Serving Wasaga Beach Since 1997

Wasaga.com - Your Online Guide to Wasaga Beach began in 1997 as a portfolio / resume of the websites created by owner Darlene Watters. In the late 1990's websites were pretty simple; just text and images. Javascript became popular a little later as did simple animations but for the most part, websites were meant to be an extension of a business card; an online brochure of sorts. How things have changed!

One day I was looking at my statistics reports to see what sort of people were visiting the website, what they looked at and what search terms they used to find me. It became clear that people weren't all that interested in my talents as a website designer. They wanted information about Wasaga Beach. So, I re-designed the website to reflect this reality and created a simple tourist site. The most popular pages were the "where to stay", "where to eat" and "what to do" pages. For fun I added some articles which talked about Wasaga Beach from the point of view of a local. To my utter shock, the articles were a hit! 

There is an expression in the entertainment industry - Give the people what they want.  As time progressed and the needs of my website visitors became more clear,  I added photos, reviews, events, even games for the kids. I was having fun doing it and although I wasn't being paid for my efforts, it was an interesting hobby.

The site has changed several times since those early days. It has been through several re-designs. There are features which allow people to participate. People can upload their own photos, add an article, submit an event. And, the site now includes social media links to Facebook and Twitter. There are so many ways to get information out to people but the goal remains the same; give people what they want. As the town grew and more residents began to visit the website, information for them was added. The goal has always been to make Wasaga.com the place to go if you need something.

I always have my eyes and ears open so if you can think of something that is not covered on this site, but should be - let me know.

It has been my pleasure serving the community all these years. 

Darlene Watters