CenPho.com

In 2005, Heather Lauer of Villageous LLC conceived and launched CenPho.com, a hub for information about local businesses, organizations and events in a very specific geographic area – Central Phoenix.

As a resident of CenPho herself, Heather wanted to do her part to get the word out about all of the amazing things that were happening in this urban center. At the time, Central Phoenix was going through a “rebirth” of sorts and more businesses and residents were moving to areas of CenPho that were going through major revitalization efforts.

The initial format of the website was a blog that listed hundreds of businesses in Central Phoenix and included an informational profile for many of those businesses. Visitors could also leave comments about their experiences at those venues and read what other people had to say.

Five years later, CenPho.com still serves as one of the strongest community outlets for educating people about life in Central Phoenix. It has since evolved from the blog format into a multi-faceted social media initiative with a focus on Facebook, Twitter and Ning. We communicate with an online audience of over 7,500 fans and residents on a daily basis, over 75% of our followers/fans are people who live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and local business owners regularly tell us how our social media activities are directly responsible for sending customers their way.