BOWL.COM HAS SOME
SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENTS

The official website of the United States Bowling Congress, BOWL.com, recently activated many significant enhancements to improve the user experience.

After receiving feedback following the initial redesign in August 2009, USBC made improvements to the navigation and functionality of BOWL.com. Many of the changes came from suggestions by association leaders at the 2010 Convention. More keywords are now associated with pages allowing the search function to improve and help users find what they need more easily. Additionally, the home page load time has been cut in half since the initial re-launch and plans call for further improvement in the coming months.

“BOWL.com is a key part of the USBC member experience,” USBC Managing Director of Media Pete Tredwell said. “We are listening to feedback from members and are committed to keep improving the site to better meet our customer’s needs.”

Developers at USBC continue to focus on making information easier for users to find. Specific tournament pages are now presented in a more consistent way and the primary navigation toolbar at the top of each page across the website is sorted primarily by user groups, such as youth, associations and leagues. The application for “Find a Member” has also been upgraded in the past year. Bowl TV now has a search function, has been streamlined with easier-to-understand titles for each video and is available on iPhone browsers.

Among the updates planned for the future is a more extensive mobile platform so that BOWL.com users can access more of BOWL.com from their mobile phones.

“I hope bowling fans will spend a few minutes exploring the new features on BOWL.com,” said Chem Swift, USBC Director of Interactive. “The recent changes make the site a lot more user friendly and you will find exclusive stories and videos that only appear on BOWL.com.”

Independent analytics show BOWL.com had more than 357,000 unique users in the most recently analyzed 30-day period, a 15-percent increase over the same dates in 2008. USBC live video coverage of events has attracted more than half a million viewers since the new BOWL.com launched.

“The new BOWL.com has more fresh content that makes people want to come back, and we believe that’s a key reason for the growth,” Tredwell said. “Our goal is to build on that momentum and continue working to make the website a great resource for everyone.”

United States Bowling CongressThe United States Bowling Congress, as the national governing body, ensures the integrity and protects the future of the sport, provides programs and services to more than two million adult and youth members and enhances the bowling experience.The interactive home of USBC is BOWL.com. Go to twitter.com/USBC for the fastest USBC headlines.