Folkestone and Hythe District Council Launch Event Search ‘Spotlight’ - their Community Directory Website

‘We were pleased to work with Ecce on the Spotlight project. We now have a great community resource that can only get bigger and better and we look forward to working together to further develop the site.’ Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee Cabinet Member for Communities -Folkestone and Hythe District Council Folkestone and Hythe District Council found that people were struggling to access the wide range of activities and service options available in their community. They needed a one-stop online directory to display all that the area has to offer. Knowing two heads were better than one, we joined forces with Sleeping Giant Media who wrote the website content and advised on SEO. The Challenge / Objectives To create a user-friendly search function for hundreds, potentially thousands, of local groups. Due to the large volume of activities the website needed to be fast, and filter information efficiently. Time was spent devising categories so visitors could narrow down results easily. Additional search functionality was included such as distance, age group and opening days. An assessment of the local activities already available needed to be undertaken. From that suitable activities were inputted into the system, taking care to only to include relevant information. An authorisation process needed to be implemented to avoid rogue entries. All new profiles are reviewed by approved administrators for the system. Ensuring details were kept up to date was a concern for the council. An information check has been put in place so that after an activity has been live on the site for 6 months, owners are automatically reminded to re-confirm profile accuracy. This process is repeated every 6 months. The Results In the first month of launch, the number of activities available has nearly doubled which shows promise that the website will grow exponentially. Folkestone and Hythe District Council now have a fast, user-friendly online directory of over 500 community activities. The Impact The ultimate goal of the council is to strengthen communities and bring people together, and the new ‘Spotlight’ website is now able to facilitate this. The tool is a valuable signposting service for professionals and residents alike and enables communities to improve their own wellbeing.