Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website for Your Hillel

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• 2008 Hillel InternationalStaff
  ConferenceWednesday, December 17, 20081015 AM

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• Hillel at Syracuses Universitys Website Dilemma

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Hillels Goals for the Website Redesign

• Worked with ICTG LLC to develop site goals
• Create an easily edited website with
  interchangeable parts
• Update the aesthetics of the website while
  maintaining readability and usability
• Add innovative technology to the website
• Incorporate multimedia features
• Add interesting new features
• Generate updated statistics on website visitors

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Editable Website

• Moved to module system on DotNetNuke / DNN
• I can edit the website from any computer
  connected to the internet
• Created page templates for consistency
• Allowed for an Integrated E-mail system

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Site Aesthetics

• Created consistent color design scheme
• Updated banners and menu structure
• Added more pictures

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Innovative Technology

• Added Live Schmooze using open development tool
  on AOL
• Added Birthright Scrap Book and readable
  newsletters using Live Content technology
• Added embedded code provided by Google Maps

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Multimedia Features

• Alternative Spring Break Movie
• James Conlon Introduction
• Link to YouTube video of the Shticks

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New Features

• New and improved events calendar
• Virtual building tour
• Online Nosh Box ordering

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General Tips

• Consider third party programs and open-source
  programs and codes (but be aware of the risks and
  the bugs)
• Can I do it myself?
• Contractor 24-hour E-Mail rule
• Well find a way to make it happen attitude
• Free training manual and training sessions for
  you and your staff
• No charges for website content changes
• Learn just a little HTML code at www.quackit.com

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• Practical and Useful Links for Hosting and
  Creating Your Site

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Content Management Systems

• Web Design vs. Building a Site
• Wild Apricot www.wildapricot.com
• Joomla www.joomla.org
• Accrisoft http//accrisoft.com/
• Web hosting
• Go Daddy www.godaddy.com
• Support
• Students
• School of Communications
• Taproot Foundation www.taprootfoundation.org
• BeeDragon.com Lori Berkowitz

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• Why What the Public Sees is Only a Fraction of
  the Concern When Constructing a Website
  Different components of a website

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Public Information

• Pages (information for students, parents, donors,
  etc.)
• Jewish content (dvar torahs, Jewish links,
  etc.)
• Calendar
• Profiles (staff, student leaders, board, etc.)
• e-Commerce (donations, event payment, purchasing
  merchandise, etc)
• Links to other organizations (TBRI, SIC,
  Federation, local Jewish orgs, Jewish studies,
  etc.)
• Surveys and evaluative tools
• Announcements
• Listserve
• Sign ups (events, e-communication, etc.)

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Allows and Encourages Interaction By the Public

• People can post their own events and
  announcements
• Student leaders
• Student interns (CEI, etc)
• University officials (Jewish studies, etc.)
• Community partners
• Comment on content
• Share content
• E-mail
• Social networking sites (facebook, etc.)

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Internal Information

• Student tracking information
• What events they came to
• What categories of events they came to
• What are their interests
• Notes about them
• Staff member primarily responsible
• Event tracking information
• Category of event
• Externally storable (i.e. social, Israel, etc)
• Internally storable (based on donor reporting
  requirements)
• Total number of students in attendance
• Cost
• Number of first timers
• Planning information
• How many did you expect?
• What were your goals?
• Staff member primarily responsible

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• Collecting and Managing DataThe (Unattainable)
• One-Record Theory

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One student record that

• Can be entered by the student or Hillel staff
• Receives your listserve (click tracking data)
• Can RSVP (and pay) for your events
• Has their events tracked
• Has their interests tracked
• Has their personal information tracked (school
  address, phone, etc)
• Multiple e-mail addresses / unique ID
• Becomes an alumni/parent/donor
• DonorPerfect ID

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One Event That

• Is automatically fed into our listserve
• Students can RSVP (and pay (in different
  amounts)) for
• Students records are associated with for tracking
  purposes
• Is used for space reservations in a Hillel
  facility
• Set up / clean up time
• Room set up
• Supplies needed
• Tied in with in house kosher caterer (where
  available)
• Can be sorted according to external and internal
  categories
• Events can be on the calendar and just viewable
  to staff (i.e. coffee dates, leadership meetings,
  etc)
• Is tied to evaluation data
• Staff
• Student leaders
• Participants (tied to the student record through
  click tracking)

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Extracting Data

• Should have queries centered around events and
  ones centered around students
• Allow staff and student interns to easily access
  students, events and initiatives they are working
  on
• Ability to write your own queries
• Retain student record even if they unsubscribe
  from the listserve

