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Home My WebLink AboutINFO - History of the City's Websites � ��•�� CITY OF PALM DESERT COMMUNITY SERVICES STAFF REPORT REQUEST: Receive and file informational report on the history of Palm Desert's websites. DATE: March 27, 2008 Recommendation: By Minute Motion, receive and file informational report on the history of Palm Desert's three websites. Report: The attached report is being provided at the request of City Council as an outline of the history of the City's three websites including how much has been spent on each site, how they are marketed, how many visits they receive, and explanations of updates, upgrades, and redesigns. Website marketing and customer service has become increasingly important to the business community and even more so to the tourism industry. The large majority of travelers use the Internet in some form to research, plan, and even book their next weekend getaway or vacation. Local residents, developers, architects, and business owners and potential business owners also look to websites for information about the City of Palm Desert. As requested, following is a history of the development of Palm Desert's three websites: palm-desert.org (tourism), cityofpalmdesert.org (business), and palmdesertart.com (art in public places). The report also includes available data on the number of visitors to the sites as well as the expenditures associated with each. PALM-DESERT.ORG This website was the City's first site, created in 1996. When it was developed it was mostly a running list of all City businesses. As technology improved, so did this website. Eventually it was serving too many functions to be a useful tool. It was trying to reflect Palm Desert's growing brand and offer visitor information, and yet also provide useful information for doing business with the City. Therefore, in 2002 a new website was created for City business (E-Gov) and the URL Cityofpalmdesert.org and .com was registered. Report on Palm Desert Websites Page 2 of 5 The palm-desert.org (tourism) site has always been and continues to be the site that the marketing department uses to brand the City. All marketing materials, vacation guides, advertisements, and promotional efforts list this site for more information. In 2001, Sitewire MarketSpace Solutions was hired to develop the site to reflect Palm Desert's logo and marketing materials at that time. In 2002, the Accelera program was added to the tourism site. It was an E-mail marketing program that included database maintenance, e-mail blasts, and a tracking system, developed and supported by Sitewire. As of January 2008, Sitewire is no longer offering this program. In 2004/05, the Marketing department launched the Palm Desert Rocks, Swings, Cooks, and Dazzles advertising campaign and felt the website needed to reflect the new campaign. Therefore, the site underwent a redesign. In early 2006, improvements to the tourism site were made including simplifying the navigation, removing content that was more appropriate for the E-gov site, and adding an e-commerce section so that visitors could purchase Palm Desert merchandise online. Average number of visitors per month to www.palm-desert.org: 1999 6,000 2005 33,100 2002 25,000 2006 50,230 2003 30,300 2007 53,470 2004 27,360 The number of visitors to the tourism site has increased dramatically over the last few years due to two main reasons. First, the number of people using the Internet and more specifically, search engines, to research information has increased. The tourism site is optimized with "built in" terms that people searching for will reach our site. Off Madison Ave. (the recently approved contract) has even more technology available to increase the effectiveness of search terms and also includes an e-marketing application that is top-of-the-line. Secondly, the City's expanding marketing/branding campaign has contributed to the increase in requests for information and visitors to this site. Staff feels that with the new contract with Off Madison Ave, in concert with an online advertising campaign, these numbers will increase even more. Following are the expenditures for all palm-desert.org related costs. This includes design, development, maintenance, hosting, and promotional expenditures: 2001/02 $60,687 2005 $16,775 2003 $22,820 2006 $42,627 2004 $28,610 2007 $19,750 Total: $191,269 Report on Palm Desert Websites Page 3 of 5 The costs for website design and development have actually decreased over the years. Sitewire is becoming too expensive for the services and benefits they provide. The technology being offered by Off Madison Ave. is highly sophisticated and will cost less than the initial investment made in 2001. CITYOFPALMDESERT.ORG/COM This website came online in 2002 in order to meet the growing requests of businesses and residents wanting to find