Pictured above: Victoria Stevens, from Make Hay, and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's communications and marketing manager Erin McDaid

Visitor numbers to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's website have nearly tripled since a new online presence was unveiled.

The number of people signing up online for membership has also increased as a result of the new-look website, the charity reports.

Nottingham-based ethical website developer Make Hay, who created the website in conjunction with the environmental charity, said it was delighted by the news, which comes as the website celebrates its second anniversary.

"The web is an incredible medium, which can be used to spread a message far and wide, and it's crucial that an organisation has a website that reflects its values and its aims, and one which is also easy and convenient to manage and keep up to date," said Make Hay director Victoria Stevens.

"We're extremely pleased to hear that Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has been using the online tools created by Make Hay to market and promote the charity so successfully, and that this has been reflected in increased online membership applications and thousands of extra visitors to their website."

Make Hay, which specialises in green and ethical website design, as well as web hosting which is wind powered, had previously created a website for Attenborough Nature Reserve, which is run by the Wildlife Trust.

The charity, which is the county's leading conservation charity and is part of a national network of 47 local trusts working to protect wildlife, said its new website changed the way the organisation looked at its internet presence.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust communications and marketing manager Erin McDaid said: "We've seen a tripling of visits to our site, and a rise in the number of online memberships. The new platform makes it far easier for us to promote our work and events.

"We find working with Make Hay a real pleasure. Understanding the technological aspects of creating an attractive and functional website can be quite daunting, but their friendly, straightforward approach makes it a lot easier. Working with Make Hay means that we can concentrate on deciding what we want our website to achieve without having to worry about how to make it work."

Make Hay, run by Victoria Stevens and Jez Swinscoe, was founded in 2004. Its green web hosting arm was launched in 2006.

Clients include the Uganda Carbon Bureau, Climate East Midlands, Foxglove Covert Local Nature Reserve and London Insight Meditation.