Low-income Services Agency to Launch Website

As one of Santa Barbara County’s largest private, non-profit social service agencies, The Community Action Commission has an annual operating budget of over $23 million and employs approximately 400 people countywide, according to the website. The Commission has provided services to more than 10,000 low-income individuals and families.

Mission Web Marketing, a Santa Barbara based web marketing company, took on the Community Action Commission’s website in June and has spent over 100 hours rebuilding it. Eric Petersen, the President of Mission Web Marketing, believes the website will solicit more community involvement and donations to help improve existing community services, he said.

“The primary goal for the new CAC (Community Action Commission) website is to make it much easier for Central Coast residents to find information about various low-income services available to them,” Petersen said. “In addition to creating a new, more user-friendly website, we’re confident that the search engine optimization we performed on the website will drive much more traffic and build brand awareness, while helping low-income youth and families get the services they need.”

This website is one of many websites Eric Petersen and Mission Web Marketing have built or assisted with during the past couple of years, including local websites for Ecology.com, The Santa Barbara Airport, The Granada Theatre, The Towbes Group, The Territory Ahead, Magellan’s Travel and Maps.com to name a few.

According to Petersen, the Community Action Commission is one of a few select non-profit organizations the company has provided services for and was given a special, reduced non-profit rate for the web development and marketing services provided, he said.

During the past ten years Mission Web Marketing has provided an assortment of web marketing services, including pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, E-commerce and website development. The company has worked on websites and marketing initiatives for several well-known companies throughout the United States and beyond.

“We completely redesigned the CAC website from the ground-up, using a highly customized version of WordPress with a built-in content management system,” Petersen said. “Going this route empowers The Community Action Commission to quickly update their own website as needed, thereby avoiding the additional time and costs associated with having a 3rd-party provide these updates for them.”

Holly Carmody, the Central Administrative Services Director of the CAC, is excited for the new website and how it will help low-income families quickly and easily find the services that they need, she said. She hopes the new design will help more of their clients understand how the CAC can help them.

The CAC currently offers services for low-income individuals in Santa Barbara County including those for children, nutrition, energy, family and youth. They provide high-quality, culturally appropriate services and opportunities for low-income people of all ages as they maintain self-sufficiency, according to the CAC website.

The new site has been organized to make it easy for visitors to find information, forms, locations and key phone numbers when needed. It also incorporates their new branding and mission statement.

“The new design quickly communicates who we are, and how we help low-income families in Santa Barbara County,” Carmody said. “At CAC, our focus has always been on the people we serve. The new website reflects that low-income children, teens, seniors and households are the true heart and soul of CAC.”

The CAC is a private non-profit organization that relies on support from individuals and businesses like Mission Web Marketing to get help to people that need it and the new website reflects that, she said.

“I love the new layout with all the great photos of our programs in action,” Carmody said. “You really can’t help but be moved by the beautiful faces of children learning and growing in the Head Start program and seniors enjoying our Healthy Senior Lunch program.”

For more information, please contact Amanda Jacobs, the public relations and marketing manager for Mission Web Marketing, at cell 805.403.4901, office 805.696.9320, or by e-mail at Amanda@missionwebmarketing.com. Also, please click here.