information and to do business with the City online. This �site is optimized for those searching for business information relating to Palm Desert. The marketing department does not promote this site other than listing it on the monthly newsletter. Should a user search for Palm Desert and find the palm-desert.org site instead of this one, he/she is just one click away from getting to the proper site and information. The original website developed in 2002 did not allow for staff to make any changes to the site, nor was it graphically appealing. Every change had to go through the developer and it was extremely costly and did not allow for easy and timely updates. In 2006, staff proposed revising this website to include a content management system (CMS) that allows each department to add and delete information as appropriate. It is no longer necessary to go back to the developer for simple text and graphic changes. This new site was launched in 2007 with the original URL. Average number of visitors per month to www.cityofpalmdesert.org: 2005 33,100 2007 53,470 As with the tourism site, visitors to the E-Gov site have increased each year. With the launching of the new site, which includes much improved navigation and more easily accessible information, staff projects that the number of visitors will increase greatly. Following are the expenditures for all cityofpalmdesert.org related costs. This includes design, development, maintenance, and hosting: 2002 $132,279 2005 $9,306 2003 $42,648 2006 $16,187 2004 $10,740 2007 $48,383 Total: $259,543 Report on Palm Desert Websites Page 4 of 5 The costs associated with the E-Gov site are minimal in comparison to the service provided by its existence. As mentioned before, the costs of website development have decreased over the last five years, as can be seen in the 2007 expenditures which included the entire redesign and rebuilding of the site. Staff projects very little costs associated with the recently launched site because of the CMS system. Currently the only projected costs for 2008 are $200 per month for hosting and some minimal expenses to cover any minor adjustments to the site. PALMDESERTART.ORG/COM This website came online in 2002 to help promote Palm Desert's popular and expanding Art in Public Places Program. The purpose of this site is to market the Public Art Program and its collection, as well as to provide information to artists and developers. The different areas of the site include a section with tours of Palm Desert's collection, information on the public art collection, artist biographies, events and news, artist registry, developer information, the Palm Desert Community Gallery, as well as a virtual gallery to highlight the work of local artists. Since the launch of the site in 2002, no major changes have been made. Staff keeps the site updated with the latest information and art pieces as the collection grows and as exhibitions change. Through the years minor changes have been made to help optimize visibility of the site to search engines as well as to improve its functionality and usability. This site is marketed in all public art publications, including ads in major art magazines, docent program rack cards and fliers, the Art & Architecture book and map, and any other materials that are distributed by the art department. Average number of visitors per month to www.palmdesertart.org: 2005 12,487 2007 17,500 Following are the expenditures for all palmdesertart.org related costs. This includes design, development, maintenance, and hosting: 2001 $15,350 2005 $4,100 2002 $22,100 2006 $1,250 2003 $10,450 2007 $2,500 2004 $6,350 Total: $62,100 Staff is considering a potential redesign of this site in the future; however, no dollars have been budgeted at this time. Staff will continue to update the site with information as necessary. Report on Palm Desert Websites Page 5 of 5 With each redesign, change, addition, and new developments as mentioned above, the effectiveness of each of the three sites has increased. Staff feels that websites are one of the most widely used, and most cost effective means of marketing Palm Desert and communicating with those interested in the City. It is crucial to stay atop of the latest methods and technology used in the electronic world within reason. Staff does not jump on the latest bandwagon, but carefully considers how a new program or new offering will fit in with the marketing and communication goals of the City. Submitted By: • ,O�t Kristy Kn ' ing Do an Gelder Marketing Manager Dir tor of Information Systems r val: _ . Sheila R. Gilligan Carlos L. Orte Assistant City Manager City Manager . CITY COUNCIL ACTIOIv: ; .�PROV�D �/ DENIED ____�__r_r ; �C$IVED OTHER � �'�,.�.'�'�TV�a �?�'i�l';L 'o�,. _ �, �.'Y�5.��f_' ' 5 n • '� / : ��S: �SFNT: /�lLY�� dA,BSTAIN: �,/) �ERIFIED BY: �r�qi�sal. on Fil.e wi� Ci�y Cl�rk' s Of�iac