New Moate.ie site to increase town’s digital presence

Moate Town Team officially launched its new website, www.moate.ie, on Friday last.

Moate Library was the venue for the launch with representatives from the Town Team outlining the features of the new online vehicle which aims to grow Moate's digital footprint and encourage commerce and tourism in the town and surrounding areas.

Moate Town Team member Audrey Healy said the aim of the new website was to encourage footfall into the town.

"We want to encourage more people to come into Moate and show what the town and its community has to offer. The town of Moate is doing extremely well, but let's put that message out there to a wider audience," Ms Healy said.There are over 600 businesses in Moate, Ms Healy added, "all not evident on the high street", but businesses from the hinterland of the town, Mount Temple, Drumraney and Rosemount, all can avail of the opportunity to post content on moate.ie.

Moate Town Team PRO Shane Lynam said they did not want to launch the website until they had a sufficient number of businesses displaying their information online.

"We didn't want to formally launch moate.ie until we had at least 50 businesses in the town commit to the project initially. When businesses see fellow businesses updating content online they are more likely to commit to the project also," Mr Lynam said.

The PRO said the website is not just solely for business focused content with information online also featuring information regarding local sports clubs, interest groups, schools and churches.

"We have been building the site for six months and we hope to update it regularly with fresh and engaging content," Mr Lynam said.

Fellow team member Val Connaughton said the website serves as an "umbrella" for the town's business community.

"The website will feature a link to all local businesses who wish to share their content with the Town Team. There is scope for businesses to submit interactive content so we would encourage them to do so," Ms Healy said.

The next phase of the website project involves the creation of a virtual reality tour of Moate with noted points of interest included for those visiting the town.

"When visiting the Midlands region, we want Moate to become a regular online recommendation. We have so much to offer as community. As we continue to add content to the site, people are encouraged to contact us if they have an event coming up or would like their business listed in our directory," Mr Lynam concluded.