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Example

• Student McLovin came to a Latke Study Break run
  by one of your student interns in their dorm.
• The student intern adds them to the attendance
  list of the program (which automatically
  subscribes them to our listserve)
• The next weekly e-news they get is automatically
  created from
• Events that are posted on the site
• Announcements that are posted on the site
• A student written dvar torah posted to the site
• When looking at the students click tracking data
  we see they clicked on a Taglit-Birthright
  Israel Hillel Trip Humus Happy Hour
• We add that as an interest in their record and
  send them a personalized reminder about the event
  the day before
• They sign up for the trip, go on the trip, they
  have a powerful experience at Yad VShem, we
  track them as interested in Holocaust programming

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Example

• The campus staff (who did not go on the trip) is
  planning a yom HaShoah program. They look up
  students interested in holocaust programming and
  asks this student to help plan the program. It
  is tracked that he was on the planning committee
  of the program
• The student graduates
• 15 years later the Hillel is looking for a donors
  to help fund holocaust programming and contact
  this student saying I know you were involved in
  planning this program as an undergrad, would you
  be interested in funding a similar program for
  our Hillel

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• Making Your
• Websites Accessible

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What Is Accessibility, Anyway?

• Web accessibility means that people with
  disabilities can use the Web.
• Web accessibility means that people with
  disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate,
  and interact with the Web.

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What Is a Disability?

• There are 4 major categories of disability types
  that impact an individuals ability to use the
  web
• 1. VISUAL
• Blindness, low vision, color-blindness

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Blindness

• http//www.vitelity.net

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Blindness

• http//google.com

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What Is a Disability?

• 2. Hearing
• Deafness/Hard of HearingWayne has important
  things to say!YouTube's got captions!

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What Is a Disability?

• 3. Motor
• Inability to use a mouse,
• slow response time,
• Limited fine motor control
• 4. Cognitive
• Learning disabilities, distractibility, inability
  to remember or focus on large amounts of
  informationBiting the hand that feeds me

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Who Cares?

• Though estimates vary, most studies find that
  about one fifth (20) of the population has some
  kind of disability.
• Depending on the university, anywhere from 6
  11 of students currently enrolled in college
  today have identified themselves as having a
  disability.

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What Does the Law Say?

• Several federal laws protect college student with
  disabilities from discrimination
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• (applies to all colleges that receive federal
  assistance)
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• (applies to employers, government entities, such
  as state universities, and private entities that
  serve the public)
• Religious institutions are often exempt from some
  of these laws, but
• Dont we answer to a Higher Authority?

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Adaptations

• Each of the major categories of disabilities
  requires certain types of adaptations in the
  design of the web content.
• Most of the time, these adaptations benefit
  nearly everyone, not just people with
  disabilities.
• Almost everyone benefits from
• helpful illustrations,
• properly-organized content and clear navigation.
  While captions are a necessity for Deaf users,
  they can be helpful to others, including anyone
  who views a video without audio.

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What Can I Do Cheap?

• Provide appropriate alternative text
• Alt Text provides a textual alternative to
  non-text content in web pages. Its especially
  helpful for people who are blind and rely on a
  screen reader to have the content of the website
  read to them.
• Ensure users can complete and submit all forms
• Ensure that every form element (text field,
  checkbox, dropdown list, etc.) has a label and
  make sure that label is associated to the correct
  form element using the ltlabelgt tag.

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What Can I Do Cheap?

• Caption and/or provide transcripts for media
• Videos and live audio must have captions and/or a
  transcript. With archived audio, a transcript
  might be sufficient.
• Ensure accessibility of non-HTML content,
  including pdf files, word documents, PowerPoint
  presentations and Adobe flash content.
• If you cannot make it accessible, consider using
  HTML instead or, at the very least, provide an
  accessible alternative. PDF documents should also
  include a series of tags to make it more
  accessible. A tagged PDF file looks the same, but
  it is almost always more accessible to a person
  using a screen reader.

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What Can I Do Cheap?

• Do not rely on color alone to convey meaning
• The use of color can enhance comprehension, but
  do not use color alone to convey information.
  That information may not be available to a person
  who is colorblind and will be unavailable to
  screen reader users.
• Make sure content is clearly written and easy to
  read
• Write clearly, use clear fonts, and use headings
  and lists appropriately.

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To find more info

• Web Accessibility Initiativewww.w3/org/WAI
• WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
• Initiative of Utah State University, and
• Center for Persons with Disabilities
• www.webaim.org

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• Future Trends

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Future Model
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Future Model

• Infrastructure
• Technical environment (servers, security, etc)
• Content Management System
• Diverse control
• User Interface
• Navigation, graphics
• Integration
• News feeds, databases, tools

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Web 2.0

• Semantic web
• Beyond displaying words
• Structured data
• Freebase
• Mashups
• Dapper
• Collaboration tools
• Second Life

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• Evaluating and Measuring Your Website with
  Effective Statistics

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Your Website Statistics

• Who visit your website?
• How long do they stay?
• Where are they directed from?
• What keywords are they using?
• Where are they visiting from?

• Google Analytics

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Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website
for Your Hillel

• 2008 Hillel International Staff
  ConferenceWednesday, December 17, 20081015 AM