K C I Q U RT S TA D E GUI CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS www.newsignature.com Getting Started 1 Review your Business Goals This first step is huge, but many organizations jump right into building a website without determining their business goals. While getting a jump on the process is admirable, it also can force a team to move too quickly into tasks, instead of focusing on the big picture. Taking a fresh look at your overall business goals allows you to focus on how your beautiful, new CMSbased internet property will assist you in reaching those important goals. For example, if your organization’s mission is to provide information to members about upcoming federal legislation, you will have vastly different goals than say an organization that gathers monetary donations to assist homeless individuals. Understanding your goals will help you achieve your desired web presence QUICK TIP: Tracking Performance Use Google Analytics, a free web application, to track your site performance over time & to measure metrics against business goals. 2 Define your internet property goals Ask this simple question: Why do we NEED a website? Examining responses to this simple question can really galvanize any discussion about future internet properties. In preliminary meetings with stakeholders, leadership and developers simply listing the core reasons for a new site can help get to the root of what elements your site will need to contain. This will also help find commonality within your team of stakeholders. In most cases your site will need to complete many, if not all of the following tasks. However, there must be some prioritization in order to determine which elements require the most focus. Common Tasks for Non-Profit Organization Sites: »» To inform the public of your mission »» To further expose your brand through graphics, photographs and messaging »» To inform your readers of news, events and involvement opportunities »» To deliver time sensitive, valuable content in an aesthetically pleasing fashion »» To collect information about site visitors »» To receive monetary donations »» To provide a forum for community members to interact through social interactions 3 Align your expectations to reality & prepare for the future Being realistic about your financial and organizational situation can help guide your project over time. Many small to medium size organizations need to look at the return on investment of their web property and determine what matters most. Being realistic about the capabilities of your team and the cost associated with building a new site will absolutely help you succeed in the long run. Remember -- phasing is your friend. Your web property should never be deemed “complete.” Your team should always be refining content, creating new engagement modules or adding global functionality. Organizing your website rollout into distinct phases is helpful from both a definition and development standpoint. Users engage more thoroughly and actively with sites that are both adding value and functionality while actively messaging members of these updates. These phased updates can also align to financial strategies making continual change a savvy web tactic. WordPress Quick Start Resources WordPress Codex: The online WP manual Visit Site WP 101: Video tutorial series Visit Site WP Beginner: Popular Tutorials Blog Visit Site Hello Dolly: WordPress podcast Visit Site 4 Get Going! Timeliness is of major importance, in this case it means that an internet property with most of its elements completed today, is far more valuable than one completely built out in 18 months. Many smaller organizations get wrapped up in developing a “perfect” project that may take months, if not years, to launch. In reality, it is very likely that the same organization could have launched the vast majority of their solution in 3 months. Throughout your project lifecycle, we recommend that you maintain a list of future features and changes that you would like to see for your site -- we call this a “backlog”. By actively capturing feature requests in your backlog, you will not only keep your project on schedule and reduce scope creep but you will enable your web team to continue rolling out enhancements after launch that will delight your users and keep them coming back for more! Drupal Quick Start Resources Drupal.org: Drupal Startup Visit Site Drupal Groups: Drupal Dojo Visit Site Drupalize.me: Training Videos Visit Site Mustard Seed Media: Drupal Videocasts Visit Site New Signature Web Strategy Services We stand out from the crowd User Experience Design New Signature excels at creating highly usable and productive websites for our clients. Our work has been recognized with over 90 media awards including top honors at the Webby Awards. We craft compelling user experiences to achieve our clients’ online goals. Branding/Marketing New Signature understands how to extend business and marketing strategies online to establish deeper and more meaningful connections with your audience. We have experts who specialize in growing Facebook utilization, increasing Twitter followers and energizing social media channels. Successful branding and marketing help people recognize your brand and understand the distinctive qualities that elevate you above the competition. At New Signature, we work with you to understand your problems, goals, and vision. This discovery process informs subsequent exploration and brings the best ideas to life in your brand. We provide an array of services including identity mapping, logo design, creating style and brand guidelines, and increasing brand awareness. Content Strategy Web Technology Social Strategy New Signature can help you overcome one of the most common obstacles to creating and maintaining a successful online presence by developing effective web content and implementing the internal processes required to manage it. New Signature provides a wide range of services, including content analysis and wireframing that ensure your organization is prepared to produce online content that meets the needs of your audience and supports your key business objectives. New Signature understands the critical relationship between design and technology. From planning through implementation, we work to identify and deploy the right technologies based on known requirements and constraints. We have experience across a number of platforms and technologies: content management systems, search, mobile, analytics, CRM, and custom application development including Ruby on Rails and .NET solutions. Transform Your Web Presence Contact New Signature today and transform the web presence of your organization. Contact New Signature (202) 452-5923 [email protected] New Signature 1101 New York Ave, NW Suite 675 Washington, DC 20005 www.newsignature.com