Woodstock Website – a path forward Discussion with EDC December 1st, 2016

Mission today Recap agreed framework for thinking about how to improve our web presence Review proposal and plan going forward – specifically on architecture

Recall: Summary Our web presence needs help Architecture – content and navigation Operating model – ongoing content updates and social integration Jointly working on it as EDC and Chamber is best path forward Leverages existing Google positioning and SEO for commercial site Partnerships between EDC and Chamber a common model Proposed path going forward Architecture: Full redesign, while also building out content on existing site Operating model: identifying capacity to drive website management Six month plan to launch website – estimate $20-30K in costs Establish governance structure key first step Agile development process on standard platforms to increase speed and reduce costs Estimate $20-30K in costs to launch website; budget $5-10K annual operating costs for improvements and marketing over first two years

Recall: Web hugely important; we are missing key elements Travel planning resources Web is a huge driver of economic activity (attracting visitors and residents) We lack specific content which we can use to market ourselves (e.g., information for prospective residents, well packaged information about local highlights) We are not leveraging all the excellent content that is being generated about us – especially social to influence friends and family We lack ongoing moderation and updates Source: 2014 Google Travel Study

Recall: Two major issues - platform and operating model Focus today Future discussion   Platform Current platform built on love alone – a bit creaky on Joomla platform Need to design and build specific new content areas – especially around information for prospective residents, news, social media kx   Operating model Need more regular content updates Should capture work of PR firm Leverage other media exposure to gain SEO and amplify benefits Must align on what is our goal for the website and how do we want to measure that goal 

Key metrics should be measured across these components 1) Architecture – what does it mean? Customers that come to the site are having a deeper user experience and therefore spending more time on the site, bouncerate should be down for they are consuming what they expected. Non-Unique Sessions overall should go up for customers will come back to the site time and time again because they are getting 1) Great Content 2) Useful Content 3) Successful Service.  2) SEO   - what does it mean? More customers are finding us! New Users M to M and Y over Y should be up. Organic customer visitors should also be at an all time high.  Key measures Y over Y sessions (cumulative) Y over Y time spent on site - with a better architecture we can deduce more time will be spent (note this can also be correlated to content curation) Bouncerate M to M   Key measures Organic Search year over year New users M to M

Low bureaucracy, high impact Proposed shared governance: Chamber and EDC partnership a potentially powerful operating model Combined approach What it means Joint EDC / Chamber web marketing committee – 6 members 2 members from EDC 2 members from chamber 2 members from community Web committee decision rights Site design and content Long term operating model Marketing and promotion strategy Prioritization and implementation of upgrades over time Fully accountable for delivery of new site and operating strategy Leverage and enhance SEO value of well established commercially oriented site (vs diluting and competing against ourselves with town site or new 3rd site) Expand the impact of our web presence to generate more traffic, drive better conversions and enhance visitor and resident experience Low bureaucracy, high impact

Near term: two major web initiatives Full site redesign Content development Complete redesign of town commercial website: www.woodstockvt.com Navigation Social integration News and blogging Administration Development of specific new content areas Initial plan: Temporarily host on existing platform, and transition to new site later will assess feasibility based on RFI / RFP Key content: information for residents, news platform to capture social media, etc Budget estimate to be confirmed during RFI / RFP: $20-30K build costs, annual maintenance budget of $5-10K for first 2 years Objective to find stable technical / design partner who can do both development and ongoing maintenance / improvements

Key elements of build approach to increase speed, reduce costs, and create better outcome Agile development Open source platform Pre-built components / designs as starting position Data oriented approach to improvements Planned maintenance and improvements Iterative build and launch vs "big bang" approach MVP (minimum viable product) at first vs perfection User oriented: features and build effort prioritized around user stories Use most common open source tools and platforms Strong hypothesis: WordPress Increases robustness, ability to use pre-built components, and ease of finding development resources Use existing huge library of pre-built designs as starting point for any customization to reduce costs and increase speed Any features built off of pre-made components for Wordpress platforms Use analytics and user feedback to assess effectiveness Build design and content with user testing and effectiveness in mind Prioritize future efforts based on analytic results Planned for maintenance and upgrades over time (vs build and forget) Increase longevity, and ensure content fresh and relevant

For future discussion: plan for operating model Key activities / capabilities required Overall marketing plan for website / PR Content creation and posting Social media management Community content updates Synthesis of external media & PR Digital advertising Committee responsible for developing plan, budget, and proposal prior to new website launch

Approximate six month timeline Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Form committee Develop RFI / RFP Field RFI / RFP Review responses / confirm budget w EDC Begin design process Initial launch - MVP Agile improvements Shift to maintenance mode

Key next steps Form committee Finalize timeline and plan Begin developing RFP / RFI