FirstGov Falling Short

With 20,000 or more Web sites, agencies are investing heavily in e-government to provide online services to citizens and businesses. But the results of that investment are difficult to assess. Simple usage information, such as the ubiquitous measurement based on "hits," fails to provide a complete picture of how consumers use government Web sites. To objectively assess the results of the government's investment in e-government, fundamental questions must be asked about the value of the services that FirstGov and other federal sites provide.

FirstGov has met many of its creators' goals. The rapid creation of the site demonstrated that agencies can work together to create a successful cross-government Web presence, a key goal of the President's Management Council. The Federal Search Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed to establish the search engine behind FirstGov, succeeded in making all Web-based government documents available to anyone with Internet access.

Still, statistics based on the Internet activity of 1.5 million Web users show that FirstGov has barely tapped its target market, according to market research firm comScore Networks of Reston, Va.

Slow Growth

In July, less than 0.3 percent of consumer, business, and educational Internet users in the United States visited FirstGov, making it No. 2,182 on the list of top U.S. Web sites of all types and No. 72 on the list of top government Web sites, according to comScore Networks. In comparison, America Online's governmentguide.com, which provides services similar to FirstGov's, saw 2.6 million visitors in July, placing it at No. 299 on the list of top U.S. Web sites.

Most of FirstGov's traffic comes not directly from consumers, but is routed from other government Web sites. The site's role has essentially become that of a central search engine used by other sites, rather than the entry portal to e-government envisioned by its creators.FirstGov is undoubtedly saving substantial taxpayer dollars that would have been spent on duplicative search capabilities, but the site has not become the central focus of consumer access to e-government. FirstGov has routed its users to a wide variety of other online resources, but its share of referrals to key government sites was less than 1 percent in July.

The number of consumers using FirstGov is slowly growing, with a 3 percent monthly growth rate in U.S. consumer traffic in May and June. While this growth rate is respectable, it will not generate a large volume of usage in the near term.

Another problem is that most FirstGov users do not return to the site. In July, FirstGov visitors averaged 1.2 visits, suggesting that less than 20 percent of them came back. When measured over a six-month period, from February to July, return visits increased only moderately to 1.4 per user.

Marketing Missteps

The lack of marketing behind FirstGov has predictably hampered its market share. FirstGov competes for consumer attention with similar private sector portals that have large established audiences. Without a substantial investment in marketing (including paying for preferred placement in other search engines and advertising), no new Web service can expect to generate substantial traffic in today's competitive climate.

Assurances of privacy and security, and the exclusion of annoying advertisements on FirstGov, have failed to draw consumers to the site. FirstGov's small market share suggests that most consumers are either unaware of these features or don't value them. Consumers show a strong preference for the convenience of commercial online services, despite their use of advertising and technologies to track customers' online activities.

These findings do not mean FirstGov is a failure. But they do indicate it is time to decide what role FirstGov will play in e-government. Based on consumer patterns, FirstGov's value is in providing central services behind better-known government Web sites. If a central portal is key to e-government strategy, substantial fund-ing will be required to market the FirstGov brand.

These statistics have a broader implication for the 20,000-plus government Web sites. As FirstGov's experience makes clear, actual usage of a site might not meet original expectations. Seven years of investment in e-government has resulted in an uncoordinated hodge-podge of Web sites and little real evaluation of the services they provide. Buried in agency budgets, these sites represent a substantial continuing expense. Before requesting increased e-government funding, agencies must look at their inventory of Web sites, including FirstGov, and ask the tough questions: Who does this site serve, and what is its value?

To read Firstgov's response, click here.