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Time to redesign your web site?
By Ellen Agger, Webmaster, Alzheimer Society of Canada
June 25, 2001
Your organization has a web site. It's been online for awhile now. But you're not happy with it or think it can be improved. Is it time to redesign your site? Maybe.
Some web developers recommend that you redesign your site every six months. For most non-profit organizations, this is simply not feasible. However, it is helpful to step back at least yearly to take a fresh look at your site and ask yourself some questions:
Has the purpose of the site changed since its initial creation or last facelift?
Have your audiences changed or expanded?
Is the site working for your visitors and your organization?
Is it attractive, easy to navigate and clear?
Does the feedback from visitors reinforce this or challenge it?
Do you need to develop new services or features on your site?
The Alzheimer Society of Canada started this process with our web site over a year ago and launched our new design in April 2001. You might find it helpful to see a snapshot of the process we followed.
Our core web team consisted of our webmaster, director of Support Services and Education, and manager of Media Relations and Communications. We met weekly for over a year to review the site, gather feedback and input from senior staff, volunteers and users, choose a web designer and create the new site.

A few pointers
1. It's all in the teamwork. Identify key people in your organization to be involved with this project. It's never a one-person job.
2. Do the best job you can. Your site is your image; it can build on (or detract from) your organization's good reputation.
3. Have a plan. Know where you want to take the site, then plan how best to get there.
4. Test. Check with your target audiences. They'll tell you if your site works for them.
5. Choose your designer carefully. "Free and cheap" isn't always the best. Nor do you have to pay top dollars to get excellent work.

Here are the steps we went through:
1. Held brainstorming sessions
We began with an initial web team brainstorming session, then held a second one to which we invited senior staff, many of whom provide key content to the site. Together, we assessed the current site design. We asked ourselves what we needed to change to better meet visitor needs while meeting the organization's goals for the site. Specifically, we looked at:
the purpose of the site
the intended audiences
what visitors actually look for on the site (pages most often visited)
site navigation

2. Gathered information
We invited feedback from site visitors, our volunteer Marketing Advisory Group and web experts. We looked at how to create logical, useful navigation schemes, at web usability issues (design approaches that make the visit to the site easier) and how to design a site for specific target audiences (for example, older adults and people with dementia).
3. Developed a briefing outline and hired a web designer
We developed a document that described the scope and specifications of the project to help potential designers submit proposals for the redesign. It included:
the purpose of the site
design requirements (the "look and feel," navigation needs, etc.)
project background
target audiences
budget
timeline
This process ended with the hiring of a freelance web designer, experienced in working with non-profit organizations, who then worked with our contract programmer and web team.
4. Developed a new design for the site
Over a period of several months, we worked intensely with the designer and programmer to create a new look and feel for the site, rework the site's approach to navigation and improve interactive features, such as our discussion forum and site search engine. This process required clear and frequent communication to work through issues that arose, sometimes needing additional research. We faced a wide range of decisions, such as:
How can we make the site design fit with our organizational image and dovetail with the look and feel of our print materials? How do we apply our "graphics standards" to the web site?

Will we use photographs to "personalize" the site? How will we get these photos and permission to use them?

How can we create a design that will be seen by the largest number of visitors as we intended it to be seen? This is a challenging issue because every visitor may see the site differently, depending on their computer, the web browser they use, the settings they have used in their browser and more.

5. Tested, tested, tested
We tested the site on a range of computers at each stage of the design process and asked our target audiences, including caregivers and people with dementia (a new audience for our site), to critique it. We then made appropriate changes.
6. Created the pages of the site and launched it
This three-month process was more labour-intensive than we had expected. But it gave us an opportunity to again review and update the site (which we do regularly every six months), and ensure consistency. This was particularly useful in such a large site (over 800 pages) that has grown to this size over a four-year period.
7. Continue to gather feedback
Gathering feedback, fine-tuning and making changes as needed are part of the ongoing maintenance of a web site - or should be. We plan to include an online survey in the coming months to invite visitor feedback on the new design. As well, we'll continue to analyse the quarterly statistical reports that are produced for our site.
8. Continue to review and grow the site
The site will continue to grow as new information is provided by various departments in the organization. We are also considering adding additional interactive features and other media (such as video and/or audio), as resources allow.
Creating, maintaining and growing your organization's web site is a large and challenging job. Your choices will be driven by the human and financial resources you have available, and by your vision and understanding of what makes a web site work well. If you value the job your site can do for your organization, it's worth reviewing, then refining or redesigning it as often as you can. Your visitors will thank you for it.
Ellen Agger is Webmaster at the Alzheimer Society of Canada reach her at: webmaster@alzheimer.ca; www.alzheimer.ca