Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers of Colorado
Karen Cullen, President and Sallie Clark, Marketing Chairperson of the Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers of Colorado (BBIC) approached Acorn Internet Services in 2008 for assistance in putting together a grant proposal to the Colorado Tourism Office. The purpose of the grant proposal was to secure matching funds from the CTO in order to update the appearance and function of the BBIC website, with a specific focus on integrating Colorado's Scenic By-Ways into the BBIC web site. While the existing web site was well marketed to the search engines, and has been a proven performer for the association and its members regarding the ease of which new members could be added or deleted, enough had changed in internet marketing over the last several years to warrant a design refresh, integration of modern mapping techniques and expansion of existing database applications. When the grant proposal was approved by the CTO, everyone kicked into action: a new design evolved from pre-development meetings between Karen and Sallie and Lisa Kolb, Acorn President and other Acorn staff members.
- Navigation for the site was revised to support new pages being added to the site
- Photos were gathered and formatted
- Scenic byways and regions were defined
- Area attractions were researched in Google Maps and loaded into the mapping database
- Page content as researched, edited and loaded to pages
- Marketing and SEO research was undertaken and applied to all new pages, and updates fed to many existing pages
....and the new and improved BBIC web site was born on June 30th, 2009!
The hours involved in the process of redeveloping the site were extensive by the Acorn team, but those of us at Acorn are the first to acknowledge the countless hours of volunteer time put into this project by Karen Cullen (1892 Victoria's Keep) and Sallie Clark (Holden House). These two women are to be commended for their devotion to this association and their dedication to the tasks requited to ensure that the re-birth of the web site took place on time and in accordance with the CTO grant requirements, while at the same time running their respective bed and breakfasts!
The Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers of Colorado has had a long relationship with Acorn Marketing, one that pre-dates the inception of Acorn as a web development company; Lisa and Mark Kolb owned a bed and breakfast in Colorado Springs and not only were they BBIC members, but Lisa served as Secretary and Marketing Chairperson between 2000-2004. When the Kolbs founded Acorn Marketing the BBIC was one of the first database sites developed by Acorn. Sharon Rowe, Project Manager for the new site redevelopment process,w as also a former innkeeper in Salida, CO and served on the BBIC as Membership Chair and President between 2000-2004.
It was an honor for Acorn to work on the project with Karen Cullen and Sallie Clark, and we wish the Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers of Colorado and each of their members much success in the coming years.
Sharon Rowe
Professional Services Manager
Acorn Marketing
