Does your municipality have a handle on the online landscape?
In the rapidly changing environment of local governments, managing multiple websites is a complex task. Each with its own goals and target audiences, these sites present a range of challenges. From enforcing laws and regulations to ensuring a consistent user experience. In this blog, we take a closer look at the common challenges of managing multiple websites.
Understanding your online landscape
Understanding your online landscape is essential for providing a coherent and user-friendly online experience. In practice, we see that local authorities often have various websites for different initiatives and services in addition to their main website. A website offers the opportunity to effectively draw attention to this. But we also often see that it can lead to proliferation. That requires time in terms of management and maintenance.
In addition, the management of these websites may be spread across various departments and different suppliers, which can result in a loss of overview and control. Which websites are you, as a municipality, actually responsible for? And who within the municipality has ownership? What is the purpose of these websites? It may be that not all of them have a right to exist. These are important initial questions to ask yourself when mapping out your online landscape.
Why do municipalities have little control over their online landscape?
Insight into performance
Gaining control of your online landscape starts with insight. Because many sites are divided among different teams, there is often insufficient insight into performance indicators such as speed, responsiveness, and search engine optimization. Without access to up-to-date data, it is difficult to optimize online services for residents.
Laws, regulations, and security standards
Every website must comply with specific laws and regulations. To ensure this is properly in order, it is important to make sure that every website meets the required standards, such as privacy or archiving. Of the more than 100 sites surveyed within several municipalities, it appears that no less than 74% cannot yet be considered secure, with various sites even processing personal data. This can be particularly challenging when different suppliers are involved.
Accessibility
To enable every resident to make optimal use of your website, it is important that accessibility is in order. Although many municipal websites meet accessibility requirements, we see that most other municipal sites do not. This includes accessible buttons on the website, images, feedback, and design. But it also includes conducting an accessibility survey and drawing up an accessibility statement.
Lack of time and knowledge
In addition to maintaining your organization's various websites, you are most likely also involved in multiple projects and initiatives. These responsibilities, combined with a lack of time, can cause website optimization to take a back seat. This is a logical consequence, but it is also a missed opportunity for the online performance of your many websites and the user experience of residents. It may also be that there is a lack of knowledge in the field of web management. In a multifaceted role, you cannot be an expert in everything.
Consistency in corporate identity and user experience
Centralized management is essential for consistent corporate identity, functionality, and user experience across websites. This contributes to a positive and professional image for residents. Due to the diversity in management and suppliers, it is difficult to guarantee this consistency.
Ready to get started with your online landscape?
At Shift2, we understand the complexity of managing websites within local governments. We are happy to help you map out and optimize your online landscape. Read below to find out how we do this:
- First, we make sure we have a clear picture of your organization's current online landscape. We analyze existing websites and identify opportunities for improvement.
- We provide an overview of your online landscape and insight into important KPIs within performance;
- By deploying our consultants, we provide extra hands. We take care of the process for you, saving you time.
- Based on the analysis, we highlight specific areas for quality improvement. These include web management, legislation and regulations, accessibility, etc. We provide practical solutions to take your online landscape to the next level.
