The American Kennel Club launched its newly redesigned website, reorganized for easier navigation and maintenance of information. With 1.4 million unique users visiting www.akc.org each month, it remains one of the most comprehensive one-stop shops for all things dog, anywhere on the Internet.
One of the easiest ways to navigate the site is by using the primary navigation bar, which includes seven distinct categories – Breeds, Events, Breeders, Dog Owners, Future Dog Owners, Clubs and Kids/Juniors. The information and services found in each of these sections is specifically tailored to a particular audience.
“Since the initial launch of the AKC website in 1995, the amount of dog-related content on the site has multiplied many times over,” said Charley Kneifel, VP and Chief Information Officer for the AKC. “We continue to add new information daily and develop new online services in order to better serve all of our key audiences – from pet owners to dog fanciers. With so many pages of information, we undertook this considerable reorganization so that visitors could find exactly what they were looking for more quickly and efficiently.”
The homepage is divided into four main sections: World of AKC, which focuses on key initiatives of a timely nature, such as the upcoming AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in January; AKC News, which includes twenty of the most recent AKC news items; Features of the AKC, which highlights important AKC programs, such as AKC Companion Animal Recovery; and, Inside the AKC, which features rotating links to audience-specific information.
In addition to the ease of navigation and more integrated services, visitors to the new website will notice a more consistent, contemporary look and feel. All breed images throughout the site are “clickable” and will take visitors directly to the main page for that breed. The website also features Mondosoft, a new, more powerful search engine, which allows information-seekers to locate even more targeted, relevant information.
To help visitors get better acquainted with the new design, a detailed users guide is provided at the top of the “News” section on the AKC homepage.