W. TERRY SMITH, EDITOR
The Daily Southerner / October 16, 2008 11:10 am
The Town of Tarboro’s new community website (www.tarboro-nc.com) was launched Wednesday afternoon. It is focused on telling its story to prospective visitors and newcomers. “The new site is geared towards attracting people to our great town,” Town Manager Sam Noble said. “Our intent was to assure that anyone interested in visiting or relocating knew what we had to offer.” The new site features four community videos of local residents telling Tarboro’s story through their experiences growing up and living in the community.
“We desired to have locals talking authentically about what Tarboro means to them,” said Latham Jenkins, president of Circumerro Media, the website’s publisher. “Authenticity is always an enduring way to help others understand Tarboro’s value proposition and we achieved this through the video content.”
YouTube users have already been commenting on the video content: “I am moving from Upstate NY to Tarboro in a few weeks, and I appreciate this video very much” and “I visited Tarboro for a couple of weeks back in February and fell in love with your great town. If I was ever gonna emigrate from the UK, Tarboro would be my ideal destination.”
Beyond the videos, the new website was developed using what Jenkins noted was a search engine friendly architecture to assure an expanded presence in the search engines. The former website was developed about five years ago, according to Town Planner Troy Lewis. Circumerro Media is a Web design, publishing and branding company that creates engaging experiences “based on the simple principle that your company has a story—a story we’ll help you tell.” It was founded by Jenkins in 1995 and is based in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
The website was a labor of love for Jenkins, a Tarboro native and the 38-year-old son of Town Councilman John and Sandy Jenkins. “From the beginning it’s been, hopefully, a reflection of my experiences growing up in Tarboro and captures the voice of the community today,” Jenkins said.
He won the contract of $44,000 in April and came in under that at $43,280, $22,400 of which is covered by a grant from ElectriCities. Jenkins contributed $5,000 worth of video to ensure the success needed. When he first presented a version for review by the Town Council on Aug. 11, it was requested the site show a more diverse population. When the ouncil viewed a preview of the site and two of the minivideos on Monday night, it was approved unanimously.
