Web Effectiveness Blog

Congratulations to Art Lang, Ernest Bourne and the rest of  the Web team at the Salt Lake County Library on the launch of the library's revamped Website. The site serves as an online branch, giving visitors access to virtually all library services, from research to book requests and more. Making these services available through SiteExecutive required some custom development and integration with existing library systems. Fortunately, the SiteExecutive API is easily tapped for custom development, especially by Web developers completing SiteExecutive API and Developer Training, which Art and Ernest did last fall.

Yesterday marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s seminal work, “On the Origin of Species,” which outlines the process of evolution and natural selection. Although there are folks who debate the merits of evolutionary biology, when it comes business – and business on the Web – if you’re not adapting to deliver the experience and information your visitors expect, your site and maybe your business is as good as dead.

Consider your own experience using Google. How many pages deep will you go when looking for a relevant link? Likewise, if you’re using a Blackberry or iPhone for searching the Web, do you prefer sites optimized for your device or endless scrolling? Now, think about the people visiting your site. What will make them prefer your online experience over your competitors? What does it take to deliver a great online experience?

One thing that matters is your content. As Web content guru Gerry McGovern has pointed out, “a small percentage of Web content really makes a difference. It makes the sale, delivers the service, and builds the brand. This is the killer Web content. It probably represents less than 10% of content published on the Web, because – let’s face it – most content just gets in the way.”

If you’re still reading this blog, thank you very much. According to research from Web usability expert, Jacob Nielsen, “On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.”

Nielsen has conducted a number of experiments aimed at improving content readability.

• Bullets are one thing which helps
• Usability and smart information design are critical for site success and should not be confused with graphic design
• Technical details matter too...Take semantically correct HTML. It keeps screen readers on track and contributes to search engine effectiveness

With the economy showing signs of life, now is the time to think about the evolution of your Website and its ability to help your business survive and thrive. For more insight into ways you can adapt for a thriving future:

>> Click here to get more info about all of our Web Effectiveness services

OR

>> Click here to request a call back from a member of our Web effectiveness team today

Several months ago we began the process of re-developing the Systems Alliance Website. It was all going smoothly till we had to choose photography... Fortunately, we hit on GROWTH as a theme and selected our photography from Getty Images.

The biggest challenge we had in rebuilding our site was time – getting our Web Effectiveness team off client projects and focused on our site wasn't easy. Once they got going, they put their brains and hearts into the project, cooking up a new Systems Alliance site which uses many cool SiteExecutive features, including:

• Classification / Related Content
• Profile Directory Application
• Navigation Module
• Dynamic Content
• Blog Application
• Advance Forms

Beyond coming up with an striking design, our team developed the site so it's mobile-friendly, search-engine optimized, and Web accessible. Check it out on your iPhone, BlackBerry or Pre. If you like what you see – or not – please let us know.

Geisinger Health System’s Web and Clinical Content Management teams, under the leadership of Dave Young and E. Sue Brown respectively, were recently named finalists in KMWorld magazine's 2009 KMReality Award competition. Geisinger’s received the recognition for its development of an application and centralized process for creating and managing the organization’s thousands of policies and procedures. The Geisinger team built its policy management app as a SiteExecutive module, deployed on the organization's INFOWeb intranet. Visit the Geisinger Website to learn more about the award. A case study about the module is available on the SiteExecutive Website.

Our client, PRSA, the world's leading membership organization for public relations and communications professionals, has re-launched its flagship Website, PRSA.org today. The new site runs on SiteExecutive 4.1 EP 5. Systems Alliance supported the re-launch by assisting PRSA with the development of page templates and custom applications -- the latter built using ColdFusion and the SiteExecutive API.