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Netroots presentation website redesign

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Workplace Fairness

1) Paula Brantner survived two major website redesigns for Workplace Fairness as an employment lawyer without formal technology training. 2) Key lessons included not needing a huge budget, knowing why you're redesigning, making it a priority project, and understanding your audience better than anyone. 3) Content is the most important part of any website - it must be written for an online audience and be easily accessible.

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Surviving the Website Redesign Processperspectives of an accidental techiePaula BrantnerExecutive Director, Workplace Fairness
Paula’s BackgroundEmployment lawyer, not trained in technologyStarted building Workplace Fairness website in 2001, before many current tools availableSurvived two major redesigns: 2004-05 to build custom CMS to manage content2008-09 to improve design, make more user friendlyLearned what I needed at conferences & trainings like this one.
It turned out all right…www.workplacefairness.org: (website)two-time Webby nominee (2007 for Best Employment Site; 2009 for Best Law Site)PC Magazine’s Top 100 Sites You Can’t Live Without500,000 unique visitors per yearwww.todaysworkplace.org: (blog)One of the very first nonprofit org blogs (Jan 2003) Forbes.com Best of the Web Career Blogs
Important Lessons I’ve Learned1. You don’t need a huge budget or a big-name web firm.Never spent over $25,000 a year, even when redesigningDon’t have dedicated in-house staff, never had more than 4 staff members totalYou probably haven’t heard of my web firm (Midwest New Media, based in Cincinnati…although you should have!)
Important Lessons I’ve LearnedYou do need to know WHY you’re redesigning your site.What is the most important thing you want to accomplish?What is the most significant failure/deficiency of your current site?Who will be happiest when your redesign is complete?
Important Lessons I’ve Learned3. This must be the most important project for someone: make it someone’s priority.Program Staff: Web project probably isn’t as important as the substance of your work.Communications: Trying to integrate web work with other organizational communications.In-House Web Staff: Working on daily content and strategy, hard to focus on long-term projectOutside Consultants: Juggling w/ other clients
Important Lessons I’ve Learned3. This must be the most important project for someone: make it someone’s priority. (continued)Program Staff: make it be part of deliverablesCommunications: offload some other tasks to someone else, outside consultantIn-House Web Staff: Block out time; interns to do some routine tasksOutside Consultants: financial incentives for meeting deadlines
Important Lessons I’ve Learned3. This must be the most important project for someone: make it someone’s priority. (continued)Person in charge: project manager (whether it’s in the job description or not)Problem-solverDecision-makerStakeholder herderConsensus-builderDeadline dominatrix
Important Lessons I’ve Learned4. You MUST know your audience better than anyone else.Your site probably has multiple audiences, but who is the most important one?Who is it today? Who isn’t there, despite your best efforts? How might it change in the next 3-5 years?Don’t let web firm guide this: you must do the work to find out if you don’t already know: surveys, user testing, analytics.
Important Lessons I’ve LearnedRolling your own is fine, but do you really need to?I’m a bad example: custom-built content management system (CMS) back-end customer relationship management (CRM).Why? started building our own when we couldn’t afford what was out there; web developer builds exactly what we need
Important Lessons I’ve LearnedRolling your own is fine, but do you really need to? (continued)I’m a good example: WordPress (formerly blogger) for the blogDemocracy in Action for e-newsletter signup, advocacy tools.Why? I knew there were tools that were more than adequate for us, wouldn’t allow my developer to tinker.
Important Lessons I’ve LearnedContent is king. And queen. And the whole frakkin’ royal court.Know your audience, know what they’re there to read.What can people find at your site that they cannot find anywhere else?What do people expect to find at your site that’s not currently there?Your audience probably doesn’t have your expertiseKeep things jargon-free, industry-speak free, acronym-free (my site: problem is legalese – what’s yours?)Use friends who know nothing about topic for feedback
Important Lessons I’ve LearnedContent is king. And queen. And the whole frakkin’ royal court. (continued)Write and display your content for an internet audience.No PDFs.Information architecture help if you have anything beyond a basic brochure site. Make content searchable. Accessibility guidelines: no excuse for lack of accessibility : moral if not legal imperative, will help with SEO, mobile use, etc.
Important Lessons I’ve Learned7. Having the latest bells and whistles isn’t the most important thingSimplicity and usability are highly underrated.Everything you add should have a function: Is it important enough to be part of your navigation menu? The fewer choices the betterIf you add Facebook and Twitter buttons, is there a staff member who will actually use Facebook and tweet on your organization’s behalf? Same with a blog: whose job is it to blog regularly?Everyone who’s done sites for a while has made a Flash mistake: what is the next big no-no?Midwestern cool
Important Lessons I’ve Learned8. Trust your instincts: don’t let lack of expertise derail confidence in your own judgmentIf you know your audience, have done content homework, and ensured everything has a purpose, then you’re an expert on your site’s audience.Don’t pay by the hour, design process so that you must be satisfied every step of the way without taking financial hit.Ask for multiple drafts, regular check-ins in at multiple stages so you can troubleshoot before entire project derailed.Don’t fear saying no or starting over if you have to.
Important Lessons I’ve Learned9. Document, document, documentIf you left your job today, would someone else be able to complete the project?If you changed web firms for your next redesign, how would they keep from reinventing the wheel?Internet history is ephemeral: are you doing screen captures, saving documentation of each iteration of your site?
Important Lessons I’ve Learned Redesign every day.What dynamic content should be part of your site?Build in last-changed date for every page: incentive to regularly reviewRedesign process should include post-project testing, analytics, review timelineWhat mini, low-cost project can you do in the next six months?A website is never, ever done! Nature of the beast.Change your copyright date – obvious, yet oft neglected.

