SOME BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP

The main reason to register is that membership will allow you to post material on your site - classified ads, blogs, pictures, messages, upcoming events notices and look, this is a great place to catch up on the latest local and international news , too, updated every hour and not punctuated by annoying advertisements.

If you have a business, give us a call and get listed in the F!ND IT directories, a page of your own which you can maintain and change yourself. I'm encouraging people to come to this site and use the Keyword Search function to find local suppliers and services like, where do I go to hire a trailer for the weekend, or a floor sander, or paving supplies? (You won't find anything for those keywords yet until the trailer hire people and the floor sander hire people get themselves a page!!)

• Free membership - REGISTER HERE
• Free non-commercial CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING - sell stuff, advertise garage sales, get a babysitter, sell your house, more, much more
• Free CHB.NET EMAIL ACCOUNTS plus webmail e.g. [email protected] - now you don't have to put up with those undistinguishes xtra accounts!
• Members' PRIVATE MESSAGING - a service that allows you to leave private messages to other members of www.chb.net.nz. They receive a notification when they log in.
• Member's BLOGS and commenting on blogs and items from news feeds
• Very user friendly NEWS delivery - reports from NZ Herald and BBC and several other news services updated hourly into your site
• WHO'S ONLINE indicator
• Personal or family pages - share with friends and relatives overseas - APPLY
• Travelling abroad? Do your blogging on www.chb.net.nz so friends here canfollow your progress. Access your page from any internet cafe in the wotrld.
• Have your say - create your own discussion topics - PUBLIC FORUMS
• What's on around the region - EVENT CALENDAR . Registered users can list their events. It's free and upcoming events are listed automatically on the front page.
• Share your great food ideas - RECIPE DATABASE shortly to be revamped
• and LOTS MORE

If there is a feature you think would add to the value of CHBCommunity.net.nz, send us a note and we'll try and implement it.

ADVERTISERS

The Author's Notebook

January 2008 - I have been working on the idea of this site, talking about it with others, and building prototypes since 2005. I have finally settled on an open-source framework known as Drupal (currently using v5.5). To all those all around the world who have generously contributed to the Drupal project I extend my sincere thanks and kudos.

CHB.NET.NZ was officially launced to the local public in May 2008 using some radio, press and theatre advertising. Resources became a bit scarce as they are want to do from time to time so active promotion fizzled out and I hoped that word of mouth might do the trick. Well, it hasn't yet so this year we will have a couple of radio and print campaigns to help spread the word. You can do your bit by encouraging others to visit and USE the site.

I still believe www.chb.net.nz has a valuable role to play in the life of the Internet and our community.

July 2009 - Completed 2 months radio promotion and 4000 DLE cards distributed to the population at large by including them in a recent issue of the CHB Mail. Generated a whole new look for the site, a very modern and crisp theme in shades of blue. Added Lightbox capability so clickable images enlarge as a sem-transparent overly rather than in a small new window. Updated method of posing for regular contributors using the blog capability rather than the earlier and more complex method of separate pages which rather tended to get lost. Added a page for the local Cubs and Scouts. Added a new category in the F!ND IT Directories, Arts and Crafts.

Advertisers - don't be deceived!

...by the promotional offers made by other web enterprises. CHB.NET.NZ is the ONLY site on the entire internet whose focus is specifically those who are your prospective customers , namely, the folk of Central Hawkes Bay.

A lot of time and effort has been invested in this project - the ongoing cost of building and maintaining fresh content is supplemented by you, our advertisers - we thank you for sharing our vision. And, of course, we do provide you with a page that you can maintain, edit and change yourselves - plus our ability to mount goal-specific special promotions for your businesses.

Our statistics speak volubly. In July, for example, CHB.NET enjoyed 91,196 hits and 874 unique visitors who came to the site 2,274 times. Our web servers dished up a gigabyte of data comprising 15,894 pages. Yes, an encouraging amount of foot traffic, and this is just the beginning! We have a lot of new stuff under way for your edification and enjoyment.

So, no, don't be deceived by the claims of others - they are not able to deliver your message into this, our local marketplace. Simple as that!

Phone Trevor on 858 6287 to discuss your needs and our ability to meet them.

How to get your own page on CHB.NET

In addition to the member facilities on this site (free classified advertising, blogs, forums, event calendar, messaging, picture galleries etc) it is a simple process to get your own personal or family page , or a community organisation or sports club page or one for a school or commercial business . These are available at low cost and, of course, what is shown on the page is entirely managed by you with all edits and changes done through your web browser. Your changes are immediate and you may do this from any computer connected to the Internet, from anywhere in the world. And charitable organisations may have a page without cost .

For those with existing websites we can help to increase traffic to your site by means of a link on CHB.NET and this, to some extent, will increase your search engine ranking. We are happy to discuss these options with you.

Yes, www.chb.net.nz is indeed OPEN 24 HOURS. If you would like to know more about this facility please use the Contact Us page, or phone Trevor on 06 858 6287 Tuesday to Friday 8am - 5pm.