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Tod Mott (front), header brewer at the Portsmouth Brewery, Dave Yarrington, header brewer at Smuttynose and owner Peter Egelston. Photo:  Courtesy of Jackie Ricciardi Holding

Interested in what’s on tap at the Portsmouth Brewery? You can find out at www.portsmouthbrewery.com. There you can also find out what’s on the menu and the history of this popular Port City pub. Your friends are staying at the Wentworth by the Sea hotel in New Castle to celebrate their engagement and you want to send champagne to their room. No need for the phone. Go to www.wentworth.com and the online concierge. You can review the lineup of shows at the Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth by clicking www.artfest.org. You can find out how much it will cost to recarpet your once flooded basement at www.homedepot.com. You can even find a new home to buy at Realtor.com.

Web sites are increasingly a part of business marketing, proving a valuable tool long after the dotcom crash. And they’re not just for businesses anymore. Demand comes from municipalities, schools and nonprofits. Several Seacoast business owners say while it’s possible to run their companies without a Web site, all agree it would not be in their best interests. “Using a Web site to celebrate your individuality is a great opportunity,” said Peter Egelston, owner of the Portsmouth Brewery and Smuttynose Brewing Co. “I’m sure you can run a restaurant without a Web site today, but if you are, you’re missing a great chance to share yourself with the outside world. You can hire a Web hosting company for about $6 a moth, so there’s really not an excuse not to have a Web site.”

Director of marketing with Ocean Properties Matt Tobin stands within the foyer of his 100 Market Street business office. Photo:  Courtesy of Jackie Ricciardi Holding

"We provide a high-end product at the hotel so we want to provide a high-end Web site." Matt Tobin, director of marketing with Ocean Properties and owner oand operator of Wentworth by the Sea

Lisa DeStefano of DeStefano Architects in Portsmouth has used a Web site for her business for the past five years. Her company recently redesigned its site, making it more useful. DeStefano Architects’ site in-cludes a portfolio of work including a popular “Before and After” section added a year ago. “It’s amazing what difference you can see in two photos,” DeStefano said. The “Before and After” section is popular and productive. Potential clients on three recent occasions contacted the firm explaining the work they saw online is similar to a project they envisioned. DeStefano’s site also receives hits from potential clients relocating to the area who conduct a Web search for New England or residential architects and find DeStefano Architects. “Ten years ago they might have looked in the phone book,” she said. “I ask people when they call how they heard about us. The phone book is not something I’ve heard in quite some time.” DeStefano said she probably gets five inquiries per week through the Web site.

Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth has entertained 3 million people in 9,000-plus productions in its first 32 years. Not long ago, festival organizers relied mostly on an automated phone system to distrib-ute information. “We have a voicemail box with general information, but some folks get frustrated with that. I know I do,” said Deborah Lielasus Tombleson, the festival’s executive director. The festival’s Web site has a calendar of events, the park’s history and a series of frequently asked ques-tions, or FAQs. The Web site came in handy last month when the annual Chowderfest was rescheduled because of heavy rain. The interactive supply of information reduces strain on the nonprofit’s human resources. “We have a very small staff, a very small budget,” she said. “We try to focus and emphasize our budget on performances, so it’s important not to tie up our resources with general information.” Tombleson said it would not be possible for the Arts Festival to be successful today without its online presence. “It’s our number 1 promotional tool,” she said. “People are increasingly Web savvy. Going with-out a Web site; I’m not sure I would want to do that. That would seem like the Dark Ages.”

