We recently attended the Yorkshire Local Council Association Conference in York and several Parish and Town Councils were interested in our web communication system. However, one common theme was Clerks weren’t sure where to start when developing content and found the whole concept intimidating.
Therefore, we thought we would put together some of our hints and tips as to how to go about updating or starting from scratch – it’s not as scary as it seems!
- Internal links. There is no need to repeat messages on more than one page, use internal links to move people through your website. This also helps keep pages, less cluttered and more appealing to read.
- Optimise for mobile traffic. Many people now read websites on tablets or phones, therefore, make sure your website is mobile responsive. This is something that should be a key part of your questions to the company developing your site.
- Keep a check on your analytics. A key way of finding out what your community is looking at is through analytics. If you are redeveloping your website, it allows you to see whether you need all the pages you currently have or, it allows you to use good practice to help adapt the pages which aren’t being looked at. Either way it is an insight into your community.
- Think Compliance. Remember you need to be compliant with GDPR and Accessibility. Look out for our blog about Accessibility soon.
Sometimes it can be overwhelming to start developing a website but it should be as easy as writing a Word document. If you need help or support, find out more about how our web communication system written specifically for Councils and other special interest groups.
Published: 17/09/2019 Published by: James Proctor
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