Marking 20 years since Swindon Link's first foray onto the net

Town Crier calls Link magazine to the internet. Pictured with Fred Ferris waving his bell, from left, website designer Mark Yerbury-Hodgeson, the mayoress and mayor of Swindon Sheila and Maurice Fanning, Paul Dunn, web developer, and Roger Ogle, Link magazine publisher

2017 was a year of anniversaries for Link. The March edition that year reported the thirtieth anniversary since the magazine became business, launched to coincide with the official opening of Greendown Community School in Grange Park by Princess Anne.

But 11 October 2017 marked twenty years since www.swindonlink.com went online. Swindon's town crier the late Fred Ferris announced the event in the traditional way: "Oyez, oyez, oyez, I am called upon to announce the launch of a new world wide web site for Swindon on the internet."

The mayor and mayoress Maurice and Sheila Fanning had their picture taken on one of the first affordable digital cameras which was uploaded to the website before they clicked a button to make the site live.

Since then the digital space has expanded to dominate all forms of communication and commerce. I certainly didn't understand the impact it would have, delivering positive information to all, as well as being exploited for horror and hate.

In 1997 I thought the website would just be another way to access stories from the magazine and that the paper product would continue to be central to the business. Although traditional newspapers have seen their readership greatly diminish and their paid-for business model shaken to the core, Link magazine has been sustained through disruptive times. The reason is that the publication has always been free to every home in its target distribution area. And over many years it infiltrated the community to establish a close rapport with organisations, local groups and schools, building a relationship that readers trust.

This encouraged advertisers to remain with the brand. It's a responsibility to help sustain businesses, The Link being the only advertising vehicle for some trades people. From it's long term distribution area of West and North Swindon, since 2016 two more editions are now available covering edition the east side of Swindon and also Old Town and Wichelstowe.

Back in 1997, success on paper was not immediately replicated online because the possibilities of what could be achieved were not fully understood. But the launch of redesigned and more comprehensive website at the end of 2018 is making headway to position the Swindon Link brand as a major online place to go in the town.

Read the digitised magazine in which this story features