Abstract Random

Shoals Area Information Overload

// June 24th, 2009 // Life

NOT including the multitude of local real estate and attorney websites, there seems to be more than just a few informational websites about the Shoals area of North Alabama. Most of these websites attempt to be a one stop ‘portal’ to everything in the Shoals. None of them succeed. Most of them are outdated (some by 9 years) and ALL of them are poorly designed.

I’ve often considered building a site like this, and now I know I wasn’t the only one. It seems anyone that does anything web related locally had created their own take on an all-inclusive Shoals portal. I’ve listed the websites that I have come across (I’m sure there’s more) along with a quick commentary.

If you know of any other Shoals area websites out there, please add them in the comments.

1. Shoals Grapevine
   http://www.shoalsgrapevine.com/
   Apparently part of a national network called “The Grapevine Communities” banking on member generated content. I’ve never heard of it, and apparently no one else has either. Just look at the business listings (Total: 0).
2. Shoals Fringe
   http://shoalsfringe.com/
   Was once active about 5 years ago, but is not currently active
3. Welcome to the Shoals
   http://welcometotheshoals.com/
   Just a coming soon page so far, promising a September 2009 launch.
4. Shoals Insider
   http://shoalsinsider.com/
   A news site dedicated to news not covered by mainstream local news media
5. Shoals United
   http://www.shoalsunited.com/main.html
   This has a copyright of 2001 on it from A. Tomlinson/Sims Advertising
6. The Shoals Area
   http://theshoalsarea.com/
   Someone’s just squatting on this domain. Nothing here yet.
7. Shoals Art
   http://www.shoalsart.com/
   Seems to be kept pretty up to date, but very ugly design wise.
8. Destination Shoals
   http://www.destinationshoals.com/
   This site appears to be run by the Shoals Chamber.
9. Shoals Biz
   http://shoalsbiz.com/shoalsarea.html
   The upcoming events listed on this site are from 2005. Enough said.
10. Shoals Weather
    http://www.shoalsweather.com/
    Several links to local weather information.
11. First Fridays in Florence
    http://www.firstfridaysflorence.com/
    Seems to be kept up to date, but another very ugly website.
12. Shoals Culture
    http://www.shoalsculture.com/
    Quite a few local links including art community, businesses, nightlife and attractions.
13. Visit the Shoals
    http://visittheshoals.com/
    Has links to “Tuscambia”, Dothan and Florence pages. Also the Tuscumbia misspelling continues on to another domain (http://www.visittuscambia.com/).
14. Explore the Shoals
    http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=ETS
    This site run by the Times Daily.
15. Shoals Area
    http://www.shoalsarea.com/
    Seems to be nothing but advertisements.
16. Shoals Area.org
    http://www.shoalsarea.org/contact.html
    Not much here. Nothing at all on the homepage, that’s why I’ve linked to the contact page here.
17. Shoals Living
    http://www.shoals-living.com/
    Their blog entry from 2008 says full site is coming soon and will include a restaurant guide, events calendar and more. What do they mean by soon?
18. Shoals Calendar
    http://www.shoalscalendar.com/
    This seems to not be updated, and was started by A. Tomlinson/Sims Advertising. A recent check of the site found it not functioning.
19. Shoals Directory
    http://www.shoalsdirectory.com/
    Seems to be a work in progress maybe, and from the looks of it, it will need a lot of work.
20. About the Shoals
    http://www.about-the-shoals.com/
    Quite a few links, but it looks like it was built in 1997 even though the copyright says 2008-2009.
21. Shoals Online
    http://www.shoalsonline.com/
    Probably the best looking of the bunch, but lacking severely in content.
22. 2Do In the Shoals
    http://2dointheshoals.blogspot.com/
    A newly started blog based on answering the question “What is there to do in the Shoals”. ** Full Disclosure – I’m a contributing writer on this site (though I haven’t written anything yet).
23. Florence Main Street
    http://www.florencemainstreet.org/
    The official downtown Florence organization.
24. Visit Florence, AL
    http://www.visitflorenceal.com/
    Self proclaimed, “Adventures in Southern Culture”. Run by Florence Lauderdale Tourism.
25. Florence Neighbors
    http://www.FlorenceNeighbors.com
    Same old story, bad design, lack of quality information.

There’s also some domains that are being squatted on with nothing happening on them such as: http://www.visitflorence.net/ ** http://theshoalsarea.com/ ** http://www.shoalsalabama.com/ **