Estep claims internet not an effective advertising tool.

Date: Oct 13, 2007

Estep claims internet not an effective advertising tool.

Date: Oct 17, 2007

After looking at the News Journal's website, and then the web site for the city of corbin's offices, which appear to be the same format, then I can understand his thinking that the internet doesn't do much good. They are not very well designed. Very basic. It's like something a high school web design class may do.

I'm sure the same webmaster doest them both, and it's the one Estep wants to take over the torism area.

You get what you pay for. Spend $25 a month, and you'll get $25 a months worth of work.

Date: Oct 17, 2007

The News Journal's website stinks. The City website stinks. Corbin's Tourism website is first class. This website is first class. If the Tourism Commission and the City leaders can't see that they are blind. And now the internet, according to the publisher of the News Journal, has failed.

This is a bunch of hogwash and I hope people wake up. Don't we want to do things in a professional way? Do we want to run off people who care and have pride in their work? This next Tourism Commission meeting will give us a true picture of whether gold old boy politics wins out over doing things that are good for our community. Don't we want to do our best?

Date: Oct 17, 2007

Gosh. If they are getting those websites for $25 a month, they are
getting a much better deal than tourism is now.

Estep is right, they are getting ripped off.

UK Wildcat · Senior Member

Gosh, you're right. And that must have been you buying your suits at Big Lots and your wife's wedding ring at the pawn shop.

You get what you pay for, and if you want crap, you get the cheapest.

Date: Oct 17, 2007

Calm down Jamal. No need to insult the guy for trying to stretch his dollar. I didn't know they sold suits at Big Lots. Do you know if they have extra tall sizes?

Date: Oct 17, 2007

Estep is to journalism as Jim and Tammy Faye Baker were to religion. FAKES.

Date: Oct 17, 2007

I read in the paper they only got one bid for website work. If Jr. wanted the job, he should have bid and not snubbed his nose at the tourism people and acted as though he is too good to play by the rules. I don't see why so many people that post here want to fight his battles for him.

Date: Oct 17, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

I read in the paper they only got one bid for website work. If Jr. wanted the job, he should have bid and not snubbed his nose at the tourism people and acted as though he is too good to play by the rules. I don't see why so many people that post here want to fight his battles for him.

Oh thou intelligent master, the bid request was buried in only one paper, and the only bidder turned out to be the same company that does the website for the newspaper of the Tourism Chairman. Several other potential bidders did not have any information and did not bid. But this is the way people like you believe things should be done. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Poor quality. Poor quality. Poor quality. Shouldn't we be among the best in promoting our community, or do we just want to be in the bottom half of the group?

Date: Oct 17, 2007

The ad was buried next to the "work at home stuffing envelopes" ads in Esteps paper. He put it there so no one would read it. He's good at spinning things, such as his circulation numbers.

ProudCorbinBoy · Veteran Member

This week Don complains about telephone books and televison commercials. Last week he put down internet advertising, and the week before that he put down billboards.

If anybody is guilty of negative advertising, it's Don Estep. Nearly every one of his columns trashes some other media outlet.

He would like for everybody to quit advertising on TV, daily papers, yellow pages, internet, and non-forchian radio, and put all their dollars in his paper.

The only problem is that I would never see those ads. Even though I read his paper (but don't subscribe), I never glance at any of the ads. I have no idea who actually advertises there. I just read the three front pages, Bob Watkins, and the opinion page.

Date: Oct 19, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I read in the paper they only got one bid for website work. If Jr. wanted the job, he should have bid and not snubbed his nose at the tourism people and acted as though he is too good to play by the rules. I don't see why so many people that post here want to fight his battles for him.

Oh thou intelligent master, the bid request was buried in only one paper, and the only bidder turned out to be the same company that does the website for the newspaper of the Tourism Chairman. Several other potential bidders did not have any information and did not bid. But this is the way people like you believe things should be done. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Poor quality. Poor quality. Poor quality. Shouldn't we be among the best in promoting our community, or do we just want to be in the bottom half of the group?

That is the conniving way he does things. He didn't want anybody(especially Terrell) to see that request for bid except for his choice. With him it is not a matter of what is best for our community but is what he wants.

