Any lingering doubts about the demand for a quality online news and market intelligence service for the Australian beef industry have been put to rest following Wednesday's spectacular launch of BeefCentral.com

Within minutes of going live at 8am Wednesday morning, site traffic exploded and stayed at a high level throughout the day and evening. Visitors landed on the site from all points of the Australian continent, as well as a surprisingly strong overseas contingent from the US, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, the UK and elsewhere.

Demonstrating the web’s enormously powerful ability to distribute a message considered of value by viewers, many first-time visitors took the time to pass on the beefcentral.com link to their friends and colleagues around the industry, further driving website traffic as the day progressed.

The overwhelming reaction to the site from stakeholders providing feedback was that they liked what they saw and read, found the layout easy to navigate and understand, and felt the site filled an important gap in the industry’s drive to become better informed.

Managing director of the Beef CRC, Dr Heather Burrow, summed up the thoughts of many when she described the site as “Badly needed, long overdue and very informative.”

Dr Burrow joined a long list of key industry stakeholders offering their congratulations and endorsement for the new project (see below). The publishers sincerely thank visitors for their enthusiastic response and support.     

Beef Central also set the beef industry news agenda from its first day of operation, with its exclusive confirmation of the Teys Cargill Merger being picked up by and dominating news headlines in rural, metropolitan and international news media throughout the day.

 

 

Like all new web-based businesses, Wednesday’s launch was not without some minor hiccups, as the system groaned under the sheer weight of web traffic.

The web developers at GeneratorJSA actively patched an issue with older versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and are resolving an issue with some users experiencing difficulties registering for their free email news alert.

Some users running Internet Explorer 7 were experiencing a warning message about running JavaScript. Almost every website uses JavaScript in order to deliver a more dynamic and interactive experience. In this case it was a bug with Internet Explorer 7 only and has since been fixed.

Using outdated Web Browsers such as Internet Explorer version 6, 7 or 8 severely impacts on the richer experience that modern browses deliver.

As an alternative to Internet Explorer and for a more enjoyable experience consider Google Chrome or Firefox. For details on upgrading to Internet Explorer 9 please visit Microsoft's website.

Website visitors who encounter further problems should contact the publishers via emails listed in the "About Us" section. 

Keep and eye out for Beef Central's new page in Twitter and Facebook in coming days. 

 

A sample of Beefcentral.com's launch day comments:

 

"Congratulations! This is a great concept."

Rob Sinnamon, Yugilbar Santa Gertrudis Stud

 

"Well done and great read, look forward to future editions."

Rod Cox

 

"Most impressed with what you’re doing."

Geoff and Cheryl Haack.

"Well Done! "
Ross York, WD Ag

 

"Congratulations on a great initiative."

Dr Paul Cusack, Australian Livestock Production Services.

 

"Love it, well done"

Andrew Gapes

 

"I’ve spent the past 30 minutes viewing your website. This is brilliant!"

Merrick Blok, Northern Cooperative Meat Company.

 

"Congratulations on this initiative. I am spreading the word and look forward to your daily updates."

Stephen Meerwald, Wellard Rural Exports

 

"Congratulations. Great idea."

Steve Banney, Tuchekoi

 

"Very newsy and up to date. I am sure it will be a success."

Justin Harrison, Toowoomba

 

"Congratulations on the launch of Beef Central, great work."

Jason Strong, MLA, Brussells