It's always nice to hear from people who appreciate what you do. In the firefighting business, a note of thanks can sometimes brighten a slow day. When things look dark, checking the bulletin board for those great "When I grow up I want to be a fireman just like you" letters can really put the sun back in the sky.

In the writing business, I always assume that no one reads what I write! That way I can be as truthful as I want to be and not feel like I'm hurting someone's feelings. But I try to always be helpful and not hurtful in my comments. Then again, I'm a Sagittarius and we are known for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time!

Turns out people have been reading and are gutsy enough to ask for a review of their Web sites. I promise I'll be gentle since you did volunteer! First up, Evans Center [Volunteer] Fire Company.

When I started writing this column, I said one of the most important things I will look for is a design that's easy to read. If your users can't read your site, what's the use of having it, right?

There is a reason most sites have a white background and it's not because corporate America is snuffing out creativity! Keep it easy on the eyes and you'll hold your users around longer! For our friends at the Evans Center Fire Company, I would even suggest keeping the fire image on the left navigation, but leave the center an easy to read, easy to print, white.

Another "thumbs up" is for something you may not have even thought about on your Web site. Evans [Center] uses their site for recruiting. There's a page all about the benefits of being a member PLUS they go one step further with an easy to fill out form for interested Web surfers.

Another great marketing idea for anyone's fire station is hosting birthday parties at the fire station. Evans [Center] plans to start doing this in the fall. They are having one party per month and give away a smoke detector and fire extinguisher. What little kid wouldn't go crazy at the thought of having their party in a fire department? Talk about unique! Fire Chief Dennis Allen says "We want the kids in the Evans Center neighborhood to see the fire station as a place to visit, a place to learn and a place to go in an emergency or if they're in any kind of trouble. We want them to know that we're here to help." Remember, by doing this, you do not only impress the kids, but also the parents who may want to donate time or money!

More content includes details of the new fire station that they are building. Fabulous photos give a month to month update on the progress of the new station. This is a great way of keeping people up-to-date who may not pass the building every day.

A huge amount of work goes into chronicling the work this station does on a daily basis. Every fire, wreck and rescue has a story attached, even some with pictures. The story about a tractor-trailer that overturned has some amazing photos considering they were taken at night. This webmaster really has a talent for writing and photography.

More great photos chronicle the team as they take a vehicle [extrication] class, plus a tour of the team's HOT zone gives viewers an insider's look at a world-class training facility. The North Boston Fire Company was so impressed; they are going to set up their own HOT zone based on [Evans Center's] setup.

I went into the "Members Only" section of the site and, frankly, was surprised. Should it not be password protected if it is indeed a "Members Only" section? I was able to see memos about construction and a poll regarding who the new mascot should be. Also, this area hasn't been updated since the fall of 2000. Has nothing happened in 2001 that you want to relate to the members?

One last design tip for this very active Web site is that the links on the bottom of the page are not the same as the links on the left site of the front page. If I want to easily find my way around the site, I'd miss some of the great sections without links at the bottom of the page. On many professional sites you'll find those links as text links instead of images. The reason is many people won't wait for the images to fill in on those slow dial-up connections. So give your AOL users a break and change the images to text and include all of the sections on the left navigation bar.

This site is a great example of everything a local company can do on the web. Plus it's very impressive that most of the areas are up-to-date, including events and news. Tiger [Schmittendorf], the listed Webmaster and public information officer, probably never has time to sleep. With a few design changes this will be an A+ site. For now, though, I would have to give the overall site a B. But the efforts of the Webmaster are A+. Keep up the good work Tiger and give this column to your design group!

I was pleasantly surprised to open the August edition of FASNY's The Volunteer Firefighter to see a review of our web site: www.ecvfc.org.

Overall, we thought that your review was a bit critical, but fair nonetheless. That's exactly what we were looking for and why I submitted it for consideration. I appreciated getting an outsider's honest opinion of their site visit. We wish more people would provide feedback. It's the only way we can learn how to improve our communications.

Your point about the "printability" of our web pages was accurate, although most browsers do offer the flexibility to select whether or not to print the page with the background included.

The "Members Only" section was something started months ago that never really got off the ground. It has since been removed until we can further develop it. The links at the bottom of the page are different from those in the left border, on purpose. However, we will look at speeding up the download time any way we can. And, while we encourage e-communications to build traffic to our site, your advice to add more traditional contact information to our "home" and/or "about us" pages is well taken.

Inasmuch as I kept an open mind and my sense of humor while reading your article, it would be unfair not to reciprocate and point out a few oversights in your review:

1. The name of our volunteer fire company is: Evans Center, not Evans, and especially not Evan's. There's no possession here. (We bought it from Evan years ago. Just kidding!)

2. Throughout the entire article you never once identified the subject of your review - our web address: www.ecvfc.org. Hopefully your article drew enough attention to inspire your readers to search for it.

3. You hit the nail on the head when you said "he never sleeps" but I did get a chuckle from your comment about "share this with your design team." I did as you instructed ... and me, myself and I will take all of your feedback under consideration.

4. However, I must take exception to the last faux pas you made. In the remaining paragraph of the article you gave credit to me as the webmaster...but spelled my name wrong. Do to the length and relative complexity of my last name, I typically tell people to leave out any letter but the 'M' - and for obvious reasons. You spelled it as: "SchmittendorK" and for that, I will accept your apology.

Again, we thank you for your input and appreciate the exposure. Keep up the good work. Your columns are a welcome addition to FASNY's new and greatly improved publication. Please take our comments as lightheartedly and well intentioned as we did yours.

Don't hesitate to click or call if you're interested in learning more about how we've integrated our web site into all of our community relations programs and v/v. I've added you to our ECVFConline distribution list. We hope you'll visit our site often.

PS - Add your e-mail address to your pix and credit at the bottom of your article.

Tiger Schmittendorf
info@ecvfc.org
Public Information Officer/Webmaster
Evans Center Volunteer Fire Company
Station #1: 716/549-1221 - FAX/549-2290

FROM:   Dee Collins
TO:        Tiger Schmittendorf
DATE:    8/10/01

Tiger...

Thank you so much for writing after being our reviewed site for the month of July.

It is a tough job being critical of websites because frankly you could work on them 24/7 and the work would never be done. I try to keep a tongue in cheek attitude and your letter did the same.. thank you! It was a pleasure getting an email from you.

So now on to the questions in the email:

Nope.. there is no online version of my rant.. sorry :(.

Unfortunately the review is critical because that's what I'm asked to do.. critique a website. I point out the good and the bad. Now I haven't read the edited version of my column.. (the one that appeared in the paper) but I count seven paragraphs about how great the site is... and only three paragraphs pointing out changes that should be made! So as bad as the critique is to take.. you must admit the good stuff FAR outweighs the bad stuff.

Sorry about the mix-up on your name. I should have realized it was Evans Center (the name of the town) and not Evan's Center.

And finally we SHOULD have my email address at the bottom of my picture.. so I'm cc'ing STEVE and the guys at ABC Creative Group. That's a great point.

Thanks for writing again. You do an amazing job for a team of one. Keep up the fabulous work!! If I'm ever in Evans Center I'll stop by!

Dee Collins
Dee Collins Consulting
dperkin2@twcny.rr.com
deec888 AOL Instant Messenger