Although the Imperial Valley Press won the Suburban Newspapers of America contest’s prestigious Web site architecture and overall design award last month, the digital media department is already eyeing enhancements for the site.
“We are certainly proud of winning the award,” Digital Media Manager Victor Quiñonez said.
The Web site underwent major changes in 2010, Quiñonez said, so to have an institution say that the site has a good structure and content architecture reassures the media department it “is on the right track.”
Though many newspapers in the nation use a similar Web site system, Digital Media Director Jeanette Quintero said, the “clean” look, relevance and accessibility of content stand out.
The Web site is easy to use and readers can navigate with ease, she said, adding those are some of the reasons why the paper won the award.
Another thing that made the Web site win was “Quick News,” which is one of the “big things” about the Web site, Quiñonez said.
Quick News is very easy to update, he said, so “as soon as something happens we can update it and it’s right there” for the readers. Information is available even as the article is being compiled, Quiñonez said. But winning the award doesn’t mean all users are satisfied, he said. Hence, gradual improvements continue and layout and content changes in the home page will come in the beginning of next year, he said.
Moreover, user interaction is “expected to grow,” Quiñonez said, adding the idea is to provide a “better experience” to visitors by using more video and photo stories in addition to print. More than 100,000 unique visitors log on the Web site every month, said Quintero, and the site averages more than 1 million page views every month. “It is a well visited site,” she said, adding that next year the site will expand to better engage with mobiles and iPads.
Staff is tracking the visiting trends of the year, taking note of what’s important and making changes, said Quiñonez. A noted trend is the number of visitors from outside the Imperial Valley, he said. Users from as far away as Switzerland visit the site, he said.
“We do acknowledge we have an audience outside Imperial County,” Quiñonez said, “so we try to serve them, too.”
To answer the needs of these users, state and national news are now becoming more prominent in the site, said Quintero. But this comes without “losing our main focus” which is “hyper local content,” said Quiñonez.
“We (staff) are working for the people,” Quintero said, “we are thinking of the reader.”
“We are certainly proud of winning the award,” Digital Media Manager Victor Quiñonez said.
The Web site underwent major changes in 2010, Quiñonez said, so to have an institution say that the site has a good structure and content architecture reassures the media department it “is on the right track.”
Though many newspapers in the nation use a similar Web site system, Digital Media Director Jeanette Quintero said, the “clean” look, relevance and accessibility of content stand out.
The Web site is easy to use and readers can navigate with ease, she said, adding those are some of the reasons why the paper won the award.
Another thing that made the Web site win was “Quick News,” which is one of the “big things” about the Web site, Quiñonez said.
Quick News is very easy to update, he said, so “as soon as something happens we can update it and it’s right there” for the readers. Information is available even as the article is being compiled, Quiñonez said. But winning the award doesn’t mean all users are satisfied, he said. Hence, gradual improvements continue and layout and content changes in the home page will come in the beginning of next year, he said.
Moreover, user interaction is “expected to grow,” Quiñonez said, adding the idea is to provide a “better experience” to visitors by using more video and photo stories in addition to print. More than 100,000 unique visitors log on the Web site every month, said Quintero, and the site averages more than 1 million page views every month. “It is a well visited site,” she said, adding that next year the site will expand to better engage with mobiles and iPads.
Staff is tracking the visiting trends of the year, taking note of what’s important and making changes, said Quiñonez. A noted trend is the number of visitors from outside the Imperial Valley, he said. Users from as far away as Switzerland visit the site, he said.
“We do acknowledge we have an audience outside Imperial County,” Quiñonez said, “so we try to serve them, too.”
To answer the needs of these users, state and national news are now becoming more prominent in the site, said Quintero. But this comes without “losing our main focus” which is “hyper local content,” said Quiñonez.
“We (staff) are working for the people,” Quintero said, “we are thinking of the reader.”
