One of world’s top websites – pec.on.ca gets a kickin’ makeover

There’s a business in Prince Edward County that receives up to 4,000 visitors a day looking for things to do, places to stay, where to eat, and then they continue to explore other local businesses. It¹s like the gateway to the County.
Is it a winery? Tim Hortons?
No. It’s the website, PEC.on.ca, and its popularity is ranked in the top three per cent of websites worldwide. Widely acknowledged as the official Prince Edward County tourism web site, PEC.on.ca attracts and holds visitors, traffic, readers – whatever you call them – checking out what’s happening in Prince Edward County.
There are an estimated 200 million websites today, but PEC.on.ca was one of just a few hundred in existence when it first launched in 1996, as one of the first tourism websites in the country.
Its creator, Anne VanVlack, was a true County pioneer who, almost single handedly, built a web presence for Prince Edward County businesses at a time when most people could not conceive of the future power of the Internet.

Today, PEC.on.ca is the definitive County guide to tourism and community information with more than 2,000 local businesses listed and more than 300 links pointing to it from other websites. County businesses are invited to submit their contact information for a complimentary listing.

“I’m passionate about including all County businesses on the PEC site,” said VanVlack. “Price should not be a barrier to the business opportunities that are out there on the web. All County businesses have access to them through PEC.on.ca. Everyone is invited to participate.”

There are many ways to find Prince Edward County on the internet, but the highest percentage of web searches are conducted using Google, the number one ranked search engine in the world. Try typing Prince Edward County in a Google search. The results page will show PEC.on.ca as first and second listings, and search results don’t come sweeter than that.

For the site’s 14th birthday, VanVlack and her team have given PEC.on.ca a sparkling facelift, a brand new look.

“The powerful search tools remain the same,” she said. “All the terrific stuff is staying, but now there’s more of it, and the new look will appeal to younger audiences and people of all ages who want information on Prince Edward County.”

Always the leading source for tourist information, PEC.on.ca is also a widely used community information resource, offering a wealth of useful data for residents and business, ranging from when fishing season starts to the hours of operation and seasonal closures of local restaurants and wineries.

The updated site is packed with interactive maps, entertaining contests and games, history tidbits, local trivia, podcasts, video, a blog, local character features and of, course a powerful search tool that puts every business in the County at your fingertips.

The new look has the theme “Kickin’ Adventures in the County” and one of the quirkier new features is Who Knows the County Toes? a challenge to guess the identity of local characters from a photo of their feet, sometimes with a clue held between their toes. There are prizes for many of the games and quizzes, provided by local businesses that will enjoy huge exposure through the website.

“It’s a win/win proposition.,” VanVlack said. “The prize is in the form of a voucher that must be redeemed at the shop or restaurant or studio. It’s another way of getting some of those 4,000 visitors from the website to the counter of local businesses.”

It’s that kind of innovative and inclusive approach that has won PEC.on.ca accolades and awards from far and wide

“That¹s what sets us apart from a lot of other websites,” said VanVlack. “We are deliberately inclusive, you don¹t have to be a member of anything, you don¹t have to spend a ton of money, you just have to be something good in the County that people will want to know about, whether they are in China, America or Picton.”

As a leader in her field, VanVlack is well aware that Internet surfers everywhere are looking for more amusement and features and fun online as well as solid information and easy search functions.

With its kickin’ new design, PEC.on.ca has it all. Remember you can visit every day by clicking on the pec.on.ca link beside the countylive.ca masthead.