By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee has approved a proposal from Your Web Choice to develop a rural tourism website for Dunn County.
The 2021 budget includes $10,000 for the rural tourism website, and at the July meeting, the committee reviewed several options for the website, said James Anderson, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the community resources and tourism committee, at the August 9 meeting.
Jim Zons, county board supervisor from Colfax and a member of the community resources and tourism committee, was assigned the task of finding options for developing the county tourism website.
Zons has a background in website development and operates his own company, EZ New Media.
At the July meeting, Zons expressed the opinion that Dunn County should have its own website and should not be tied in with the Greater Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce’s website.
At the August 9 meeting, Zons said his opinion had not changed and that he still believed Dunn County should have its own website.
The CRT committee can look at how the website is doing after a year to see if it still makes sense to keep paying someone else to make updates or whether county staff should make updates, he said.
At the July meeting, Dan Dunbar, Dunn County’s Chief Information Officer, said county staff would be able to devote about four hours per month to maintaining and updating a tourism website.
Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and a member of the community resources and tourism committee, said he was inclined to agree with Zons about Dunn County having a separate tourism website.
The $10,000 for a rural tourism website is in the 2021 budget, and if part of that money is spent this fall on the website, would the remaining money be carried over into 2022? he asked.
The cost for Your Web Choice to build the website would be $3,500, while a monthly fee of $300 would cover the cost of maintaining the website and updating the content.
If the CRT committee contracts with Your Web Choice, a year’s worth of updates and maintenance is included in the proposal, so the website would be updated and maintained through 2022, Zons said.
Carry forward
If there is money left at the end of the year, the CRT committee would have to request that it be carried over into 2022, otherwise the money would just go into the county’s general fund, Anderson said.
Much would depend on how the website is invoiced and whether the updates are invoiced monthly and whether the year’s worth of maintenance and updates could be pre-paid, Dunbar said.
If money is left over, the committee would have to request a carry-forward to next year, said Keith Strey, Dunn County’s chief financial officer.
Paying up front would not be a good idea because the committee would want to make sure the work was completed before paying for it, and leftover funds from 2021 would have to be carried forward, he said.
Design
Ann Vogl, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the CRT committee, asked who would determine the design of the website.
The CRT committee would give an outline of what is wanted for the website, and then the committee would have to determine how much direction to give, Zons said.
The committee can have as much control of designing the website as the committee wants, he said.
“You can micromanage it if you want to or you can say here are the general broad brushstrokes,” Zons said, noting that the CRT committee could use existing websites to show what they want or do not want in the rural tourism website.
Organization and navigation are the two most important parts of a website. The website should be easy to navigate, and it should give people what they are looking for. “That’s more important than flash or whiz-bang,” he said.
The navigation should be clear and not use cute icons for everything, but rather, should use words for categories so it is clear to people using the website, Zons said.
“I’m excited about this,” Anderson said.
The community resources and tourism committee has had the word “tourism” in the name for years but has never done very much with tourism, he said.
Dunn County has a variety of “sights to see” and “events to do,” Anderson said.
The Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee unanimously approved a motion to accept the proposal from Your Web Choice to develop a rural tourism website for Dunn County.
