ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE Conference, 2012

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Agenda University of Saskatchewan U of S Communications: Institutional Positioning Project and Campus Communicators Network (CCN) Jeff Drake Centre for Continuing & Distance Education: Web research and redesign process Kim Fontaine Web Tools: show & tell; Q and A Rob Semenoff

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan What differentiates the U of S? What matters to our key stakeholders? How can we ensure they believe in our newly defined position?

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan The university’s first positioning statement was approved in June 2010: We are a rising team that is building the future.

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan Our personality is: Resourceful, collaborative and dynamic.

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan Our ambition is: To be among the most distinguished universities in Canada and the world.

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan The positioning serves as the foundation for our brand.

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan The positioning serves as the foundation for our brand. It guides our marketing and communications efforts.

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan The positioning serves as the foundation for our brand. It guides our marketing and communications efforts. Defined through a highly engaging process of research and consultation.

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project University of Saskatchewan The positioning serves as the foundation for our brand. It guides our marketing and communications efforts. Defined through a highly engaging process of research and consultation. Together, we can continue to build a strong U of S brand.

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project Campus Communicators Network (CCN)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project Campus Communicators Network (CCN) Highly decentralized communications function on campus

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project Campus Communicators Network (CCN) Highly decentralized communications function on campus 170 members in CCN

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project Campus Communicators Network (CCN) Highly decentralized communications function on campus 170 members in CCN Meet monthly to discuss communications’ issues

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project Campus Communicators Network (CCN) Highly decentralized communications function on campus 170 members in CCN Meet monthly to discuss communications’ issues Working groups within CCN: design group, photography group, college and school communicators group

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project Campus Communicators Network (CCN) Highly decentralized communications function on campus 170 members in CCN Meet monthly to discuss communications’ issues Working groups within CCN: design group, photography group, college and school communicators group PD opportunities such as webinars and guest speakers

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 U of S Institutional Positioning Project Campus Communicators Network (CCN) Highly decentralized communications function on campus 170 members in CCN Meet monthly to discuss communications’ issues Working groups within CCN: design group, photography group, college and school communicators group PD opportunities such as webinars and guest speakers Use network to send out reports, updates, and information on professional development opportunities off campus

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications Great relationship with CCDE

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications Great relationship with CCDE We fund one quarter of one design position; they help us on design projects

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications Great relationship with CCDE We fund one quarter of one design position; they help us on design projects Effective way for our offices to work together

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications Great relationship with CCDE We fund one quarter of one design position; they help us on design projects Effective way for our offices to work together CCDE gets a first hand look at the brand and design elements and how we are implementing and evolving them; we have access to their designers for design help and advice

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications One CCDE designer comes to our office two days every two weeks to design On Campus News, the university’s faculty and staff newspaper

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications One CCDE designer comes to our office two days every two weeks to design On Campus News, the university’s faculty and staff newspaper Setting up similar relationships across campus

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications Revamped communications.usask.ca: CCDE cleared off their entire week to take on our projects to help us meet our launch date

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Institutional Inroads & Collaboration CCDE and U of S Communications Revamped communications.usask.ca: CCDE cleared off their entire week to take on our projects to help us meet our launch date New website used to empower communicators across campus to utilize our position

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Agenda Centre for Continuing & Distance Education What we’ve learned What we did What we’re doing now

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop October 29, 2010: campus-wide CCN PD event organized by U of S Communications Client Centric Approach to Web Design (tasks and problem-solving)

internal priorities vs top tasks

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop Know your audience and identify their top tasks

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop Know your audience and identify their top tasks Always wear your surfer hat

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop Know your audience and identify their top tasks Always wear your surfer hat Choose the right words

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop Know your audience and identify their top tasks Always wear your surfer hat Choose the right words Organizational structure, having too much content or too many choices gets in the way

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop Know your audience and identify their top tasks Always wear your surfer hat Choose the right words Organizational structure, having too much content or too many choices gets in the way Put systems in place to remove ROT content (redundant, outdated, trivial)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned Gerry McGovern Workshop Know your audience and identify their top tasks Always wear your surfer hat Choose the right words Organizational structure, having too much content or too many choices gets in the way Put systems in place to remove ROT content (redundant, outdated, trivial) Research, test and monitor

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make?

