SteadyRain Web Development Honored with Additional National & International Awards for Missouri Division of Tourism

Online, January 11, 2012 (Newswire.com) - SteadyRain, a St. Louis-based digital agency, announces two award wins for web development projects on the Missouri Division of Tourism website, VisitMO.com. The awards include the 2011 W3 Awards and the International Davey Awards. In 2011, the inaugural year of the new VisitMO.com site, SteadyRain has received three award wins for the Missouri Division of Tourism's web-development project.

The Missouri Division of Tourism (MDT) partnered with SteadyRain to make several enhancements to VisitMO.com, with the ultimate goal of making the site more user-friendly for the traveling public. In addition to giving the site a complete redesign, new functions that provide quick access to coupons, articles, trip ideas and related digital resources, such as the online Travel Guide and the PictureMissouri.com website, were implemented.

"Our goal in redesigning both VisitMO and industry portal sites was to make them more user friendly and efficient for both the traveling public and members of our tourism industry," said Katie Steele Danner, Director of the Missouri Division of Tourism. "While winning awards wasn't something we ever thought about while making these enhancements, it is humbling to be recognized."

As a result of these improvements, traffic on the VisitMO.com site has increased by approximately 8.5 percent in 2011, as compared to 2010, with the new trip ideas and coupons landing pages being two of the five most-popular areas of the site.

SteadyRain helped implement procedures to simplify the listing and event submission process, which is utilized by members of Missouri's tourism industry, on MDT's industry portal site. As a result of these improvements, the industry portal welcomed more than 600 new users from the state's tourism industry in 2011, and listing submissions increased approximately 35 percent.

In addition, SteadyRain assisted the Division in increasing overall listings within the website through the development of software that allows Missouri convention and visitors bureaus to automate listing submissions to VisitMO.com.

"All of us at SteadyRain continue to be very proud of the work that we provide to Missouri's Division of Tourism," said Thompson Knox, Executive Vice President of SteadyRain. "That said, we're not going to simply rest and be content with the work we've completed. And the next big project we tackle, well, you might be able to see the results from that phone in your pocket."

During the course of SteadyRain's 12 years in operation, the agency has received more than 60 awards and accolades within the categories of web development, mobile technology, and online marketing. SteadyRain intends to continue this trend of excellence into 2012.