CRANBERRY TWP — The Community Development Corporation of Butler County shared a draft of its next strategic plan and gave a preview of its new website Monday evening.

Ken Raybuck, executive director of the CDC, said during a end-of-year mixer at the Marriott Pittsburgh North that the private nonprofit economic development organization wants to raise its profile significantly during the coming years to better serve its members and attract new ones.

“Economic development is changing, and it’s changing rapidly,” Raybuck said.

He said the CDC must look beyond land and buildings to continue to find ways to partner with businesses and help the county prosper.

He also said the organization must find ways to raise money to sustain staffing.

Raybuck detailed the six main strategies of the 2012-14 plan intended to achieve that goal:

• Establish a group to coordinate job recruitment and retention services.

• Develop a program to help identify and support existing business needs.

• Develop benchmarks to better measure success.

• Recruit new companies by identifying emerging industries and growth opportunities.

• Develop community economic response teams to help companies in need of assistance.

• Increase communication to tell the story of the CDC and the county.

“We have to be more active in promoting the CDC,” Raybuck said. “We have to go much bigger than Butler County.”

Lee Ligo of Ligo Architects and a CDC board member expanded on that by presenting the new website, www.butlercountycdc.com, which is on schedule to go live by December.

He said a CDC committee developed the site during the past five months with Media Post of Zelienople.

Ligo said a new site was needed to communicate with others and show that the county is the place to be for business.

The home page displays facts about the county’s economic triumphs, along with the county’s proximity to major population centers in the eastern United States.

Slides also show some of the county’s most prominent businesses, such as the Westinghouse Electric Co., MEDRAD and AK Steel. Also displayed are Butler County Community College and Slippery Rock University. Plus, Butler is pinpointed as the birthplace of the Jeep.

Ligo said cost was not a factor for the $6,800 project because it was completed outside the CDC’s budget with $13,000 in donations. He also said the new site is self-sustaining, which means the CDC staff can change and update it at any time.

“This is all about raising our profile,” he said.