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

After looking at the News Journal's website, and then the web site for the city of corbin's offices, which appear to be the same format, then I can understand his thinking that the internet doesn't do much good. They are not very well designed. Very basic. It's like something a high school web design class may do.

I'm sure the same webmaster doest them both, and it's the one Estep wants to take over the torism area.

You get what you pay for. Spend $25 a month, and you'll get $25 a months worth of work.

On the contrary, Corbin Web Works hosts, corbin-ky.gov, and Moonbow Software in London maintains the News Journal's Sites. You're correct in assuming that Estep wants Moonbow to take over the Tourism site, since they're the only ones that submitted a bid.

Something you should also know, is that the $25.00 that the City of Corbin is being charged, is only for hosting services, to host the city's sites (corbin-ky.gov, fd.corbin-ky.gov, parks.corbin-ky.gov) and e-mail for all those in the city government that want it. It does not include any maintenance, or upkeep. It's a system that the city can maintain at their will. They can add, or remove what they want, without having to call a "web designer" to do anything.

But hey let's talk about getting $25.00 worth of work after paying $25.00. Did you also know that www.corbinmainstreet.com is Donated by corbin Web Works, because it's a city project that I personally believe in, as owner of Corbin Web Works? Gosh, does $25.00 sound a little better?

Now, as the person responsible for setting up corbin-ky.gov, I'll be happy to view any examples of your work, provided they're as flexible, scalable and limitless as the content management system used to manage and maintain corbin-ky.gov because I'm certain you're well skilled in PHP, MySQL and Linux hosting Environments. I can't speak to the News Journal's sites, as I have nothing to do with them, but you can bet that the City site can do a great deal more than it's doing, but the city controls what's done on corbin-ky.gov, and it's set up for their purposes.

As for the design of corbin-ky.gov and your feelings that it's "basic" or "designed by a high school student", how about you lay a little bit of your work out here for us to see with your name on it. Keep in mind that the design, was approved by the City, and designed based on what they wanted. Oh, it's not flashy, and it doesn't have a lot of blinking flashing banner ads, but it's easy to read, and navigate, which after all is what's wanted in a site that's for the purposes of delivering information.

I personally don't care what the Tourism board does, or the economic development board, or any other board or commission in this town, but the one thing I will not tolerate is someone, or anyone being over charged. All of my rates are low, because my overhead is low. I don't have to make money on any of this, I'm not in debt and I make enough money to pay for my servers and hosting space on a single client in Lexington, so if I really wanted to I could host all of the city's site, or anyone's site, for free.

If you can come up with a better deal, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Thank You

Mr. Carlie Bentley

Corbin Web Works

Phone: 606-344-0828

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

After looking at the News Journal's website, and then the web site for the city of corbin's offices, which appear to be the same format, then I can understand his thinking that the internet doesn't do much good. They are not very well designed. Very basic. It's like something a high school web design class may do.

I'm sure the same webmaster doest them both, and it's the one Estep wants to take over the torism area.

You get what you pay for. Spend $25 a month, and you'll get $25 a months worth of work.

On the contrary, Corbin Web Works hosts, corbin-ky.gov, and Moonbow Software in London maintains the News Journal's Sites. You're correct in assuming that Estep wants Moonbow to take over the Tourism site, since they're the only ones that submitted a bid.
Something you should also know, is that the $25.00 that the City of Corbin is being charged, is only for hosting services, to host the city's sites (corbin-ky.gov, fd.corbin-ky.gov, parks.corbin-ky.gov) and e-mail for all those in the city government that want it. It does not include any maintenance, or upkeep. It's a system that the city can maintain at their will. They can add, or remove what they want, without having to call a "web designer" to do anything.
But hey let's talk about getting $25.00 worth of work after paying $25.00. Did you also know that www.corbinmainstreet.com is Donated by corbin Web Works, because it's a city project that I personally believe in, as owner of Corbin Web Works? Gosh, does $25.00 sound a little better?
Now, as the person responsible for setting up corbin-ky.gov, I'll be happy to view any examples of your work, provided they're as flexible, scalable and limitless as the content management system used to manage and maintain corbin-ky.gov because I'm certain you're well skilled in PHP, MySQL and Linux hosting Environments. I can't speak to the News Journal's sites, as I have nothing to do with them, but you can bet that the City site can do a great deal more than it's doing, but the city controls what's done on corbin-ky.gov, and it's set up for their purposes.
As for the design of corbin-ky.gov and your feelings that it's "basic" or "designed by a high school student", how about you lay a little bit of your work out here for us to see with your name on it. Keep in mind that the design, was approved by the City, and designed based on what they wanted. Oh, it's not flashy, and it doesn't have a lot of blinking flashing banner ads, but it's easy to read, and navigate, which after all is what's wanted in a site that's for the purposes of delivering information.
I personally don't care what the Tourism board does, or the economic development board, or any other board or commission in this town, but the one thing I will not tolerate is someone, or anyone being over charged. All of my rates are low, because my overhead is low. I don't have to make money on any of this, I'm not in debt and I make enough money to pay for my servers and hosting space on a single client in Lexington, so if I really wanted to I could host all of the city's site, or anyone's site, for free.

