St. Croix Falls likely will have an electronic version of the “3-in-1 oil” product.

The City Tourism Committee, the Falls Chamber of Commerce and the city government probably will soon share a joint Web site: visitscf.com.

The city council has not yet committed the City to the venture, but seems to be on the brink of doing so. Jerry Boucher, who would help create the joint Web site, said the chamber of commerce appears poised for involvement as well.

“The concept is: when you come to the home page that you can access whatever information you’re interested in,” Boucher said at last week’s city council meeting.

Currently, he said, there is a lot of redundancy with the three entities maintaining separate sites. A joint site would, ideally, reduce or eliminate that redundancy and provide current, accurate information on a single site.

It would cost the city about $1,900 to have information transferred from its current site and purchase four modules.

Boucher explained that “a module is a unit that allows certain functions on the Web site,” such as “events,” audio and streaming video.

The City Tourism Committee has already purchased “the full Web site” and four modules. Boucher has recommended that the City and the chamber of commerce each buy four additional modules. That would give each entity the use of 12 modules. Each of the three entities would maintain and update its own section of the Web site.

“You can’t possibly buy enough print advertising to really say everything you have to say about the community,” Boucher said, “and a Web site is obviously the most efficient way to do that. The goal is to use it as a place to direct people who see our other marketing efforts.”

Arnie Carlson, the city council representative on the City Tourism Committee, said that from its inception a couple of years ago the Tourism Committee wanted to try to pull together the scores of marketing efforts in St. Croix Falls and vicinity into a consolidated Web site.

He said it seems logical to include city government information with the business and tourism information. Forms could be filled out online or downloaded.

Boucher said another reason for a joint Web site it that it won’t lead users down dead end paths, through links, from where it is impossible or cumbersome to return to the homepage.

“By doing this,” he said, “everything is in one place. No matter what information you’re looking for you’re not leaving the Web site.”

City marketing director Sherry Steele said she has been working with the Destination Marketing Opportunities group that is looking at “about 45 different media opportunities” for collaborative advertising and marketing.

The first opportunity seized upon was “a $6,700 opportunity” for a Valentine’s Day Weekend-focused ad in Minnesota Monthly magazine that cost less than $2,000, including administrative and design time.

“Sherry, with a little bit of guidance from Danette [Olsen, executive director of Festival Theatre], has turned out to be a pretty shrewd negotiator with the advertising folks,” Carlson said.

“I truly believe that having the City, the Chamber and the Tourism on one Web site will really give a very strong presence of what this city should be for now and for the future,” Steele said.

A “sense of place” marketing effort will be launched this spring. In fact, there is a sense of place advertisement in the St. Croix River Valley Regional Tourism Association’s annual guidebook publication, recently released.

Steele said there is a plan to spend $45,000 to $50,000 on the sense of place marketing campaign this year.

City administrator Ed Emerson said he will work with Boucher on a professional services contract for the City to be involved in the joint Web site project.