2bnMaine

Foster Huntington, sounds a bit like a law firm, but is actually a student at Colby. (These are all his fantastic photos!)

He’s a young man from the Northwest, who studys in Maine, and publishes a very stylish blog called “The Restless Transplant.”

Which seems to indicate that he’s not going to be in Maine too much longer.

But it’s pretty clear that Maine will accompany him wherever else he goes.

His blog reveals the life of a college student discovering himself, honing his new skills (great photos!) and absorbing the world around him. And he naturally understands how to build a ‘brand.’

He loves the stories behind what he perceives as the Maine ‘lifestyle.’ He loves clothing. Especially old clothing. He has great style. And he’s very fond of the color red.

Go take a look, and discover the Maine you know is there, but sometimes you don’t see.

And remember his name — Foster Huntington. Have a feeling it’ll be popping up somewhere fancy, if not on a label, in the not too distant future.

Maybe even at L.L.Bean.

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Spiked with witty, breezy, advice for getting the very best out of this fascinating state, MaineMaven.com is brimming with insightful tips about where to find the coolest stuff around.

The Maine Maven herself is the gifted Kristen Andresen Lainsbury.

Kristen’s impressive talents have been honed by 12 years as an award-winning lifestyle feature writer for the Bangor Daily News.

Many will know her as ShopGirl, the title of her wildly popular column, which showcased her charming, natural, writing style.

According to her site, “. . . she has set foot in every town, township, organized and unorganized territory in Maine, and she loves every single one of them, though not equally.”

When Kristen’s not poking around Maine, or being The Maine Maven, she’s providing PR for the University of Maine at Orono, her alma mater. You’ve seen her work in Maine Magazine’s ‘48 Hours In’ feature and in a multitude of regional and national publications.

Helping with the mixology are Jason Lainsbury, the Webmaster and Business Director, and Shawn Rice, the wonderful illustrator.

Thirsty for the spirit of Maine? Whet your whistle at Maine Maven.

Cheers!

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Most small towns in Maine don’t need a web site to fill their downtowns with tourists, or to promote their industries. If they do, the Chamber of Commerce can do that job. And most are operating on tiny budgets.

They need a very simple site that citizens can use to get essential and timely information from the town offices. Things such as permits, meeting schedules, transfer station hours, names of the selectmen, office hours, etc.

Why not use Google for both a web site and a blog, and keep it very simple? And free! (Actually you could just use  just a blog to keep it really simple.)

The web site can contain all the documents — permit rules, meeting notes, history, etc. And the blog can provide all the current information. They should be linked.

Plus, it could even be monetized to actually earn money for the town.

Google offers these advantages:

1. It’s free!

2. It will always be up, no worry about a hosting service.

3. There will be no maintenance or updating the software. It will always be up to date.

4. Sufficient storage for large documents.

5. It’s easy to use.

6. The basic look is more attractive than most sites.

7. Search may be improved because they’re already within the Google world.

Google has these disadvantages:

1. The url or address isn’t a pure ‘TownOfMaine.com.’ But does that matter?

2. It’s not clear if they place ads. But they do offer a premium version so that may be their business model instead of advertising.

Here are examples of a blog, and a web site. And here are links to Blogger and Google Sites.

What else could beat the power of Google and the words — ‘easy’ and ‘free?’

These days, tax dollars need to be stretched as far as they can go.

Update – check out Weebly. They offer a very nice package — all free!

Good idea? Bad idea? What do you think?

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