page on it. From the site, "Blackpool4Me is not your average website - it is loads better! It is a website of websites, in fact its the website of websites." Ok.
BSafe
Blackpool Community Safety and Drugs Partnership. Lots of pictures of Police officers on the street. Sightings of the loch ness monster are more common. "BSafe Blackpool is committed to reducing crime, disorder and substance misuse in the town, reassuring the public through a series of innovative projects and sophisticated intelligence." Not very good at it then, looking at the figures.
Blackpool Coastal Housing
An "Arms Length Management Organisation" created by Blackpool Council. They soon wont be arms length when they move into the town centre. Manages Council houses.
Blackpool Unlimited
An online portal supporting business in the town.
ReBlackpool
Site listing various projects relating to the regeneration of Blackpool.
Blackpool CPS
No, not Crown Prosecution Service, but Corporate Print Services.
Blackpool Build Up
A 3-year project run by Blackpool Borough Council and Blackpool and The Fylde College, aimed at training adults in construction skills.
R U Bothered
Aimed primarily at Blackpool's yoof with some forums and some information about yoof services.
BSFBlackpool
Building Schools for the Future. Where these schools are I do not know, but according to them it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Am I about to start slagging them off for having loads of sites? Surprisingly, no, I'm not. I will say, however, that despite some of them sporting web design company names at the bottom, none of them are particularly well designed and there is no house style, indicative of delegation to various Council departments to do their own thing.
The main issue I have really is the underpublication of these sites. I had a look on the R U Bothered site, as I had no idea what it would be but assumed it would have something that related to youth issues. There's a forum on there with 10 topics spanning around 18 months. Thats how under used it is, because nobody knows about it.
Had I wanted to start a business, would I have known about Blackpool Unlimited? No. Did I know what the Blackpool Build Up project was? No. Did I know that Blackpool was apparently building next generation schools? No.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Am I bovvered?
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To be fair, some of the sites are advertised, but you have to be behind a bus to see them advertised (using the commercial advertising space on Blackpool Transport buses).
ReplyDeleteI don't mind websites being set up for different projects, but as you say, if nobody's visiting them, what's the point? At least they aren't housed on the council's main (dire) site - they would never ever be found.
There should be a 'house style', but you'd think they'd be using a standard web publishing platform for these sites, rather than farm them out to second-rate designers. It isn't too hard to get to grips with Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal and find some templates and modules to adapt the site to your requirements. There are even spell check modules (which would have definitely helped the yoof site).
You did miss out one other site, though: blackpool4me.com.
I'll leave you to guess how much it cost to set up...
Your eyes deceived you, it's the second one in the list! I probably don't want to know how much it cost but go on, lets have it!
ReplyDeleteI'm all for good websites, but none of them really are. The Visit Blackpool one isn't too bad, but would any visitor actually have known about it or visited it?
You can get a professional site template done for not a lot of money these days but given the Council's evident weakness in negotiation (£150k for 6 wireless points, £300k dilapidated ghost train, £100k jetwash 3 roads) they'd probably end up shelling out a small fortune.
Bollocks to my eyes, Sunshine!
ReplyDeleteI can't unearth a reference for it, but - from memory - I think it was something like £125,000, using ERDF money (who cares - it's still taxpayers' money). Naturally, if somebody cares to correct me, I'd be happy to know the exact amount!
When it kicked off, I think they also employed two full-time members of staff and anybody wanting to use the site to publish information on it (individuals or groups) had to go on a training course. Why bother when you can spend five minutes setting up a Blogspot or Wordpress account?
I forgot to add, the Visit Blackpool is quite good, as public sector sites go. It's regularly updated, looks clean and comes top in the search engine results for quite a few common and relevant search queries, which is where they'll get most of their traffic from.
ReplyDeleteThat cost doesn't bear thinking about. The IT salesperson that sold them that must have been laughing his head off.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know why they never consider "free" solutions such as Drupal or any of the site engines you mention. No back handers involved, perhaps!
Now then, Sunshine... You didn't find this one, did ya?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blackpoolstrategicpartnership.co.uk