One Year After Website Overhaul, City of Longmont Reports Increase in Visitors

SANTA MONICA, Calif. and LONGMONT, Colo., Aug. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- One year after a website overhaul, completed in partnership with the online government experts at Vision Internet, the City of Longmont today reported a 10 percent increase in website visitors. According to Longmont's biannual Citizen Survey, 80 percent of residents now interact with the City online at www.longmontcolorado.gov.

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"Our former website had not been updated in 17 years, which is considered prehistoric in this age of fast-moving technology," said Longmont Public Information Officer Rigo Leal. "Our residents are very tech savvy and expect the latest features from websites, especially from their local government website. We would have failed them had we not upgraded."

Longmont Assistant City Manager Sandi Seader, who served on the City's original website team nearly two decades ago, agreed. "We needed our website to engage our citizens," she said. "Vision Internet's advanced content management system and cutting-edge technology gave our site super easy navigation and the ability to use visual elements in new ways. This has fueled creativity and given a variety of managers the opportunity to produce and publish content directly to the web. This saves time and creates greater autonomy and ownership of department pages."

In addition, the advanced capability of Vision Internet's responsive design allows the site to resize and reconfigure for optimal viewing on desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones, which Seader calls "a quantum leap forward."

"The new design has directly contributed to increased use of the website," she said. "Providing access to the website from any electronic device has made a huge difference in communicating with our residents."

Viewership of the City's calendar of events pages also has increased dramatically in the past year. The old calendar site was rarely visited but the new calendar is one of the most popular on the new website. Content managers are now able to keep the information current and filtering options let visitors find specific events with a couple of clicks. 

"People have learned they can trust the information to be current and accurate," Seader said.

The site's e-Notification feature and self-help "I Want To" section, which links to online services that range from applying for city jobs to booking a birthday party at a recreation center, also are very popular.

"Our former site did not reflect the reality of Longmont's natural beauty, vibrant community or its position in the high tech corridor with Boulder and Denver," added Leal. "Today, our new website, with its impressive homepage design that graphically changes with each new site visit, is a proud representation of the true nature of our beautiful, innovative and engaging community."

"As more and more people engage with local government online, it's increasingly important that a city's online presence accurately and positively represent the unique cultural and economic personality of a community," said Vision Internet's Director of Strategic Initiatives Ashley Fruechting. "Longmont is a perfect example of a progressive city in which local leaders have taken the time to learn what citizens want and make that information easily accessible. We congratulate them on achieving impressive increases in community engagement and citizen satisfaction in just the first year."

For information about Vision Internet's transformative government website technology, please call 888-263-8847 or visit visioninternet.com/inforequest.

About Vision Internet
Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., Vision Internet is a national leader in government website development with more than 600 government, non-profit and education clients in U.S. and Canadian communities with populations that range from less than 1,000 residents to more than 5 million. The company creates cost-effective solutions that increase government efficiency, transparency and interactive communications with citizens. Over nearly 20 years, the company has earned hundreds of prestigious awards for its unique websites. Vision Internet's visionCMS™ is a powerful, easy-to-use content management system developed with feedback from hundreds of municipal clients.

SOURCE Vision Internet

Related Links

http://www.visioninternet.com/