Measure twice, cut once is one of my favorite gems of folk wisdom. It applies just as much to a website redesign as designing a new gown. A little planning and measuring engagement and user behavior before and after your new site launch will ensure it fits your organization’s objectives.
In this month’s newsletter, we take this analogy further to explore runway-inspired steps for user acceptance testing. We also reveal the magic of usability testing and the not-so-scary origin story of a headless CMS. And just in time for (dare we say it?) back-to-school season, brush up on your SEO and Google Analytics skills.
If you’d like to learn more about our user experience, web, and analytics services, please feel free to put time on our calendar to chat!
– Erin Rickard, Digital Services Manager
BLOG: User Acceptance Testing…But Make It Fashion!
The development of your new website is almost complete. Before the curtain rises and your vision revealed to the world, it’s time for a dress rehearsal: User Acceptance Testing. Preparing for UAT can feel like an afterthought, especially if you’ve been busy working on content for your new site, but a little preparation can go a long way to making the process effective. Read our blog post for the surprising UAT lessons inspired by Tim Gunn to make sure your website is ready to face the runway.
BLOG: What’s So Important About Usability Testing?
Usability testing is a process that reliably identifies potential problems with a new website, AMS, CRM, or other technology implementation before the project is complete. It significantly improves adoption of the finished project – but many organizations choose to skip it. Sounds crazy, right? Read our blog post to learn about this magic (but thoroughly grounded in science!) process called usability testing, why it’s essential, and what you can expect from the process.
ARTICLE: The Benefits of a Headless Content Management System
The term may bring spooky stories of cranially-challenged horsemen to mind, but wrapping your head around the concept of a headless CMS is nothing to fear. As NTEN’s article explains, a headless CMS allows you to store and author content like a traditional CMS, but offloads the templating (front-end rendering of the site pages and content) to another framework. Sound like it’s not for the faint of heart? That may be true, but read on for the potential benefits of this approach for bringing together your CRM and AMS, long-term scalability, and more.
ARTICLE: Five Things That Just Aren’t True About SEO Anymore
If it’s been years since your organization last considered its SEO strategy, it’s time to take another look. Associations Now outlines the old SEO guidelines that have been turned on their heads, such as the (un)importance of keywords, the (false) primacy of desktop visitors, and the (damaging) effect of duplicate content on your rankings.
COURSE: Yoast SEO Summer School
If the above article has you thinking it’s time to brush up on your SEO skills, check out popular SEO plugin Yoast’s week-long SEO Summer School, with free workshops running from August 5th to 17th. You’ll need access to a WordPress website with Yoast installed to complete the workshops covering quality content creation, internal linking, and more tricks of the trade.
Date: August 5-17, 2021; course registration
COURSE: Advanced Google Analytics for Nonprofits
NTEN follows their recent Intro course with a more advanced look at Google Analytics for nonprofits. Sign up for the course on Sept 1 to go beyond sessions and pageviews and learn about custom campaigns, which can help you monitor which of your organization’s outreach efforts drive the most traffic to your site.
Date: September 1, 2021; course registration
WEBINAR: Netflix-ing your Association
Learn where the gaps exist between your current website & a personalized experience like Netflix. Seasoned professional Greg Pollack, VP of Sales for Association Analytics, and Dan Stevens, President of WorkerBee.TV will review the value of closing these gaps and using data to customize your member’s experience.
Date/Time: August 5, 2021, 12pm PT / 3pm ET; webinar registration