NE1 RELAUNCHES ITS GET INTO NEWCASTLE WEBSITE

With unique visitors up 42% this year, NE1 Ltd has relaunched its getintonewcastle.co.uk website to cater for increased demand and the changing way in which visitors access and use the site. Smart phone and tablet traffic is up 195%, accounting for over a quarter of all visitors to the site, so to cater for this growing customer group, NE1 Ltd has redesigned the site to operate across different platforms making it easier to access and use the site on mobile phone and tablet devices when out and about in the city. The site has been completely revamped and now offers a wider range of offers and information as well as improved functionality across smartphone/tablets and improved links through to social media outlets giving users quicker access to relevant content. Among the key improvements to the site is the introduction of a location map function that allows users to view content relevant to certain geographic areas of the city.   Visitors can view a business on the map and see all associated offers and events connected with the business. The map facility operates with pop up pins highlighting offers and events at venues, shops, restaurants closest to the user, giving directions from the current location as well as quick links to the telephone contact number for the venue. To cater for the growth in social networking, the new getintonewcastle.co.uk website has also improved its links to social media sites, allowing users to register, ‘like’ and share content throughout the site as well as driving more traffic to individual businesses by allowing users to like or follow individual businesses on Facebook and Twitter.   The new site will also be able to pull in reviews from Trip Advisor. The website now has over 12,700 pages housing a wide range of offers with thousands of profile pages for individual businesses across the city.  Access to this extended content has been improved with improvements to the search and filter options making it quicker and easier to access relevant information.  Information has also been clustered into bite sized chunks to make the website easier to explore. The site has also been designed to allow specific information from individual businesses to be uploaded such as bar codes, specific artwork or QR codes to improve targeting and monitoring of promotional campaigns. NE1 Ltd launched its original getintonewcastle.co.uk website in 2009, its first year of operation, to point users in the right direction for what’s on information and events across the city, as well as providing exclusive city centre offers.  The site has grown in popularity year on year and now enjoys over 2 million page views annually and 250% growth in offer voucher downloads in the last year. The new site will also offer users top five recommendations for a whole host of different activities from the most popular offers to places to visit Santa.  These topical suggestions will be updated weekly to provide fresh ideas for what to do in Newcastle. Each of the businesses profiled on the website has a description of the business, its opening hours together with a slide show of images with direct links through to business websites including their facebook and twitter feeds, encouraging immediate interaction with the business. Sean Bullick, Chief Executive of NE1 Ltd’s explained: “We’ve changed the site dramatically to cater for the growing number of users and the way they use the site.  With over a quarter of visitors accessing the site on mobile phones or tablets, we need to ensure that their experience meets expectations.  The newly re-launched website will make it easier for users to find out what’s on and where in Newcastle as well as taking advantage of the hundreds of exclusive offers available from businesses across the city.” “For some businesses, the website is their only online marketing tool and its revamp will make it easier for them to promote their offer and drive footfall to their premises.  For anyone visiting Newcastle and unfamiliar with their surroundings, the new mobile version of the website will also ensure that they make the most of their visit by highlighting what’s on in the city with easy access to contact details and directions for businesses.” The newly re-launched www.getintonewcastle.co.uk website goes live on Thursday 18th December.