We are looking for someone who wants a FREE website

Each year we do a pro-bono project for a community organisation. So far we we dont have a deserving candidate for 2011. Take a look at some of our past pro-bono work and apply to us at Spiral if you think we can help you.

Rotary Club of Hutt Valley - 2010

The Rotary Club needed a website to:

1. Encourage people to visit the club 
2. Show the clubs history and provide a place to expand the historical information about the club
3. Support new and existing members

The website meets the goals plus it provides a "members only section" for club notices and information.

Jackson Street - 2009

Jackson Street is a heritage precinct managed by a locally elected board and funded by a levy on local landlords. Many people contribute to making Jackson Street a success story. The street is growing in popularity, not just with the locals with people coming from outside the region to visit the street.
The old website was dated, boring and did not reflect the old world charm and diversity of the street so we revamped it.



MIRO - Mainland Island Restoration Operation - 2008

MIRO (Mainland Island Restoration Operation) is a volunteer group who work in partnership with Greater Wellington Regional Council in East Harbour Regional Park. To:

• protect and restore the natural forest and lakes ecosystem of EHR
• eliminate pests, both plant and animal 
• see vulnerable trees, birds, insects and fish flourish again
• reintroduce native species lost to the Park

The website was designed to:

• encourage new volunteers
• support the existing volunteer network
• provide news about events and projects 

The website includes our CMS and is simply maintained by one of the volunteers.

What we are looking for in a pro-bono project
As software developers we excel at providing software that meets the needs and goals of the organisation we are working with. We can provide:

• software development
• website management software
• websites
• facebook pages
• database management software

and maybe a sprinkling of Twitter.

We work best with organisations that have a person committed to managing the web presence of their organisation and have strong content writing skills or the ability to engage a content writer for the website.

To submit your organisation for consideration please email Audrey with a short paragraph about why you need our help.

Sorry! you need TWO email addresses

Email is here to stay, until we can find a better (quicker?) method of remote communication, you better get used to it and you need to show your customers you know how to use it correctly.

If you think you can get away with myname@paradise.net.nz as your business email address AND your family email address - think again. As I have mentioned in previous posts it is important for your professional image to use an email address for your business that uses your domain name. Professional  email addresses look like:

• myname@mybusinessname.co.nz
• info@mybusinessname.co.nz
• sales@mybusinessname.co.nz
• etc

Unprofessional email addresses look like

• mybusinessname@myisp.co.nz 
• mybusinessname@yahoo.com.au 

they just don't cut it in todays business world.

Business vs Personal
You can split email communication into two types - business and personal. Don't confuse them! Having your business email send to your personal, or worse family, email is confusing and unprofessional. Having your personal email sent to work is wasting your time and what happens when you sell the business or leave? Take the example of the CEO of a small 15 person company. She has myname@mycompany.co.nz as her email address. To provide continuity of service and proper support for important customers the new CEO will need to receive the previous CEO's emails - do you really want your private life paraded in front of a stranger?  

There is no excuse for not having your very own email address. The proliferation and ready availability of free email addresses from Yahoo and Google mean its easy, quick and free to setup your own email address. You don't even need your own computer - you can use a computer at work, at a friends or in a public place like the library.