INFONewHaven.com
INFONewHaven.com is rapidly becoming New Haven's number one source for information about activities in the downtown area. The dynamic information portal includes extensive information on dining, shopping, maps and directions, transportation, events and and more.
Started about two and one half years ago, INFO New Haven is a partnership between the Town Green Special Services District, which runs the INFO New Haven storefront, and Market New Haven. Scott Healy, Town Green executive director, says the goal of the INFONewHaven.com web portal is to "create as many opportunities for people to have extended visits in New Haven as possible."
"What we found when we established INFO New Haven the storefront was that people were often confused with when the New Haven Jazz Festival occurred and the difference between the Jazz Festival and the other concerts on the Green," Healy says. From there a portal Web site was born, which was built using Enterity's Osiris Web Content Management Suite. The original site focused on events and was intended to be an events clearinghouse. It still is that, according to Healy, but he has editorial choice about what falls into the events calendar.
An enhanced INFONewHaven.com was launched for the 2004 holiday season. The site was revamped as it was still operating with the look and the interface that the site started with. The new site received a complete design overhaul, as well as received many functional upgrades that allow people to gain access to even higher levels of information about New Haven more efficiently.
"Tea Leaves", INFONewHaven's digital newsletter, included the following excerpt:
"INFONewHaven.com, the source for what's happening in the Elm City, launched its brand new look just in time for the holidays! Thanks to the folks at Enterity, and the tireless efforts of Win Davis, our in-house website guru, the site is sleeker, chicer and even easier to surf. Here are just some of the new features on our spruced up site:_
Search Events! makes it easy to find something fun to do in Downtown: visitors can seek out events by date, by category or by a combination of the two. See Our Stores! is just like our popular dining search engine, giving visitors quick-click listings of their favorite retailers. What's Hot Now! gives visitors the inside track on the coolest Downtown doings. When you click on our Resources/downloads section, you'll get a printable copy of the Downtown Guide, Cultural Guide, street maps, and the Winter Calendar of Events. Speaking of winter, be sure to click on our Holiday Happenings section to get all the details on the holidays in Downtown New Haven. It all happens here on our website."_
Traffic at INFO New Haven has been growing exponentially, too. Visitor traffic has tripled over last year, clearly demonstrating the site's gaining popularity.
"Osiris continues to serve as a key component to INFONewHaven.com's success" states Jonathan Biebesheimer, CEO of Enterity. "We have great respect for how INFONewHaven leverages information and web technology to strengthen their organization - clearly a practice and commitment which is leading to extremely positive results."