ISSA Launches New Web Site

ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, recently launched its newly-designed web site – www.issa.com - at its ISSA/INTERCLEAN® North America convention. The site has experienced a 60 per cent growth in user sessions during the last year, most of which are by distributor and end user personnel.

ISSA.com logged more than 1.7 million user sessions in the first 10 months of the year, up 60 per cent from the same time in 2006. Those logging on are a mix of industry participants: 30 per cent of average user sessions are by distributors and 33 per cent are by facility service providers (FSPs).

More than 50 per cent of individuals visiting the site classify themselves as corporate or maintenance management. ISSA’s global reach has been excellent and growing, with a recent average of 25 per cent of ISSA.com sessions logged from outside the United States.

A video tour of the site’s new features is available at www.issa.com/tour.

The new site features improved navigation, a more dynamic interface, prominent industry-news updates and a new Member Lounge that includes a Person-to-Person Directory, which helps ISSA members locate key contacts within a company.

ISSA recruited a diverse group of industry leaders and frequent users of the site to a beta test.

The testing provided ISSA with real-time feedback regarding how easy or difficult the new design made common user tasks, such as finding industry contacts, looking up member benefits, registering for events, and finding educational and business resources.

“The testing was useful in providing feedback on the improved navigation and search capabilities, and helping build a more appealing and user-friendly design,” said ISSA Director of Technology Services Lori Zarling. “Of course, like any web site, ISSA.com is a work-in-progress so we’ll be constantly fine tuning features as we work to make the site the major hub for the on-line cleaning community."

Examples of the feedback received during the first few weeks of the site’s launch are:

“The site is active and dynamic,” writes Dr. Steve Spivak of the Cleaning Industry Research Institute and professor emeritus at the University of Maryland. “There are slick graphics, good colour, useful information that is readily available, and fast response time on accessing items.”

Jaime Herrera of Key Quimica in Monterrey, Mexico, said that “The first impression is of a highly professional and robust organization. The site is cleaner, logical and friendly. I liked the new, fresher logo and the colour combination.”

According to Fritz Gast of P.B. Gast & Sons Co. in Grand Rapids, MI, “I really like the site and the layout. It has a very fresh and crisp feel.”

Overall ratings during the beta testing, on a scale of one to five, with five being highest, averaged 4.11.

Among the many examples of constructive feedback were requests for fresh content on an ongoing basis for repeat visitors, which are being addressed with daily breaking news on the home page. New ISSA Educational Quick Clips – free online videos – are also launched every other Monday. Plus, timely, informative articles by leading industry experts are regularly added to the ISSA Library section.

The introduction of online educational videos, produced by ISSA-TV, have also been a popular addition to the site, with more than 107,000 video views logged through October of this year. Many companies also have taken advantage of new video advertising and demo options available on ISSA.com, reporting positive branding results and traffic flow.

In addition, ISSA has developed a host of creative strategies to drive more visitors to the site, ranging from webinars for FSPs and product purchasers to online search-engine advertising campaigns. Most recently, the association gave away 1000 USB drives that automatically link the user to ISSA.com for fast access to the association’s online resources.