FireBox Studios and the Hocking Hills Tourism Association took home a second place Middy Award in the Web Site category for the comprehensive web site we built for them at 1800hocking.com. The site is an example of technology applied creatively and effectively to portray the beauty of the Southeast Ohio??™s Hocking Hills and promote tourism business in that area.

At a time when 70% of travelers use the net to research vacation destinations, 1800hocking.com represents more than 400 southeast Ohio businesses to help capture $247 million in visitor spending in Hocking County. Need to plan a getaway? Click here to start!

The Ohio Association of Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus’ (OACVB) Annual Awards of Excellence are named the ???MIDDY Awards??? to reflect the Midwest region of the country, as well as the states contiguous to Ohio. Participants are recognized for excellence in planning, creativity and effectiveness of message, concept and design. The MIDDY Awards competition is open to all members of the Ohio Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus. While other Middy categories are grouped by the budgets of CVB’s, the web site category is not. This means we were up against much larger markets like Columbus and Cleveland. Yay us!

When FireBox built the original website for the Colony Theatre in 2000, the restoration project was still in its infancy. Since then, the restoration group has made huge strides towards re-opening this vaudeville-era landmark.

With so many updates to make to the site and new content to add, we decided to give the site a new look and “engine” as well.

We gave the site a new layout and color scheme and integrated the whole thing into paraSite, our proprietary content management system. This system will allow Colony staff to easily edit all their pages, add news articles and events.

In addition, we added a lot of new content, including updates on the restoration progress, downloadable newsletters and annual report, a new event calendar, new Flash-based photo gallery and lots of other downloadable content.

As of November 22nd, FireBox Studios, the Mid-Ohio Valley’s premier web development company, has a new mailing address and phone number. Please revise your address books to reflect the following:

FireBox Studios
313 Scammel Street
Marietta, OH 45750
740.373.4114
info@fireboxstudios.com
www.fireboxstudios.com

Look for more exciting news and updates on a regular basis from FireBox as we continue to expand and improve our services.

For the second year in a row, FireBox has received the “Best Website” award at the 2005 TIGAR Awards. The annual honors, sponsored by ITAAO, were held on July 27th, 2005.

With a total of eight nominees, FireBox accepted its second TIGAR award for development of the Hocking Hills website at www.1800hocking.com.

We would like to thank ITAAO and all the judges for this honor, as well as thank Hocking Hills for their support over the past year.

We’ve just created a new toll-free number for the convenience of our clients. If you’re outside the Mid-Ohio Valley and would like to contact us without charge, just dial 1-888-882-2296.

FireBox is proud to announce the recent launch of mariettaohio.org, the official site of the Marietta/Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Their new site features their comprehensive (and quite full) calendar of all local events in the Mid-Ohio Valley, as well as their entire partner membership, separated by categories.

Other features and enhancements include discount coupons, travel packages, maps, itineraries and even online lodging availability and booking! Click here to check them out!

FireBox is proud to announce the recent launch of stanleyvillestables.com. This site is a showcase for the recently opened equestrian facility just outside Marietta, Ohio. They offer customized lessons, novice through advanced, dressage training programs and full size dressage arena, as well as full boarding facilities with modern barns. The site features updated show and clinic calendars, news updates, and a nifty Flash-based photo gallery.

FireBox built a new site from scratch for Mountwood Park, a 2,600-acre natural park just outside of Parkersburg, West Virginia. The goal of the site is to showcase the many things the park has to offer, many of which have been well-kept secrets until now. A custom news posting system and calendar of events keep adventurers updated year-round.

FireBox Studios was chosen to completely redesign the Hocking Hills Tourism Association’s web site at 1800hocking.com. The primary challenge FireBox faced was the large amount of data that would need to be integrated into the site, yet be easily accessible for visitors. For example, they had almost 400 member records, each with up to 60 database attributes apiece! We were able to import all their data into our proprietary content management software and make it available in multiple ways on the site.

For example, a visitor can choose to view member listings by categories and subcategories and alphabetically, backwards or forwards. A custom lodging search also allows visitors to find places to stay that have the exact amenities and features they are looking for, such as hot tubs, in-room internet and fireplaces.

Other features include a calendar of events, news articles, local weather, lodging availability search, site-wide keyword search and photo gallery.

FireBox built a web site for Ohio State Representative Jennifer Garrison as a vehicle to maintain communication with her constituents. Features include regular news articles and press releases, as well as categorical Legislation database. This archive details each bill Jennifer voted on and why. The site also incorporates a powerful email list management tool for sending out e-newsletters to her opt-in subscribers.