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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Nisa launches more dynamic website |31 July 2013

Nisa launches more dynamic website

A sample page of the new Nisa website depicting a story under the Environment Extra menu

Compared to the current one, this new-look website – which can still be accessed at www.nation.sc – offers viewers a totally different browsing and reading experience, more human interaction and much more interesting and informative contents.

“The previous website has been around for some years now. Therefore, there was a need to bring about a modern look to the site,” says Nisa’s chief executive Merline Volcère.

“This involved coming up with a modern new façade for the website for improved visibility, creating a user friendly menu that would facilitate web-page navigation, publishing commercially oriented feature articles and creating more space for banner advertising clients,” says Ms Volcère.

“In fact, the ultimate aim was to have both the visual aspect and the editorial content of the website upgraded. The refurbished look would entice customers while the more informative and interactive content is designed to keep the customers updated about the latest in terms of published articles,” adds the chief executive.

Noting that Nisa has a well-established customer liaison network that enables its customers to freely communicate their views and comments concerning published items, Ms Volcère says over the recent years, the agency has compiled all the suggestions and views of its clients concerning the various deficiencies of its previous website.

“Management has tabulated and discussed all these comments, and has consequently strategised on the different ways in which the customers’ request could be accommodated and considered in the new website project,” says Ms Volcère.

Noting that training has always been a priority at Nisa, Ms Volcère says the agency has found it necessary to invest in training of its staff so that they would be in a better position to manage and maintain the website to the required standard.

“At Nisa we are always striving to do everything in-house with the aim of imparting various skills to our staff. There is extensive work flexibility when our own people are managing the site. The website itself is a dynamic tool. Enabling our own staff to have a hands-on approach to the ongoing changes to the website allows us to exercise proper control over the day-to-day business activity of the site,” the chief executive says.

On the topic of online advertising, Ms Volcère says that due to technological globalisation, inevitably advertising industry is shifting to the on-line medium. Therefore, in order to remain in the game, this new website is allowing Nisa to take its first leap into the world of online advertising.

“Our background research has revealed that there is indeed a market in Seychelles for online advertising and we want to be among those businesses that would tap into this market,” she says.
“In a nutshell, Nisa is maintaining its flexibility to shift the focus of its business operations towards areas of greater return on investment. This strategic decision allows us to fulfill the objective of maintaining a profitable and sustainable public entity,” she adds.

Ms Volcère believes there will be high expectations from all quarters concerning the new Nisa website.
“Nisa is aware that its esteemed clients are expecting a higher standard of published items on the site and is determined to ensure that its customers are satisfied,” says the chief executive.
“At Nisa we are also expecting our customers to respond positively to the various aspects of the new website, that is both the editorial and the advert sections,” she adds.

What makes the new www.nation.sc more innovative is that apart from the daily fresh news retrieved from the newspaper and input everyday as has been the case with the current website, a larger variety of contents have been added under the Feature News.

Feature news is all about ‘the news behind the fresh news’ – news that are written in a more detailed format; news that form part of our daily lives but which are being overlooked, not being talked about or written like the normal daily news stories.

Topics covered fall under such menus as President Michel, Lifestyle, Business, Health, Living, Agrinews, Tourism, Environment, Culture, National Assembly, etc… but with an extra element added to them to differentiate them from the normal everyday news.
 
The FEATURE news menus will be flexible as fresh topics will be included every now and then depending on the news trends.

An example of such feature stories on the new www.nation.sc is a round-up of events that have occurred, agreements signed and projects realised between Sri Lanka and Seychelles less than a year after President James Michel’s official visit to Colombo. The culmination of this topic is the three-day returned visit by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa early last July.
Also featured under such menu are some points of reflections on President Michel’s National Day address on June 18 this year.

Other lighter topics also feature under our Lifestyle or Living menus. Were you aware that the use of debit cards in Seychelles is in vogue now and are being used by ordinary citizens? Lots of locals are either booking hotel rooms overseas or ordering merchandises online like clothes, spare parts and other goods. Were you aware that lots of locals are paying for purchases in shops through debit cards? People are carrying less money around as they are now ‘swiping’ their cards in supermarkets and other shops. Read more under Lifestyle – ‘The rise of the debit card in Seychelles’.

Know more on the Roman Catholic’s ‘Journée Mondiale de la Jeunesse’ which just recently held their youth festival in Rio de Janeiro hosted by Pope Francis.

Senpa (Small Enterprise Promotion Agency) is an entity that is being given prominence on the new Seychelles NATION website where on a monthly basis one or two small businesses feature in a bid to provide them with more publicity. There are about 2236 registered small business in Seychelles in sectors like art & craft, tailoring, handicraft, repairs & maintenance, manufacturing, food processing, upholstery, horticulture, professional services, etc…. More on the new www.nation.sc under the Business Extra menu.

Online advertising is another new field being explored by Nisa and its new website.  As research has shown, more and more consumers are relying on accessing information via the web; advertising on a website is a great way to be seen or target your necessary audience. The new www.nation.sc is offering potential clients very attractive rates for advertising there. The website also offers paid links to a client’s own website hence driving traffic to your website through our viewers.

Another aspect of the revamped Seychelles NATION website  which will surely attract more human interaction is our games corners where we have allowed space for viewers to ‘Play with Nation’ or Online games. As a start-up the ‘Play with NATION’ module is related to the newspaper itself and it will later feature other games with local themes such as ‘Dekouver ou Pei’, test your knowledge on local personalities, dignitaries or events worth remembering or worth mentioning, as well as the flora and fauna of Seychelles.

Every webpage of the new website has a Comment Section at the bottom where viewers can express their views or suggestions. Again this is another means of making our viewers interact more with the digital newspaper.
Log on to the new www.nation.sc as from tomorrow and enjoy the experience.

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