Suffolk Training Advice Point

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The issues

The old website was well used and needed updating. They wanted a clear, well-structured homepage so that users could navigate around the site easily. The website needed to attract a number of different users: individuals and businesses, advisers and voluntary organizations and as such, wanted the homepage to reflect this diversity, without causing confusion.

The team wanted to encourage more training providers to input their own data. This was permitted by the old website but the process was laborious. As a result, few providers were willing to input their own data. In order to encourage providers further, Suffolk TAP wanted training providers to be able to access their own statistics to promote provider loyalty.

The key objectives

In order to appeal to Suffolk TAP´s diverse audience, the new website needed to be easily navigable, intuitive and informative. It also needed to be a ´first-stop´ central repository for adult learning courses and educational information in Suffolk. Course details needed to be easily accessible by potential students, enabling them to make informed decisions about the suitability of courses posted on the website.

Similarly, the website needed to allow course providers to easily add new courses and update existing course profiles, as well as keep them regularly updated with viewing statistics and course enquiries.

The new site needed to encourage potential learners, training providers, and other visitors to interact and communicate with each other as well as with Suffolk TAP themselves. All users needed to be able to comment and share learning experiences in order to inform potential learners of a course´s value.

The Home page also needed to publicise partner projects effectively without compromising its own purpose and appeal. Suffolk TAP´s News page needed to be engaging and should be directly linked to their electronic newsletter facility.

Finally, the website design had to ensure that Suffolk TAP featured highly in all search engine listings and be completely accessible by anyone.

Why Suffolk TAP chose netXtra

For Suffolk TAP, selecting netXtra to develop their new website was a straight-forward choice. Dee Crowe, Manager at Suffolk TAP said "netXtra put together a clear and thoughtful proposal that properly identified and took into account the kind of service that we offer. They also have vast experience when dealing with not-for-profit organisations, so immediately, they understood our ethos."

However, the website´ development was only half of the overall requirement. Growth and continued support were equally as important as Dee Crowe went on to explain, "We were really impressed with netXtra´s continued support and backup service. And the website´s modular flexibility allows us to add functionality as our objectives change and new national initiatives arise."

The final solution

The new Suffolk TAP website - www.suffolktap.co.uk - allows learners to search any one of over 5000 courses spread across a multitude of subjects. They can now also register on the site and can engage in discussion forums with training providers and with other learners. Furthermore, users can personalise their profile on the site and can save favourite course details and search information. They can also maintain their own registration details and preferences.

netXtra´s easy-to-use content management system (CMS) allows Suffolk TAP to assign appropriate access and editing rights to any of their approved training providers as well as to their own internal site administrators. This enables providers to easily perform various site updates, such as page copy and image updates, and, where authorised, add new site sections. Authorised providers can easily manage the content for their own training services directly on the site from any Internet-enabled computer. This is proving to be a really useful feature, as it empowers training providers and ensures that course information remains up-to-date, saving Suffolk TAP time and money on allocating additional resources to maintain the site.

Other new site benefits include an automated communication system. This facilitates more efficient communication with training providers and students. The new "Tag Cloud" facility helps visitors to access pages quickly with commonly ´tagged´ keywords or phrases - the more a term is used as a ´tag´ on any of the articles, the larger it appears in the cloud on the page. This allows a visitor to instantly identify and link to pages with articles associated with common words or phrases of interest.

The conclusion

The new website is proving a real hit with learners and training providers across the whole of Suffolk and is being seen as a huge leap forward for adult education in the region. It has become an invaluable source of educational information, as well as a communal communication and course evaluation tool for learners and training providers alike.

Several visitors to the site have commented on how much easier the website is to use and to navigate. One training provider responded saying, "The new web design is much more in keeping with modern business and I really like the look of it."

Suffolk TAP is already seeing a significant increase in the number of providers who now willingly update their own information on the site – which in turn is saving them time and money in site administration.

Furthermore, their highly optimised site ensures that they now hit top spot in most of their target keyword and key phrase search engine queries. Consequently, the new website is now reaching out to many more people and statistics show a significant increase in site traffic. This is borne out by the notable rise in the number of newly registered providers.

Summary of the features and benefits

• Intuitive navigation that is sympathetic to the needs of a wide-ranging audience.
• Registration on Suffolk TAP´s subscription database allows users to personalise their own profile, save favourite course details and keep personal preferences up-to-date.
• Training provider registration allows providers to update their own company profile and course information. This saves Suffolk TAP time and money on maintaining this information themselves, and ensures that details remain current.
• Easy-to-use Content Management System that gives authorised users and training providers the ability to make content updates from any PC with internet access.
• Powerful course and information search facilities, including a Tag Cloud search that allows visitors to find course information quickly and easily.
• Discussion Forums, enabling learners and training providers to interact with each other.
• Automated e-communications newsletters allowing learners and training providers to receive up-to-date news related to training.
• Search engine optimised, putting Suffolk TAP top of most related keyword searches.
• Comprehensive website statistics that allow Suffolk TAP to evaluate website effectiveness and tailor it accordingly.
• Individual training provider statistics that allows training providers to understand course popularity. This, in turn, enables them to manage their course portfolio accordingly.

Launch website - www.suffolktap.co.uk