 Des Moines, Iowa – January 09, 2008 – A record number of Internet users visited Great Ape Trust of Iowa’s award-winning Web site in 2007. The Trust’s site, www.GreatApeTrust.org, recorded 384,834 visits last year and 9.1 million hits. A Great Ape Trust spokesman says Web visits in 2007 increased 46 percent over the previous year while online hits improved 16 percent.
“We introduced our Web site five years and it remains the mainstay of our communications efforts,” said Al Setka, Great Ape Trust communications director. “We’re very pleased with our growth in Web traffic this year – it can be attributed to several new features and services to what was already a very robust site.”
In 2007, The Trust opened an online gift store of Great Ape Trust merchandise, incorporated online registration for public tours, produced a live Webcast, added weekly blogs of Great Ape Trust activities, and increased the number of ape video clips. This year, Great Ape Trust expects to add Web cams, provide Webcasts with Great Ape Trust scientists and introduce additional blogs.
Since January 2003, www.GreatApeTrust.org has provided visitors an online experience of Great Ape Trust. In June 2004, The Trust began offering free monthly e-newsletters to subscribers. The Web site is designed and programmed by the Great Ape Trust communications department and Trilix Marketing Group of Urbandale, IA.
Great Ape Trust Background
Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.
Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
