Rebuilding Online Communications
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The document discusses rebuilding online communications for Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). It describes doing a content audit that revealed BNL's website was outdated, lacked strategy and compelling messages. Stakeholder interviews found the home page had too much information and the site lacked a vision. A content strategy was developed with templates, audiences and tasks. A new responsive website was created with a content management system to better facilitate two-way communication and showcase BNL's science and impact. The rebuild achieved the goal of replacing the old BNL.gov, but some users struggled with changes to familiar sections like the phone directory. Ongoing content updates and training are needed to support the new site.
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Rebuilding Online Communications
- 2. Hi. I’m Gary Schroeder @gary_schroeder
- 4. So, what was wrong with BNL.GOV?
- 5. EVERYTHING
- 6. BORINGLong passages of text that no one would ever read www.shorpy.com/node/15673
- 7. OUTDATED Last major update was NINE YEARS ago
- 8. MISSION? Can anybody tell if we even have a ‘Some kinda scienc-ey stuff?’
- 9. ORG CHART Death by No one gives a rip about internal fiefdoms
- 10. AMATEURS We looked like (Amateurs have no credibility)
- 11. CONTENT STRATEGY Since we don’t have one, let’s start with a
- 12. Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content. Kristina Halvorson www.flickr.com/photos/45923218@N00/4835160197
- 13. The content strategist defines not only which content will be published, but why it’s being published in the first place. Without a strategy, we’re just running a production line for content that nobody needs or wants. www.shorpy.com/node/15585
- 14. Publishing Criteria Why are you publishing this? Info Architecture Is it logically arranged, findable? Content Strategy Messages What do you want them to know? ID Audiences Who are you trying to reach? (And why?) Work Flow Routine process for scheduling, producing, publishing Measure success (or lack of it) Metrics
- 16. CORE TEAM
- 17. CS DELIVERABLES Accessibility Guides Publishing Workflow Benchmarks Qualitative Content Audit Channel Strategies Quantitative Content Audit Competitive Analyses Resource Review Content Style Guide SEO Review Content Templates Success Metrics Editorial Calendars User Persona Example Content User Research Plans Feature Descriptions User Scenarios Gap Analyses Workflow Recommendations
- 19. AUDIT Oh boy! It’s time for a content
- 21. Our home page is a blizzard. There’s too much information right away. www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2551851700
- 22. Our website should facilitate a two-way conversation with industry. www.flickr.com/photos/anmm_thecommons/8533281990
- 23. Our site lacks a compelling vision. What’s our version of ‘we helped put a man on the moon’? www.flickr.com/photos/bergen_public_library/5427117205
- 24. Potential recruits are our most important audience. http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2552861639
- 25. The website needs to work better for elected officials, high-level industry reps and community members. www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/9031464131
- 26. Audiences Dept. of Energy Current employees Elected officials (staffers) Students Community members Journalists/Media Science-interested public Facility Users Potential employees Potential facility users
- 27. Top Tasks Find contact information Learn how to apply for a job Evaluate programs or facilities Find relevant research news Understand what BNL does Learn how to become a facility user See available jobs See what BNL offers industry
- 28. Content Templates 0. Home Page 1.0 Landing Page 1.1 Sub Page
- 29. Template 1.0: ‘Our Science’ Landing Page Intro to BNL’s work Brookhaven’s scientific breakthroughs ensure a successful energy future for our nation. We research: 1. nuclear and particle physics, to understand more about matter, energy, space, and time; 2. photon sciences and nanomaterials, to research new kinds of energy production; and 3. the relationship between climate change, sustainable energy, and the Earth’s ecosystems. Themes Energy Security: We collaborate with industry and academic partners to reduce the carbon footprint of our economy through efficiency and renewable fuels. Light as a Discovery Tool: Our light sources work as powerful microscopes to help researchers find solutions to the grand energy challenges facing the US. Etc. … Our Science Science Powering Industry Short blurb, link to case study, small image. About BNL Brookhaven carries out critical energy research at the frontier of science and operates world-leading research facilities on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
- 30. Success Metrics Unique visits Subscriber volume Number of shares What number indicates ‘success’? Time on site Is a high number or a low number good? High number might mean they couldn’t find desired content. Low number might mean they didn’t stop to read content. www.flickr.com/photos/60527064@N00/3538962602
- 31. What We Had at end of CS consult • Who we were trying to reach • What we wanted to tell them • What we thought they wanted to do (top tasks) • Suggestions for how to arrange content in a way that would be easy for them to find it • List of content to dump b/c it had no WHY • Where the content gaps were and what had to be written to better explain the Lab’s mission, capabilities, national value and achievements • The attention of management and our own writing staff
- 32. USER INTERFACE Uh oh, we need a new
- 37. HOME PAGE The Big Bone of Contention, the www.flickr.com/photos/38611695@N00/2210578063/
- 38. Home Page Content Priorities
- 39. START SKETCHING
- 44. NEW CONTENT Time to write www.shorpy.com/node/15322
- 45. CORE TEAM
- 47. Template 1.0: ‘Our Science’ Landing Page Intro to BNL’s work Brookhaven’s scientific breakthroughs ensure a successful energy future for our nation. We research: 1. nuclear and particle physics, to understand more about matter, energy, space, and time; 2. photon sciences and nanomaterials, to research new kinds of energy production; and 3. the relationship between climate change, sustainable energy, and the Earth’s ecosystems. Themes Energy Security: We collaborate with industry and academic partners to reduce the carbon footprint of our economy through efficiency and renewable fuels. Light as a Discovery Tool: Our light sources work as powerful microscopes to help researchers find solutions to the grand energy challenges facing the US. Etc. … Our Science Science Powering Industry Short blurb, link to case study, small image. About BNL Brookhaven carries out critical energy research at the frontier of science and operates world-leading research facilities on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
- 50. Communications ALD Stakeholder Relations Chief Information Officer Deputy Director for Ops Management Council PRESENTATIONS
- 53. I applaud your motivation and expect that the results will be fantastic. However, I was shocked earlier this month when CERN rolled out their new web pages. Perhaps it was the way I used the old web pages, but it is much harder to find the links which were trivially available on the old CERN site.
- 54. Goal Achieved Old BNL.gov destroyed, replaced with shiny, new, responsive website.
- 58. PARTY TIME
- 59. PUT THE PHONE BOOK LINK BACK ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!!! billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
- 60. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 Where is the phone directory? It used to be right on the home page.
- 61. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 You changed the way to look up phone numbers. The old way was much simpler. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
- 62. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 The menu bar at the top is way too small !
- 63. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 I have large margins of dead space on the left and right sides that I don’t recall seeing before.
- 64. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 I know it’s job security for you folks to revise web pages, but this revision was not only unnecessary, it was in the retrograde direction.
- 68. Content
- 75. DEATH TO PAPERor how we (mostly) eliminated print www.flickr.com/photos/williamdeeks/4883655638/
- 76. Until November 2012, BNL published a weekly newspaper called The Bulletin. It had been in continuous production since 1947.
- 78. The world is split into websites that work with Instapaper, and stuff that has now been rendered irrelevant to me. @killdozr
- 80. Primary Audiences for BTW Internal Scientific Staff Support Staff Visitors, Facility Users Bargaining Unit Lab Leadership DOE Area Office External DOE Program Managers Contractor Leadership Retirees Interested Public
- 81. The “Busy Executive” Employees on travel Employees who don’t look at the intranet on a regular basis Another chance to reiterate important messages