The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) is Ireland's largest Professional Union for Nurses and Midwives with over 40,000 members. We asked Muriel Haire, IT Manager and Web Administrator at the INO to tell us a little about how she uses the Siteimprove tools and how they have benefited the INO website.

Irish Nurses Organisation Case Study.
Muriel Haire, INO IT Manager & Web Administrator

Background
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) is Ireland's largest Professional Union for Nurses and Midwives with over 40,000 members.

The INO website is a vital resource for the members providing advice, guidance and general information.

The INO use three services from the Siteimprove suite.

• SiteCheck which checks the website for accessibility issues, broken links and spelling mistakes.
• SiteAnalyze which provides analytical information of visitor activity on the website.
• SiteAlarm which monitors the uptime and response time alerting the relevant people if the site goes down

Introduction
As with most webmasters I’m sure, it’s difficult to find the time for website maintenance. So any tool that can help make my life a little easier, and that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, is welcome in my department. With the Siteimprove suite, not only can I keep the website error free but I can clearly see how visitors are using the website. This means I can plan the development of the site in such a way as to best meet the members’ needs.

What attracted you to the Siteimprove services?
SiteAnalyze: Before we used SiteAnalyze I had been using statistics from the server logs. This was difficult to use and didn’t give me the detailed information I needed. We initially wanted to track some simple tasks on the website like; Who comes to the home page and then clicks on a particular icon? How many times is a particular PDF downloaded? So we were on the lookout for a more user friendly service when someone recommended SiteAnalyze. As there were no strings attached to the free trial offer we thought we’d evaluate the service. During the 40 day evaluation period we could see how this service could be of benefit. Not only were we able to easily see how people were using the site but the fact that we could receive automatic reports on user activity meant that we could let SiteAnalyze work for us.

SiteCheck: After using SiteAnalyze for a while we were offered a trial of SiteCheck. We wanted a service to highlight broken links on the website but SiteCheck also highlighted spelling mistakes and accessibility issues too. Although we always endeavoured to maintain an accessible website, SiteCheck did show areas of the site that needed improvement. Before SiteCheck we had been depending on website users and content editors to inform us about errors on the site. Now it’s nice that we find the errors before the public has a chance.

How have you used the services?
SiteAnalyze: We use SiteAnalyze for two main tasks. General statistics on visitor numbers and more specific reports on the use of certain icons on the home page. The way we track icon usage is by creating a page filter that filters users who visit the home page and then continue to click on an icon. We can use the filter as part of a weekly report. We’ve noticed that if you move less busy icons closer to the busy icons on the page we can bring more attention to a topic that we wish to publicise.

SiteCheck: We get regular reports on the state of the website. We’re actually checking a couple of sites now and the relevant report goes to the appropriate person. As soon as this summary email report arrives we log in and address the errors highlighted. The SiteCheck service allows us to prioritise any urgent issues e.g. broken links, missing alt texts, layout tables, so even if you don’t have much time you know where to start.

SiteAlarm: Thankfully we don’t hear much from SiteAlarm. If we get an email or SMS alert we know the site is down and urgent action is required. Again it’s comforting that we are the first to know.

What impact have the Siteimprove services had on your web management?
SiteAnalyze: Now we have a clear overview of how visitors are using the site and what is important to them. Using search term statistics we can see what members are actually looking for on the site and we can add information if need be. We can also see where visitors come from and go to by looking at the referrers and external link usage. We’ve always believed our website to be a valued resource but SiteAnalyze is the tool that allows us to prove it and make the site more useful.

SiteCheck: SiteCheck has increased our knowledge with regards to website accessibility. The online help and links available from within the service are very informative and this encourages us to address the issues highlighted as they arise.

How have the INO benefited from using Siteimprove services?
Because of Siteimprove, the development of the website is more clearly guided by members’ actions and needs and it’s easier to keep on top of errors that occur.

Because of changes we have made due to monitoring how our members use the website, we can make the most requested information easily accessible on the website. This cuts down on telephone and personal enquiries in the INO office.

We also have a direct line to help and advice from our Siteimprove account manager, saving us time. All in all, I’d consider the Siteimprove services excellent value for money.

Those interested in finding out more about how the INO benefit from using the Siteimprove services can contact me directly.

Muriel Haire, Web Administrator/IT Manager, Irish Nurses Organisation, Tel. 00 353 1 664 0615, Email: muriel@ino.ie, Web: www.ino.ie.