If you can come up with a better deal, I strongly encourage you to do so.
Thank You
Mr. Carlie Bentley
Corbin Web Works
Phone: 606-344-0828

After looking at your work, Mr. Bentley, I believe you are the one who is overcharging. If we want to present Corbin and our area like we are a bunch of amateurs we should use your cheap services. Since you are so wealthy and don't need any income why don't you at least learn about the importance of quality.

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

If we want to present Corbin and our area like we are a bunch of amateurs we should use your cheap services.

Who is this "we" that you speak of?

Are you a city employee?

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If we want to present Corbin and our area like we are a bunch of amateurs we should use your cheap services.
Who is this "we" that you speak of?Are you a city employee?

No. I am not a city employee. I am a Corbin property owner. And my family and I believe that in order to attract tourists, businesses, and growth it pays to present a quality and well planned image of the place you love and live. Don't you think we should strive to be our best? Do we want to settle for mediocrity?

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Why not let the Tourism people decide this?

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Why not let the Tourism people decide this?

HAHAHA! "LET THE TOURISM 'PEOPLE' DECIDE THIS!": NOW YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ON THIS ONE!! LOL!!

"ESTEP CLAIMS INTERNET NOT AN EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING TOOL"... WELL IT SURE SEEMS TO BE! THEIR HOME PAPER SALES HAVE BEEN DECREASING FOR YEARS. PAPER'S ARE READ ONLINE AND ITEMS ARE BOUGHT AS WELL. THROUGH WHAT... ADVERTISING AND POSTING TO A WEBSITE!

YOU HAVE TO EXPECT ESTEP TO SAY THIS, LOOK WHAT HE DOES! I'D HONESTLY BE SHOCKED IF HE DIDN'T SAY IT!

CATCH UP WITH THE TIMES... THE INTERNET IS TAKING OVER MORE AND MORE EVERY MINUTE.

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Your web pages, Ms. Bentley, are similiar to a first year college web page project that my kids took in college. A basic, no frills, generic web page. For a first effort, it was fine. Useful, yes. Navagible, yes. Simple, yes. And the first impression that someone gets when they look at them as a representative of our town, cheap and basic. First impressions are what bring people here as they search through the internet.

When Estep's paper goes out to sell ads to prospective customers, they promote a professional appearance, something that grabs your eye. They web pages you speak of, directly contradict their marketing and advertising.

I'm sure you have your share of customers, and that's good.

Your style of web page doesn't project what I would want to see to make me visit Corbin, or stay on the site to see what it has.

That's just my opinion.

By the way, should you get the contract for the tourism site, is Estep going to put a message board on it.

But, all that said, I commend you for signing you name.

Date: Oct 31, 2007

Most of the stuff on this site is not needed. It takes up too much space and for people with slower connections it takes too long to load, if it loads at all. Its really tough on my dial-up. But if you need an american express card, its the way to go.

Date: Nov 1, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

After looking at your work, Mr. Bentley, I believe you are the one who is overcharging. If we want to present Corbin and our area like we are a bunch of amateurs we should use your cheap services. Since you are so wealthy and don't need any income why don't you at least learn about the importance of quality.

