What does it take to get the City of Victoria’s attention?
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Update: 3PM August 11th – since the publication of this article this morning www.johnsonstreetbridge.COM has been updated from a placeholder webpage to a ‘password access required’
On August 4th, 2009 the blog post ‘How not to Communicate‘ illustrated how a placeholder page for a domain can act as a detriment to the actual owners of the website. Yet a week after posting that public relations problem, the same page still exists for johnsonstreetbridge.COM, and that after a media blitz on CBC, CFAX, A-Channel - Facebook and Twitter messages – a printed and email Letter to Council – and direct emails and phone conversations with some Victoria councillors, highlighted this awareness campaign . By now it is not an assumption, it should be a certainty that City Communication staff, councillors, the Mayor, related PR people and contractors have perused the johnsonstreetbridge.ORG website and noted the blog posts and comments. If not…well, who knows what to think?
johnsonstreetbridge.COM Aug. 10th (?)
So why is it the domain placeholder page for the proposed new City profile website on the Johnson Street Bridge STILL live. We previously noted it is a simple task (less than 2 minutes work) to redirect a domain/website to an existing website, leave it as ‘under construction’, or put up a single ‘index’ home page – a week later, nothing has changed. The graphic is a screenshot taken August 10th, 2009 of johnsonstreetbridge.COM – It’s STILL THERE!
Why is this important? Mayor Dean Fortin has stated communications between the City and residents is a top issue, especially in regards to the planned replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge.
“And as the city moves to replace the Johnson Street bridge and build other capital transportation projects, two new communications officers will come with the package.
Their combined $120,000 salaries are not included in the communications budget.
“Things are going to happen quickly and people and going to want to know,” Fortin said. “We need to be able to communicate (road) closures and noise.”
The two-year positions will actually save money because without them, the work would be contracted out, said Katie Josephson, city communications director. Her staff are already working to capacity, she said, justifying the need for the extra staff.” Quoted from Victoria Daily News – Article by Roszan Holmen.
Those communication job applications closed on July 31st. Presumably they have been filled, and the new experienced, professional PR employees are already busy dealing with everything to do with the Johnson Street Bridge. It should be their job, with oversight from the City of Victoria Communications Director, to ensure every public relations medium – online and off – is on message, and shows the City manages the Johnson Street Bridge project PR professionally. That should have been the case up to now – but give the City staff a break, they are busy.
Time for a re-cap for full understanding. Over a month ago the City announced a website would be created to profile the bridge replacement: “A project website is under development to keep the public informed and identify opportunities for public input.” quoted from the City of Victoria Blue Bridge webpage. On July 8th 2009 the City of Victoria web consultants, Atomic Crayon, duly registered johnsonstreetbridge.COM and .CA (leaving open the .NET and .ORG. – I keep thanking these guys for that!). Some questions need answering…
- Who actually owns and manages the City’s Johnson Street Bridge planned website(s)? Whois information for johnsonstreetbridge.com and .ca show they are registered and owned by Atomic Crayon. There is no reference to the City of Victoria.
- Has the City awarded a specific contract and assigned a budget to Atomic Crayon, or another web developer? What is the expected cost for a dedicated Johnson Street Bridge website?
- Is there a letter of understanding about the registration and pre-website launch management? (how the domains are presented and linked before the website goes live)
- Why is an Islandnet.com (the apparent website host company) placeholder page still active?
- Who is gaining the revenue from the adverts on the placeholder page?
That placeholder page advertises Island Net…fine, they are a good local web hosting company and deserve support. The default ‘not live yet page’ also displays adverts from Google – nice to know we could receive $11.600 from the Canadian Government if we click on the web page advertisement RIGHT NOW, or find a local cosmetic dentist – but is that really what the City of Victoria wishes to promote? The page also displays related websites and links under the keyword term “johnson street bridge” – which is nice for us, our website is prominently displayed, thanks again!
Which leads to some hilarious irony. The second displayed link under ‘related pages’ on the City of Victoria’s planned bridge website is our blog post “How not to Communicate” – really, to whom do we offer our grateful thanks for all that free publicity? In fact – this deserves a pat on the back, maybe even a bottle of champagne!
Johnsonstreetbridge.COM - ?
Gobsmacked is the word – brilliant, delicious irony. No one could have planned this in advance. It is a clear illustration of poor online PR management.
Public relations is about details – researching what others are saying, ensuring all mediums of communication are correctly managed, and responding to issues quickly and professionally. As mentioned, our first post on City of Victoria bridge website issues was over a week ago – yet the problem remains.
The residents, voters and taxpayers need to be reassured City of Victoria communication staff have the knowledge and professional experience to present Victoria at its best – online, in print and through the media – to locals, the region and internationally. We understand running communications and public relations for a city is a demanding and often thankless job; however, silly, fundamental mistakes on basics like domain/website management lead to obvious questions and concerns on how the entire Johnson Street Bridge project is being handled.
How not to Communicate Redux: Johnson Street Bridge Victoria BC
[...] fact there was a possible response to one of the posted articles. On Tuesday August 11th in How not to Communicate Redux it was noted the City of Victoria planned Blue Bridge showcase website, johnsonstreetbridge.COM was [...]