Traffic up at CUNA site

MADISON, Wis. - CUNA says that its Web strategy is starting to pay off. Last year CUNA's site (www.cuna.org) was overhauled in terms of design and content. The trade association added broader consumer financial news as well as ATM and CU locators and a daily financial service from Reuters. Dorothy Steffens, CUNA & Affiliates new assistant vice president of Web services, said hits and page views have been growing for the past six months. "I think a lot of it is because people are bookmarking our site now. Also more people have found about it through other means. There are a number of sites that refer to our site, such as MSN.com and bankrate.com," said Steffens. In March, CUNA's site saw 386,000 page views, an 11% increase from the month before. There were also approximately 2.4 million hits, which aren't as accurate as page views because each image on a page is counted as a hit, but Steffens said CUNA reports it because of the "wow" factor. Steffens said CUNA tracks where visitors are going on the site and News Now, CUNA's daily electronic news service, is the most popular page. News Now is followed by the CU Locator page which helps consumers find a credit union they may be eligible for. Next is the Products and Services page and then the Surcharge Free ATM locator page. "On an average day we're getting 13,000 page views," said Steffens. Coming soon to the site, said Steffens, will be a free CEO job posting component, as well as a shopping cart system that will let visitors roll through the site and make purchases as they go. "Really my vision of the site is to continue to promote the trade association functions; build the members-only area; and provide compliance and regulatory information," said Steffens. Despite its breadth, Steffens doesn't consider the CUNA site a true portal. "I don't like to use that word. I guess it could be perceived as one. I like to see it just as the leading credit union trade association site."