So, here we are in our 16th year of sharing our passion about Graeagle, California and the beautiful surrounding area, and I look back at how far we have come since the first day we decided to run with this idea. Back then; it was just a few years after the web had been opened to commerce, so nobody really understood what the World Wide Web was about. I remember telling my local clients that I had this fantastic idea to link up their businesses with our site, so other people around the world could see the magic of Graeagle. It was a bit of a hard sell, and only a few of my clients were ready to give it a go. I worked on making the pricing right and gave away a lot of my time to make sure everyone was really satisfied with his or her piece of the ‘Web’ on our site. Back then; we sold pages on our site. You could buy a single page or a multipage section on our website and not worry about paying for hosting or managing a domain. It made sense at the time, and that’s how graeagle.com began to grow as a community travel oriented website.
The industry soon changed as new technology was introduced, and soon our client’s began to understand the value of having their businesses on the Internet. We helped many of them design and develop their own websites, making sure they were still prominently featured in various sections of our site.
Within the last five years, two things have developed that have drastically changed the way people interact with our site: social media and mobile technology. We have a great Facebook Page with over 1500 fans, and we are active on Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, Tumblr and Instagram. We love to chat with our friends, post photos and answer questions about Graeagle and the general area. Almost 30% of our traffic is mobile based, and, we expect that to double this year, as devices get smaller and more powerful, making it easier for the traveler to ‘pocket’ and carry their connectivity tools during their visit to our area. Stay tuned as we add additional mobile features to our site to support this growing trend.
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So, here’s to another 16 years and beyond!
Cheers!
Michael Clawson is ‘Chief Fish’ at Big Fish Creations, an advertising and digital media company in the Sierra town of Graeagle. His background began in Silicon Valley when Apple Computer and Adobe Systems first made their mark in Desktop Publishing. He was introduced to interactive media early in his career, transitioned to production artist, and later, creator and lead principal of an Interactive Department at a major advertising agency. Specializing in branding across multiple media platforms, his diverse repertoire includes a hybrid combination of designer and developer with emphasis on graphic design, branding, photography and communication.
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