"The Chamber is uniquely positioned to serve smaller, rural businesses. We really needed a place to connect (Chamber members) and highlight their businesses," internet expert Adam Grim said as he explained the rationale behind the website redesign for the Southern Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce. "We wanted the website to be helpful for them."

To plan the new site, Grim talked with board members and members at large. Several elements are key in the new design. The site is intended to showcase businesses, make contact information easy to find, bring Chamber members and clients together, and offer straightforward ways to promote events and other opportunities online, which is especially important at the moment.

Kristen Phipps, who has a background in branding and design, created a new Chamber logo and fonts that Grim used on the website. The rooster and dusky green and yellow represent the agricultural roots of southern Lancaster County.

"It was a fun project," Grim commented. "Feedback has been very positive."

Currently, website content features a calendar, a membership directory, membership information, and a history and leadership page. The directory includes more than 215 listings, which are searchable by name or type of business, and a different business is featured every time the page refreshes.

"It's a tool for the community. Anybody can use (the directory) to look for other Lancaster County businesses to work with," Grim said.

For businesses that may not have their own websites, the Chamber website is designed to fill the gap. "They can use it as a landing page of sorts," Grim explained. "There's heavy SEO (search engine optimization) force behind the site so these businesses have more of a presence on Google. Anything we can do to make it a better tool for the members is what we're looking for."

Grim noted that the website will continue to be developed over the months and years to come.

"We have a great team that's committed to the website," he said. "We plan to roll out new features. We don't want to stop here."

Readers may visit https://southernlancasterchamber.org to view the new website and to sign up to join the Chamber. Membership is open to everyone regardless of location, although most members are situated south of Route 30 in Lancaster County.