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Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

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Government website visits up 10.4% in Australia year-on-year in March 2009

May 07, 2009

We've just published a new Hitwise Australia Online Government report, demonstrating that government website visits were up 10.4% year-on-year in March 209. This growth suggests that the community is finding online government services increasingly useful. Australian visits to government websites also outstripped US and UK usage in March 2009.

However, Government agencies need to ensure that the online delivery of their services is meeting the needs of the community, particularly as the Internet becomes a primary point of contact between organisations and users.

As times get tough during the economic downturn, government will play an increasingly important role in providing vital services to the community. The effective delivery of these services through the online channel can result in cost-savings for government and potentially improve community well-being.

Key findings from the report, including a case study on how the Australian community reacted online to the Victorian bushfires in 2009, are as follows:

• Government Agencies should benchmark their websites against similar departments and industry players. The Bureau of Meteorology was the leading Government – National website with an overwhelming 44.8% share of visits in March 2009, and was also the leading News and Media website ahead of major publishers.

• Victorian Bushfires searches dropped off 4 weeks after the crisis. Search analysis can help inform governments of the peak window for community awareness around a given event. Agencies can use also search data to measure awareness of government services.

• Search Engine Optimisation should be used by government websites to compete effectively with the commercial sector. Searches around the Victorian bushfires also demonstrate that the community was more likely to turn to News and Media websites than online government services for vital updates, appeal information, and education around bushfire safety.

• Agencies can determine who they can use for information dissemination based on websites that receive the most traffic on searches. The leading media players to receive informational bushfire searches during the height of the Victorian Bushfires were ABC News Online, Google News Australia and The Age.

• Social Media can be used by government to connect with a broad spectrum of the community. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia all ranked amongst the top websites visited by Australians in March 2009, with each network displaying different audience strengths.

You can also register here to listen to Government webinar next week - presented by Hitwise Research Director, Alan Long and myself.

Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 12:19 PM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Community | Government