Guest Blog – All About Infoengine!

The following blog has been written for us by one of our amazing volunteers in the Pembrokeshire Community Hub. So without further ado, read on to find out more about a very useful tool called Infoengine!

“My name is Paul Guisbourne-Hilton, my association with PAVS, began in 2015, with Volunteering Matters as a befriender and the Booking Coordinator for Cars 4 Carers.

I moved to Pembrokeshire in August 2015, having left Manchester.

As part of my ongoing volunteering with PAVS I have been doing some work on something called Infoengine, and I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you all about it!

What is Infoengine?

Infoengine is the directory of third sector services in Wales. Infoengine highlights a wide variety of excellent voluntary and community services that are able to provide information and support so that you can make an informed choice.

Infoengine is provided by Third Sector Support Wales, a partnership of County Voluntary Councils and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.

Third sector is the term used to describe organisations and groups who are active in the voluntary and charitable sector, and also includes those organisations who are social enterprises.

Who can access Infoengine?

Infoengine can be accessed by anyone with access to the internet and it has the option to use Welsh or English language for searches.

No registration is needed to use the database if you are wanting to search for a group or organisation. The search engine allows for the use of keywords, category and location, to enable you to find services.

For example, if you wanted to find PAVS on Infoengine, you could do it in the following way,

Keywords – Volunteering, Health and Social Care. Location – Haverfordwest.

What are the benefits of Infoengine?

• It enables groups and organisations to publicise their services free of charge.
• You can provide a detailed overview of what services you offer, means of contact, frequency of events and activities and so on.
• You can use the InfoEngine logo on your publicity and marketing materials.
• Technical support.
• Your organisation shows in other search engines such as Google.

Are there any disadvantages of Infoengine?

As with every database it is only as current as the information provided by the organisation.

It is the responsibility of the listed organisations to keep their details up to date, although reminders are sent out by email.

You will only know if someone found you through InfoEngine if you ask that question when they contact you, you won’t get updates from InfoEngine itself.

How do I use Infoengine for my organisation?

 The best way to create a new entry would be to use a generic email address for the admin of it rather than a personal email. An example of this would be admin@myorganisation.com or enquiries@myorganisation.com. It would also be a good idea to set a password that is relevant to your organisation, and make sure that other people know what the log in information is.

The advantage of this would be that any member of staff would be able to monitor and amend any details.

Having created the listing, you will then ab able to  utilise any marketing materials that were available such as the InfoEngine logo.

To help make your listing stand out more you could add your organisation logo on InfoEngine as well!

To take it a step further, you could promote the fact that your organisation is listed on InfoEngine by incorporating the link on your emails or adding the InfoEngine logo to your email. To help evaluate its effectiveness for you, ask enquirers how they found you – was it through InfoEngine, Word of Mouth, Google, Social Media…. Choose the options that are most appropriate for you!

Finally, you can always ask for additional support from InfoEngine to establish what else you could do.

Conclusion

As many of you will know, funding is extremely difficult to obtain without evaluation and proven results. A lot of funding decisions are centred upon establishing a need for a service, therefore lesser-known organisations may find it difficult to obtain funding.

By increasing the reach and audience of your organisation it may improve your accessibility, allow you to provide greater support and increase the numbers of people who come to you as well as improving your ability to network and potentially create new relationships with like-minded organisations.

Infoengine is a free resource that will only take a minimal amount of time to set up and maintain your entry.

It is easy to use and is accessible to all, public and professional services alike.

Overall it could prove to be a useful and effective way to promote your services, especially if you take the time to set it up and regularly update it.”

To get started on Infoengine click here