Balboapark.org website redesign positively impacting visitor traffic

It has been more than a month since we launched the new Balboapark.org site. While many websites see a dip in traffic after a redesign-- often due to lower search engine rankings, missing redirects, etc.-- we have actually seen an increase in both visitor traffic and referrals from Balboapark.org to other Park organizations' sites. We credit this increase to a variety of factors, including an attractive new look that encourages people to browse the pages and the Drupal content management system that is inherently search engine friendly because of its architectural structure. We have also incorporated OpenX, an ad server through which we serve up ads that link directly to specific events and exhibitions on the Park organizations’ websites.

Some of our findings:

• Traffic to Balboapark.org went up 12% since the launch of the new Balboapark.org site. People are also spending more time on the site and there’s a lower bounce rate.
• Referrals from Balboapark.org to the Museum of Man’s site went up 78%.
• Referrals to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center’s site went up 25%.
• Referrals to the Mingei International Museum’s site went up 25%.

(Month after launch compared to same month-long period in 2010)