When the FCSI Worldwide Board re-launched its website on 15 January, half measures were not the order of the day. Instead, the Board wanted a complete overhaul of the existing fcsi.org site while also merging it with the foodserviceconsultant.org magazine website.
The objective was to create a site that would both serve FCSI members better, with essential information for Professional and Allied members and students, as well as their prospective clients, housed in one easy to navigate and fully searchable hub. Married to this would be all of the news, interviews, trend stories and innovation insight readers expect from the multiple award-winning Foodservice Consultant portfolio.
“The website that launched last quarter was a really positive thing for FCSI, generating much higher traffic and giving us the professional representation our membership has been requesting for years,” says Bill Taunton FCSI, president of FCSI Worldwide.
Since the new website launched nearly three months ago it has recorded over 17,000 unique users and over 50,000 page views. That’s a 29% increase in traffic compared to the previous fcsi.org site. The average time users spend reading each article has also increased by 74%.
In its first quarter the new website outperformed the industry average for food and drink websites in both traffic levels (+25%) and engagement (+32%).
The FCSI The Americas Nashville 2016 Conference homepage of the site in particular demonstrates the success and engagement levels of the new website. It was the most viewed story since launch, receiving over 2,600 page views and an average session duration of four minutes.
Crucially the site is not a finished product, but a work in progress, with refinements and improvements taking place since launch. Members told us that they wanted the FCSI branding to be bigger and more consistent with the logo colour scheme used in other Society marketing collateral. The team listened and acted quickly to address that. We also ensured that the ‘Find a member’ search function was more visible across the homepage, with multiple touch points for potential clients to contact an FCSI member now available.
“You will continue to see improvements in its layout and information and I welcome your comments about it, anytime,” says Taunton. “To be able to do that, your Worldwide Board is working strongly in developing the future of the FCSI, its image and its relevance, but we need your help. Please make sure you have all the professional data updated in your membership profile. One of the most difficult parts of ensuring the success of the ‘Find A Member’ option on the website, is to have your profiles updated, including a portrait photo of you, so I urge you to please do it ASAP.”
As previously, FCSI members can log-in to the site to access their profiles and change their details or upload new information at any time. As Taunton says, a priority for all members should be to ensure that they have an up-to-date profile photo of themselves. Images ideally should be 138 pixels by 138 pixels. Please note that any changes made to member profiles, which are housed on the external Your Membership portal, can take up to 24 hours to show up on the fcsi.org website.
Please do let us know what you think about the new site, and how we might be able to continue to improve it too. Please contact me at editorial@foodserviceconsultant.org with any comments. Otherwise, we hope you continue to enjoy the site and help us to get to 100,000 page views in even less time. The website, as with the Society as a whole, is there to share, support and inspire you.
Michael Jones
Image: The kitchen at Alinea, Chicago. Photograph by Christian Seel