DeStefano Architect's Lisa DeStefano edits plans in her office. Photo:  Amy Root-Donle

"I ask people when they call how they heard about us. The phone book is not something I've heard in quite some time." Lisa Destefano, DeStefano Architects

Wentworth by the Sea, a Marriott hotel and spa, is internationally famous and backed by the global marketing muscle of the hotel chain. But, the Wentworth’s locally maintained Web site is crucial. Every-thing from booking rooms to viewing seasonal packages and inquiring about having a wedding at the Wentworth is possible. The aforementioned online concierge adds a cyber twist to traditional services at the 130-year-old hotel. “From a marketing perspective, it’s more than just our brochure online,” said Matt Tobin, director of marketing with Ocean Properties, owner and operator of the Wentworth. The hotel recently completely redesigned its Web site that was introduced when the hotel reopened in 2003. “It has to be up to speed on the technologies available,” Tobin said. “We provide a high-end product at the hotel so we want to provide a high-end Web site.”

Maintaining your site is key

Maintaining a Web site is as important as having a site. Business owners say administering the site can’t detract from accomplishing what the business actually does. The dotcom crash changed the approach to Web site creation and management. “Before the dotcom crash everyone was rushing to get a site because everyone was rushing to get a Web site,” said Joshua Cyr of Savvy Software, a Portsmouth business that provides online content managing tools. “There wasn’t a lot of thought put into it.” After the crash, busi-ness leaders began to demand a return on investment from their Web sites, just as they would from any other investment, Cyr said. Efficiency became crucial.

Savvy Content Manager is an easy to use Web content software that puts Web site management in the hands of people who provide the content, reducing the need for an IT professional dedicated to maintain-ing content. Some local clients who use it include Portsmouth Ala Carte (www.portsmouthalacarte.com), a site featuring popular restaurants in downtown Portsmouth, the kitchen accessories store, Attrezzi, in Portsmouth (www.attrezzinh.com), Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth (www.seacoastrep.org) and the town of Exeter (www.exeternh.org).

Exeter town officials put the Savvy Content Manager to the test, providing nearly real-time updates of road closures and evacuations during May’s Mother’s Day flooding. Town Manager Russell Dean said he was able to provide those updates at times from the field using his laptop. “The technology really worked great,” Dean said.

Savvy Software members, from left:  Robert Squier, William Svoie, Marci Watson, Joshua Cyr, and Robin Savoie. Photo:  Amy Root-Donle

"Now (a web site) is more of a conversation with customers, and that can be different with each customer." Joshua Cyr, Savvy Software

Cyr said municipalities, schools and nonprofit groups are hot markets today for better content manage-ment. “They all have to communicate a constantly changing story to their stakeholders,” he said. Technology allowing constant updates has improved significantly over the years. Updates now can take just a few minutes instead of a whole day. “A lot of the barriers have been removed,” he said. This advancement coincides with demands from businesses to do more with their Web sites. “A few years ago, especially with small businesses, a Web site was like brochure; a regurgitation of marketing in-formation,” Cyr said. “Now it’s more of a conversation with customers, and that can be different with each customer.” Successfully accomplishing those conversations comes back to assuring information online is current and readily accessible. “The most important feature of sites today is to get out of the way,” Cyr said. “It’s crucial to have a good user experience and providing a good reason to return. But Cyr says many sites still fail to accomplish that goal. “They might have great technology — anima-tion or everything else, but when it comes to the average person finding what they want on a Web site, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”

Obrey and Dodier both cut their teeth at the former Cabletron Systems (a seed that has spawned doz-ens of Seacoast area technology companies), and Obrey said while the economy is “not as hot as it was in the 1990s,” that’s probably a good thing. “The complexity of projects we are doing today are a quantum leap,” Obrey said. What this velocity translates to in practical terms, he said, includes creating a client Web presence with more than 40 pages for 37 sites in 19 different languages. “We require more tenured and experienced professionals,” he said. Just the sort sought by firms in San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. “We have global clients who are very demanding,” Obrey said of clients that range from Vermont Teddy Bear to ECCO Shoes. “We need people who do more than sling code. They need to pitch ideas and wear five hats at once.”

The good news for PixelMedia is that Portsmouth is drawing its fair share of “creative class” savants. “People go where the money is,” Obrey said.