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make? Content hoarders: 56,000+ pages (mostly ROT)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make? Content hoarders: 56,000+ pages (mostly ROT) People were finding ROT content through Google (+30% organic; +60% new visitors)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make? Content hoarders: 56,000+ pages (mostly ROT) People were finding ROT content through Google (+30% organic; +60% new visitors) People couldn’t find what they were looking for (high bounce rates & exits)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make? Content hoarders: 56,000+ pages (mostly ROT) People were finding ROT content through Google (+30% organic; +60% new visitors) People couldn’t find what they were looking for (high bounce rates & exits) This made us look bad

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make? We had organized around our internal structure

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make? We had organized around our internal structure

CCDE & USLC in 2010

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’ve learned What mistakes did we make? Some areas had their own subdomains and stand-alone web sites

ccde.usask.ca Stand-alone sites and sub-domains

ccde.usask.ca Stand-alone sites and sub-domains

ccde.usask.ca

learnenglish.usask.ca

Google in-page analytics

Choose a class: 12%

Choose a Class Page

Choose a class: 37%

Choose a Class Page Choose a class: 37% 14% are clicking the back button

“Just let me choose a damn class already!”

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we learned Google Ad Words: keyword tool What words people use when searching

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we learned Google Ad Words: keyword tool What words people use when searching Informs word choices for navigation, links, headers, page titles and content

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned CCN process model

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned CCN process model Set up unit meetings

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned CCN process model Set up unit meetings Google research

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned CCN process model Set up unit meetings Google research McGovern Workshop (clips & highlights)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned CCN process model Set up unit meetings Google research McGovern Workshop (clips & highlights) U of S verbal and visual guidelines

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned Brainstorming sessions: Discussed shared and differing audiences

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned Brainstorming sessions: Discussed shared and differing audiences Discussed their top tasks

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned Brainstorming sessions: Discussed shared and differing audiences Discussed their top tasks Brainstormed topical search words

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned Back and forth consultation (with directors, staff and University Communications)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we did We shared what we had learned Back and forth consultation (with directors, staff and University Communications) Everyone was on the same page

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Stand-alone sites gone (exception: learnenglish.usask.ca)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Stand-alone sites gone (exception: learnenglish.usask.ca) Navigation built around audiences and interests (no internal structure)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Stand-alone sites gone (exception: learnenglish.usask.ca) Navigation built around audiences and interests (no internal structure) Words: topics instead of program area/unit names

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Top-level pages direct traffic

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Top-level pages direct traffic Simplified & reduced page content (inverted pyramid)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Top-level pages direct traffic Simplified & reduced page content (inverted pyramid) More PDF’s (let audience choose)

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Top-level pages direct traffic Simplified & reduced page content (inverted pyramid) More PDF’s (let audience choose) Down to under 400 pages

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Tools & Processes Web management is now everyone’s responsibility

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Tools & Processes Web management is now everyone’s responsibility Customized Content Management System with different administration levels

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Tools & Processes Web management is now everyone’s responsibility Customized Content Management System with different administration levels Training sessions and handouts

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Tools & Processes Web management is now everyone’s responsibility Customized Content Management System with different administration levels Training sessions and handouts Put systems in place to remove outdated content

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Tools and processes Created a back-end calendaring system for posting events

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Tools and processes Created a back-end calendaring system for posting events Incorporated the SRS online registration and payment system

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now Tools and processes Created a back-end calendaring system for posting events Incorporated the SRS online registration and payment system Ongoing monitoring and improvements

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 Then and now

ccde.usask.ca Changing Our Approach to Web Design Through Knowledge, Influence and Advocacy CAUCE 2012 What we’re doing now ccde.usask.ca