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March 2003
Web Strategies That Click
By Susan Crawford
Assessment Mile Marker
Hillcrest United Methodist Church (Nashville, Tennessee; www.hillcrestumc.org) has an enthusiastic Web team, eager to participate in this assessment. Over the past several weeks, we have worked together to conduct initial interviews with each Web team member, various program leaders and their pastor. These interviews are providing insights into how target audiences are identified, how appropriate content is determined, how development is guided, and where the challenges exist. I also want to gain an understanding of how this team functions and what resources are available to them. Collectively, this information establishes a benchmark as to where the Hillcrest site is today, and will form the basis for a blue print that will guide them forward with managed growth and a common vision.
Other ground work has included inventorying all of the site pages, assessing all navigation links, addressing information hierarchy, writing style issues, reviewing the various layouts site-wide, putting their site host through some service trials, and identifying simple technologies to add that would enhance the user experience.
Interviews Revealed More Than Facts
After lots of emails and a few scheduling and snow delays, the team interviews went smoothly and proved to be very revealing. Questions ranged from "How often does the team meet?" to "Who takes ownership for the site?" Although these questions seem minor, they are key to helping me identify the vision that will energize their efforts. Hillcrest is eager to become a vibrant online community and to transition from static to dynamic content. Armed with this knowledge, I can help Hillcrest identify important areas to strengthen, before an explosion of growth turns their dream into a nightmare. This insight will also help me to develop useful and relevant recommendations that Hillcrest can easily incorporate.
Now is the time for Hillcrest to examine operations like their hosting arrangement (is there room to grow?) and look across the site as a whole and determine whether they are delivering a consistent and relevant experience from internal and external content sources. External third-party content providers offer services that deliver ("push") news stories and themed text such as daily scriptures. Hillcrest utilizes pushed content from more than six third-party content providers. Pushed content has the hidden pitfall of being un-editable, so we will assess each arrangement for compatibility, appropriate use and placement. Some services may be changed or dropped if we find that their format isn't up to Hillcrest standards (and some aren't) and some content may be moved to better align it with its intended audience.
There is also another consideration Hillcrest will need to explore about their content providers. If content is not coming from a denominational source, how can they ensure its postings adhere to their own Church values and core beliefs? The best way to avert this problem is to investigate resources available through your denominational agencies first. The wisest due diligence with a non-denominational content provider is to review the last thirty postings before using their service.
We will look at other content management for Hillcrest by identifying information that is used more than once and adopt shortcuts that allow one-step updating. Navigation can present the biggest problems but, luckily, they can be the easiest things to fix. For example, it is common to find the worship page under a "Services" link. Visitors, however, will expect the "Services" link to take them to community outreach ministries. Inadvertently, this conflict is causing user frustration and the remedy is to simply re-label the button. Are your pages swamped with navigation bars left, right and bottom? Consider developing a site map to display the full depth of your site. This will allow each page to offer only links relevant to its content and dedicate more space for content and message.
A Church Web Team Is Different
The membership of a church Web team, as seen with Hillcrest, is typically a circle of people who possess varying levels of writing skill, graphic talent, technical expertise and available time. The one common trait across this group is a sense of personal dedication and self-giving which makes all things possible. Consistently, church Web teams work well together under limited means and work hard to satisfy a wide client base (the rest of the church).
Requests come to this team from other ministers, church leaders and study groups armed with a list of immediate needs. The church Web team has the tough task of expressing offline values and core beliefs of each ministry online with the same warmth-of-community. The site may also need to comply with denominational mandates pertaining to the use of graphics and guidelines for theological, social or political content online. Given all it is trying to accomplish, you can see why this team needs a very supportive congregation.
Next Issue
Going forward, we finish the interviews and examine how Hillcrest compares with three peer sites. With these findings in place, we can start to build Hillcrest's future path and prioritize recommendations. I will explain how Hillcrest will receive their assessment findings. No text report here, but a unique interactive tool that will be an important implementation resource. We hope you stay with us through this process and feel free to send any feedback or questions to article@businesscolony.com
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