More Related Content

Netroots presentation website redesign

  • 1. Surviving the Website Redesign Processperspectives of an accidental techiePaula BrantnerExecutive Director, Workplace Fairness
  • 2. Paula’s BackgroundEmployment lawyer, not trained in technologyStarted building Workplace Fairness website in 2001, before many current tools availableSurvived two major redesigns: 2004-05 to build custom CMS to manage content2008-09 to improve design, make more user friendlyLearned what I needed at conferences & trainings like this one.
  • 3. It turned out all right…www.workplacefairness.org: (website)two-time Webby nominee (2007 for Best Employment Site; 2009 for Best Law Site)PC Magazine’s Top 100 Sites You Can’t Live Without500,000 unique visitors per yearwww.todaysworkplace.org: (blog)One of the very first nonprofit org blogs (Jan 2003) Forbes.com Best of the Web Career Blogs
  • 4. Important Lessons I’ve Learned1. You don’t need a huge budget or a big-name web firm.Never spent over $25,000 a year, even when redesigningDon’t have dedicated in-house staff, never had more than 4 staff members totalYou probably haven’t heard of my web firm (Midwest New Media, based in Cincinnati…although you should have!)
  • 5. Important Lessons I’ve LearnedYou do need to know WHY you’re redesigning your site.What is the most important thing you want to accomplish?What is the most significant failure/deficiency of your current site?Who will be happiest when your redesign is complete?
  • 6. Important Lessons I’ve Learned3. This must be the most important project for someone: make it someone’s priority.Program Staff: Web project probably isn’t as important as the substance of your work.Communications: Trying to integrate web work with other organizational communications.In-House Web Staff: Working on daily content and strategy, hard to focus on long-term projectOutside Consultants: Juggling w/ other clients
  • 7. Important Lessons I’ve Learned3. This must be the most important project for someone: make it someone’s priority. (continued)Program Staff: make it be part of deliverablesCommunications: offload some other tasks to someone else, outside consultantIn-House Web Staff: Block out time; interns to do some routine tasksOutside Consultants: financial incentives for meeting deadlines
  • 8. Important Lessons I’ve Learned3. This must be the most important project for someone: make it someone’s priority. (continued)Person in charge: project manager (whether it’s in the job description or not)Problem-solverDecision-makerStakeholder herderConsensus-builderDeadline dominatrix
  • 9. Important Lessons I’ve Learned4. You MUST know your audience better than anyone else.Your site probably has multiple audiences, but who is the most important one?Who is it today? Who isn’t there, despite your best efforts? How might it change in the next 3-5 years?Don’t let web firm guide this: you must do the work to find out if you don’t already know: surveys, user testing, analytics.
  • 10. Important Lessons I’ve LearnedRolling your own is fine, but do you really need to?I’m a bad example: custom-built content management system (CMS) back-end customer relationship management (CRM).Why? started building our own when we couldn’t afford what was out there; web developer builds exactly what we need
  • 11. Important Lessons I’ve LearnedRolling your own is fine, but do you really need to? (continued)I’m a good example: WordPress (formerly blogger) for the blogDemocracy in Action for e-newsletter signup, advocacy tools.Why? I knew there were tools that were more than adequate for us, wouldn’t allow my developer to tinker.
  • 12. Important Lessons I’ve LearnedContent is king. And queen. And the whole frakkin’ royal court.Know your audience, know what they’re there to read.What can people find at your site that they cannot find anywhere else?What do people expect to find at your site that’s not currently there?Your audience probably doesn’t have your expertiseKeep things jargon-free, industry-speak free, acronym-free (my site: problem is legalese – what��s yours?)Use friends who know nothing about topic for feedback
  • 13. Important Lessons I’ve LearnedContent is king. And queen. And the whole frakkin’ royal court. (continued)Write and display your content for an internet audience.No PDFs.Information architecture help if you have anything beyond a basic brochure site. Make content searchable. Accessibility guidelines: no excuse for lack of accessibility : moral if not legal imperative, will help with SEO, mobile use, etc.
  • 14. Important Lessons I’ve Learned7. Having the latest bells and whistles isn’t the most important thingSimplicity and usability are highly underrated.Everything you add should have a function: Is it important enough to be part of your navigation menu? The fewer choices the betterIf you add Facebook and Twitter buttons, is there a staff member who will actually use Facebook and tweet on your organization’s behalf? Same with a blog: whose job is it to blog regularly?Everyone who’s done sites for a while has made a Flash mistake: what is the next big no-no?Midwestern cool
  • 15. Important Lessons I’ve Learned8. Trust your instincts: don’t let lack of expertise derail confidence in your own judgmentIf you know your audience, have done content homework, and ensured everything has a purpose, then you’re an expert on your site’s audience.Don’t pay by the hour, design process so that you must be satisfied every step of the way without taking financial hit.Ask for multiple drafts, regular check-ins in at multiple stages so you can troubleshoot before entire project derailed.Don’t fear saying no or starting over if you have to.
  • 16. Important Lessons I’ve Learned9. Document, document, documentIf you left your job today, would someone else be able to complete the project?If you changed web firms for your next redesign, how would they keep from reinventing the wheel?Internet history is ephemeral: are you doing screen captures, saving documentation of each iteration of your site?
  • 17. Important Lessons I’ve Learned Redesign every day.What dynamic content should be part of your site?Build in last-changed date for every page: incentive to regularly reviewRedesign process should include post-project testing, analytics, review timelineWhat mini, low-cost project can you do in the next six months?A website is never, ever done! Nature of the beast.Change your copyright date – obvious, yet oft neglected.