Working together to build a new municipal website for Halderberge!
In this blog we take you through the steps we went through together with the Municipality of Halderberge. From the kick-off and creative sessions to the festive go live.
Kick-off with full energy
On Friday 19 July the time had come: the kick-off with our consultants Ruben de Vries and Nick van de Venn at the town hall in Oudenbosch. The atmosphere was good right from the start; ideas and energy were flying across the table. Together with Stephanie Ansems and Renate Lutt we delved into the wishes and requirements for the new website. It immediately became clear that everyone wanted to do everything possible to make this project a success. The planning was ready: time to get started! "When is Guus coming to hand out bitterballs here?" asked Renate soon after seeing Guus' TikTok.
Laying a solid foundation
The subsequent project days revolved around building the new structure for the website. Compare it to the foundation of a house; first you determine where everything goes, so that each page fits exactly. Together with Stephanie and Renate, we worked out the structure in detail - a big job, but a crucial step in making everything clear and uncluttered. This made for a wall that was filled with colored sticky notes!
Then it was time to gather initial feedback. Through social media, the local newspaper and the intranet, a broad group of testers was reached, and this provided us with indispensable insights. The feedback from the local community helped us tremendously in refining the structure. Fantastic to see how involved everyone was!
Training and creativity: getting started with the new look and feel
Once the structure was in place, we trained the team on how to use the CMS and the Felix Products and Services Catalog, so they could get started right away with all the new features. This was followed by the creative session for the design. Halderberge's corporate identity and goals were key: the website had to be clear and informative.
Final tests and then... Live!
With everything ready and the necessary kilos of chocolate to thank all testers, the testing phase could start. We asked residents at City Hall for their opinions, the ladies at the front desk (who speak to residents every day) provided extensive feedback, and we visited business owners in Oudenbosch to test the application.
During testing, it turned out that many people wanted to search via Google. But because the website was not yet live, that was of course not possible. The search bar on the website itself was a pleasant alternative.
"I've never heard of a stand permit, so I wouldn't know where to find it on the website. So nice that I can just search and came out in the right place."
Feedback was processed, minor tweaks were made, and the team was ready to go live. On Oct. 31, the moment was there; time to festively launch the new website www.halderberge.nl. In answer to Renate's question when would Guus come with bitterballs? During the going live Halderberge had the scoop. An action that also caused smiles here.
With this website, the Municipality of Halderberge can provide their residents with an even better and more accessible service. The result? A user-friendly, modern website that everyone can find and use!