Once again, if you can come up with a better deal, I strongly encourage it. With regard to the importance of quality in website design and functionality, I'm waiting to see the credentials which make you qualified to lecture me on quality.

Carlie Bentley

Corbin Web Works

Phone: 606-344-0828

Date: Nov 1, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Your web pages, Ms. Bentley, are similiar to a first year college web page project that my kids took in college. A basic, no frills, generic web page. For a first effort, it was fine. Useful, yes. Navagible, yes. Simple, yes. And the first impression that someone gets when they look at them as a representative of our town, cheap and basic. First impressions are what bring people here as they search through the internet.

When Estep's paper goes out to sell ads to prospective customers, they promote a professional appearance, something that grabs your eye. They web pages you speak of, directly contradict their marketing and advertising.

I'm sure you have your share of customers, and that's good.

Your style of web page doesn't project what I would want to see to make me visit Corbin, or stay on the site to see what it has.

That's just my opinion.

By the way, should you get the contract for the tourism site, is Estep going to put a message board on it.

But, all that said, I commend you for signing you name.

It's possible that you simply made a mistake, however, I am a Mister, not a Miss. While I'm not generally offended at this common mistake, I want to make perfectly clear that it was a mistake, on your part.

As for the design of the city's website, you clearly didn't read through my earlier comments, the design appears as the city requested. As for your first year college student's web design classes, I offer my applause, because apparently the instructor was teaching them the fundamental basics of functionality and useability. I must mention that the use and over-use of flashing, blinking, buttons, and text, is one of the most loathed website "features", loathed by 90% of the population, you are apparently in that 10% of the population that prefers "bling" to substance. There are plenty of sites in the world to keep you entertained.

You also said, "Your style of web page doesn't project what I would want to see to make me visit Corbin, or stay on the site to see what it has."

I should point out that the City's Website, isn't designed to attract tourists, That falls to the board of tourism, it also isn't designed to attract business, that would be up to the board of economic development. The city's website is there to deliver information. It's not an attempt to lure you there, and hold your rapt attention. It's a simple resource.

You said, "When Estep's paper goes out to sell ads to prospective customers, they promote a professional appearance, something that grabs your eye. They web pages you speak of, directly contradict their marketing and advertising."

I really don't have any idea what you're talking about. I have nothing to do with the paper's website, and I can only speak about the City's website, corbin-ky.gov

You said, "By the way, should you get the contract for the tourism site, is Estep going to put a message board on it."

I have no idea, as I have not even placed a bid for this project. If you measure your level of quality based on a website having a message board, I can have you one up and running in about 5 minutes, on any of the sites I have.

You also said, "First impressions are what bring people here as they search through the internet."

I can only assume you're talking about bringing people to Corbin. Once again, not tourism, or economic development, just the City Government site.

You're quite welcome to your opinions and I will defend your right to them, and I have, as a former soldier and Desert Storm Vet.

As for signing my name, I do that because I stand behind my opinions, and the quality of what I do, as well as my knowledge and skill. Anyone is welcome to challenge me on equal footing, or with a real knowledge of a subject. I have a problem being criticized by someone that has no idea how to do what I do. So, Sir or Madam, I once again ask for your credentials.

Have a great day.
Carlie Bentley
Corbin Web Works
Phone: 606-344-0828

Date: Nov 1, 2007

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Your web pages, Ms. Bentley, are similiar to a first year college web page project that my kids took in college. A basic, no frills, generic web page. For a first effort, it was fine. Useful, yes. Navagible, yes. Simple, yes. And the first impression that someone gets when they look at them as a representative of our town, cheap and basic. First impressions are what bring people here as they search through the internet.

When Estep's paper goes out to sell ads to prospective customers, they promote a professional appearance, something that grabs your eye. They web pages you speak of, directly contradict their marketing and advertising.

I'm sure you have your share of customers, and that's good.

Your style of web page doesn't project what I would want to see to make me visit Corbin, or stay on the site to see what it has.

That's just my opinion.

By the way, should you get the contract for the tourism site, is Estep going to put a message board on it.

But, all that said, I commend you for signing you name.

