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From the April 2008 issue
DEC Website Use Continues to be High in 2007
In 2007, DEC's website received an impressive 8,872,609 visitors. Each day, an average of 23,576 people visited and each person spent an average of almost 14 minutes on the site. Just over half of those who visited came to the site from a search engine. Of those who didn't find the site via a search engine, the majority were repeat visitors who had bookmarked their favorite pages or knew the page they wanted and typed in the exact web page address. Almost a fifth of visitors accessed the site on weekends and 41.1 percent visited at night.
Other than DEC's home page, the most popular pages were those that provided hunting, fishing, and permits and licenses information. Other very popular pages include those with information on DEC's job opportunities, campgrounds and outdoor recreation. Visitors to the site also make great use of DEC's search and database applications, such as the state recreation lands database, environmental remediation databases, DEC permit applications search, the Air Quality Index database, and the water wells data search.
The redesigned site makes it easier for users find information
Improved Site Launched
The DEC public website went through a major overhaul this year with the launch of a redesigned site in May. The new home page uses an improved navigation scheme, based on a topical approach. Users are now able to navigate through the website by topics like Outdoor Recreation, Chemical and Pollution Control, and Permits and Licenses rather than having to know or search for which DEC division or region has the information they're looking for.
Through the hard work of web content coordinators, divisional and regional staff, and the Division of Public Affairs and Education's (DPAE) web team, a lot was accomplished before the new public website could go live. All of the pages on the old site had to be transferred into a new content management system called RedDot. The web team has provided RedDot training throughout the year and has also traveled to each of the nine regions to provide training for regional staff. Now, more than 350 DEC employees are able to create web pages and add content to DEC's public website using RedDot.
New Site Wins an Award
The redesigned website also received a Best of the Web Award. The award was presented by the New York State Forum and the Rockefeller Institute of Government "for outstanding work done during the past year in the area of information resource management by New York State and local government organizations."
DPAE's web team will continue to support and make improvements to the DEC public website. Better organization of pages, increased cross-linking of pages and the addition of exciting video content, are just some of the ways DEC will continue to meet the needs of New York State residents for information on the state's natural resources, environmental quality and recreational opportunities.
