Now there are even more reasons to visit the Idaho Potato Commission’s (IPC) popular website. Already the go-to resource for all things potato-related, the website’s fresh new look, new campaigns and enhanced recipe categorization by diet are optimized by advanced SEO measures to ensure the website is always meeting its visitors’ needs.
Each year, the IPC website demonstrates significant organic growth. This year, there were 1,500,879 visitors—a 16% increase in traffic in 12 months and a 43% increase overall for two years. More importantly, visitors to the website are staying for close to two minutes. Per the Crazy Egg, a website optimization company, 15 seconds is the average time spent on a website. And folks are surfing while on the website. A total of 2,474,375 pages were recorded this year, and new users increased by 12.34%.
“The IPC’s website is the powerhouse that supports all the organization’s digital programs. We know the three leading factors that drive website traffic are design, ease of use and content,” says IPC marketing director Jamie Bowen. “We want to visually engage every visitor the second they land on our page, and provide rivoting, easy-to-access content that whets their appetite for more and creates a desire to come back regularly.”
The most recent upgrades to the website include:
- Refreshed Design: The website now boasts a brighter, more contemporary look that better reflects the beauty of Idaho and its pristine landscape that grows the most famous potatoes in the world.
- Diet Identifier: The most visited section of website is the recipe database containing more than 1,700 mouth-watering recipes. Now consumers are able to search for recipes that meet the criteria for 10 different diets, including Whole 30, Mediterranean, vegan, DASH, low sodium, flexitarian, gluten-free, dairy-free and heart-healthy.
- New Campaigns: The IPC promotes many of its marketing campaigns on the home page of the website (the second-most visited page) and recently launched a recipe campaign titled “Around the World in 80 Recipes” that generated 29,424 page views.
- Meet the Growers: This monthly shout-out to Idaho potato growers started as a social media campaign and has evolved into a permanent marketing program website visitors look forward to every month.
Other website features that have gained popularity over the past 12 months are:
- Spuddy Buddy Chat Bot: When logged into the website, an interactive Chat Bot featuring IPC mascot Spuddy Buddy pops up. Last year, 10,000 people asked Spuddy a question.
- Online Store: If you’re looking for Idaho potato swag from T-shirts to potato peelers to cutting boards, the IPC has you covered. Last year, total sales on the site increased by 11%.
- Retail and Foodservice One-pagers: Concise, precise and visually appealing, the one-pagers are easy to download and print or share digitally.
- Influencers: The IPC works with an impressive group of influencers. Look for their videos and posts featured throughout the website and on the IPC’s social media channels.