It's possible that you simply made a mistake, however, I am a Mister, not a Miss. While I'm not generally offended at this common mistake, I want to make perfectly clear that it was a mistake, on your part.
As for the design of the city's website, you clearly didn't read through my earlier comments, the design appears as the city requested. As for your first year college student's web design classes, I offer my applause, because apparently the instructor was teaching them the fundamental basics of functionality and useability. I must mention that the use and over-use of flashing, blinking, buttons, and text, is one of the most loathed website "features", loathed by 90% of the population, you are apparently in that 10% of the population that prefers "bling" to substance. There are plenty of sites in the world to keep you entertained.
You also said, "Your style of web page doesn't project what I would want to see to make me visit Corbin, or stay on the site to see what it has."
I should point out that the City's Website, isn't designed to attract tourists, That falls to the board of tourism, it also isn't designed to attract business, that would be up to the board of economic development. The city's website is there to deliver information. It's not an attempt to lure you there, and hold your rapt attention. It's a simple resource.

You said, "When Estep's paper goes out to sell ads to prospective customers, they promote a professional appearance, something that grabs your eye. They web pages you speak of, directly contradict their marketing and advertising."

I really don't have any idea what you're talking about. I have nothing to do with the paper's website, and I can only speak about the City's website, corbin-ky.gov

You said, "By the way, should you get the contract for the tourism site, is Estep going to put a message board on it."

I have no idea, as I have not even placed a bid for this project. If you measure your level of quality based on a website having a message board, I can have you one up and running in about 5 minutes, on any of the sites I have.

You also said, "First impressions are what bring people here as they search through the internet."

I can only assume you're talking about bringing people to Corbin. Once again, not tourism, or economic development, just the City Government site.

You're quite welcome to your opinions and I will defend your right to them, and I have, as a former soldier and Desert Storm Vet.

As for signing my name, I do that because I stand behind my opinions, and the quality of what I do, as well as my knowledge and skill. Anyone is welcome to challenge me on equal footing, or with a real knowledge of a subject. I have a problem being criticized by someone that has no idea how to do what I do. So, Sir or Madam, I once again ask for your credentials.

Have a great day.
Carlie Bentley
Corbin Web Works
Phone: 606-344-0828

Date: Nov 3, 2007

Mr. Bentley, your responses were very informed and honest. But I think you now see why city officials don't post on this board, although some on here seem to want them to even though they slam them at every opportunity. For your work all you get is cowardly potshots tossed at you from a few losers. I want to thank you for all the work you basically donate to the city. It's more than I can say for others.

Date: Nov 3, 2007

Bently is a business man. (you got to admit, your first name is a toss up if people don't know you, so chill out on that issue) Being a business man, if you can't stand some criticism, then shut up and get out of business.

If you're donating anything to anyone, you're getting something else out of it, somehow. Mind telling us what it is.

Your web sites you do now are very basic, and I mean basic. No frills. If that's what they want, for $25, then so be it. And that's what they got. It works, that's it. It is not impressive, and it is not attractive to outsiders that may log on to see corbin's offerings.

Do you have a higher end website that you've done. If so, lets see it, maybe we're judging your work wrongly. We'd love to see it. Honestly.

Kind of like selling a Yugo in front of a Cadillac.

Don't take it personal, you're in business.

Date: Nov 3, 2007

Bentley, you need to understand when you're in business, you have to take the good with the bad.

The city and tourism wants a stripped down version of a web page, and they'll get what they pay for. Cheap and cheap looking.

When people look at and navigate the site, it will look cheap.

You posted your name here because in order to defend your business, you had too. Fine. But, we don't, and won't because we don't have to. That's just he way it is.

Date: Nov 3, 2007

I don't think I understand so please help by telling just what the 300 a month webpage has done for Corbin the last few years. Is there some economic growth to be attributed to the 300 a month webpage. It was pointed out in the newspaper a few weeks ago that the tourism audit reported motel tax receipts were less last year than the year before. I doubt that Corbin motels have dropped their room rates so it can only mean that tourism for Corbin has slacked off some. What will the 300 a month webpage do for Corbin and has it been doing it the last couple of years?