PROVIDENCE, RI – Two months after launching his new website, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis reports that Rhode Islanders are visiting it in record numbers. Still, he wants to make sure the public is aware that the Internet address has changed.
A average of nearly 37,000 unique visitors per month used the new site in its first two months of operation. The website that it replaced averaged just over 10,000 unique visitors a month. The most popular features enable people to file business documents, update their voter registration and search state rules and regulations.
Mollis attributes the surge in visitors to a formal launch plan that used email, e-newsletters, media relations and social networking on Facebook to drive new users to the new site, which also got a new address – sos.ri.gov.
“We changed the URL to make it easier for Rhode Islanders to find us. Most state agencies and departments already use ri.gov, so the public is familiar with it,” said Mollis. “And SOS stands for Secretary of State, and for the help we give Rhode Islanders every day.”
In addition to the new URL, the website also boasts new content and organization. Visitors can use a weekly report on recent incorporations to prospect for new business and search a trademark database to avoid introducing a new logo that has already been registered with the state.
All of the services on the former site such as registering to vote, and tracking public meetings of state and local boards, commissions and agencies are still available on the new website.
Even though the website has a new address, the old URL will continue to bring visitors to the new website through the end of the year. But Mollis urges Rhode Islanders who bookmarked frequently used pages to update their bookmarks.