case studies

Increasing DigitalEve Columbus Memberships by 70%

DigitalEve Columbus

DigitalEve Columbus is part of a global, non-profit organization for women in new media and digital technology. DigitalEve events promote networking and mentoring opportunities to enrich our members professionally and personally. Benefits of joining DigitalEve Columbus include:

• Career Networking: Our members tell us this is the most valuable part of our community. The members of DigitalEve Columbus are people like you, who work, train, hire, and play in all levels and areas of the digital realm. Whether it is through our monthly meetings or discussion on our email lists, you'll meet people who can help shape your career in a positive direction.
• Education and Training: DigitalEve Columbus offers great training in today's most interesting technologies and topics. Members receive discounts on training sessions. You'll be surprised at how much you learn through regular contact with the members of DigitalEve.
• Social Activities: Fun is important to the members of DigitalEve Columbus, so we strive to make our activities enjoyable. We have lots of events and try to accommodate different schedules.
• Opportunities for Activism: DigitalEve members have the opportunity to make a difference in Columbus. Volunteer positions are available for many outreach activities and only members can head a committee.

Challenge

The old design of the web site did not receive much search engine traffic. Building the membership base was mostly done by word-of-mouth marketing.

Using their web site conversion process, W-edge design reviewed and analyzed:

• DigitalEve Columbus' goals and key performance indicators
• Overall web site performance
• Web analytics data
• The current site design, copy, layout and graphics

The challenge the group faced was to design a site that got better search engine traffic and higher conversion rates. Also, the site needed an easy method to display and change meeting information. It was decided to use ASP to build the web site using a database for the meeting information. Though using ASP would  increase the amount of time it took for the site to appear in search engine rankings, it would be easier to post and change the meeting information.

Results

Within three months of the redesign:

• ASP site pages began appearing in the Google Search results
• Web site traffic increased
• Group memberships also increased

At the time of this writing (January 2010), the conversions are still at a rate of 5 membership sign-ups per week, up from the old site's rate of 2 per month -- a 70% increase in memberships.

When you are ready to start planning your success story, contact us today.