Enjoy the Season!

Oh the joy of the season is upon us.

We wish you a safe and happy holiday!



From us to you!

Fall - The Dread and Glad

There is no denying it, Fall or Autumn as some prefer, is officially here. I personally didn't want to acknowledge it, as I wanted to remain basking in the ambience of the sun's summer rays of light.

Well now the sun's summer rays of light are dissipating into shorter days and longer nights. So inevitably, I give in, and accept the season's change. That is for me, the dread.

We've now past the day that makes Fall, Fall (Halloween). Yes, this is that marking point for most. With the ready availability of pumpkins and all those pies one can make, share, and eat.

For most of us, this time also means we're looking at closing out the books for the fiscal year, preparing budgets for the upcoming year, and including the list of the top priorities overall. All of this leads up to the public meetings and making agendas and minutes available for your citizens to review and attend those meetings you've no doubt posted on the event calendar of the website.

Yes, the gatherings of Fall.

Now comes one of the most humbling of holidays to include the festivities of Thanksgiving and making sure I don't over indulge myself to much on all the wonderful food that is prepared.

And when I'm able to hold back that last bite of whatever mouth watering morsel that is dangling from my fork, yep, I'm glad!

09/07/2009 - Monday

Guess what? OK, no guessing involved as I didn't provide a lead as to what you would be guessing about. So, I'll let you in on it, instead.

Some or many, may not know the origins of Labor Day, with that stated, I'll share the information here that was provided by the 'Farmer's Almanac'.

'Always the first Monday in September, Labor Day was the idea of Peter J. Maguire, a labor union leader who in 1882 proposed a celebration honoring the American worker. At his suggestion, 10,000 workers held a parade in Union Square, New York, and followed it with political speeches, fireworks, and a picnic. The date chosen was simply "convenient," according to Maguire, because it was midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Although the day’s focus on organized labor has diminished over the years, the legal holiday still marks the near end of summer and the traditional time for children to return to school'.

So enjoy this day and for those of you grilling out - Happy Grilling!

p.s. I'm skipping out of work on September 7, 2009...so don't tell anyone, as this is between you and me. Hey...who in the heck posted this on the 'Events Calendar'? Oh well, now they know.

Keeping Your Team 'In-the-Know'

Have you ever been speaking to one of your team members and you asked them about a project or commented on an issue in passing? Then suddenly you realize seconds later from the team member's reaction, that they had no idea what you were speaking about.

Yea, this happens to the best of people, due to other important projects, meetings, or deadlines. So, next comes the daunting task of bringing the person up to speed, and apologizing for not sharing the information with them earlier.

In doing so, the uninformed person makes a comment or points out an area with a different view, that you happen to find valuable. And you are more than likely thinking...'I wish I'd had the time to include them earlier'.

Now you can! Utilize your website's INTRANET power or other notification options to post and inform.

Keeping your team 'In-the-Know' only takes seconds and can save us from those...hmm...awkward moments.

Summer Fun

It's officially summer time! Yea! This is the time of year when school is out for the season (for most) and the temperature's rise up the thermometer brings about the nostalgia of euphoric fun.

You know the kind of fun where you can go outside and play, work in the garden, mow the lawn, watch the birds, smell the flowers, break out the grill, and just kick back and breathe in the air.

I'm picturing all of the above, already, and the sensational bliss it offers up.

Then it hits me, 'Is your website updated with your Parks offerings, where your citizen's can easily get to the information?'

If not, then, now may be the perfect time to spruce it up and let your citizen's know what's happening in your area. Since most people are planning on 'Staycations' instead of 'Vacations', this is just another easy way to engage with them.

And we all know that summer fun, brings along the display of 'fireworks'. If your city, county, or town - has regulations for the use of 'fireworks', you might want to think about posting or linking this information to your home page. This will prevent your citizen's from having to search and find the information, before they begin their fireworks razzle and dazzle.

Speaking of razzle and dazzle...uh oh, I hear the outside air calling me...OK, it's the street fair with bands playing. Gotta go!

Where's the Beef (Sorry Vegans)

In a survey posted by Zagat today, Wendy's was named as the 'Top Fast Food' restaurant.

So, this started me to thinking (I know this can be somewhat scary, thrilling, and exciting - all at the same time), how can you share your beefie news with your citizens?

Well, through the use of your website of course! Citizen's and viewers of your website, like to be informed, whether your news is beefie or not so beefie.

By keeping them informed on your website with "News Postings" or the "Events Calendar", you are providing an invaluable service. Not to mention cutting down on the number of telephone calls your offices may recieve.

And just think, by posting the information directly to your website, you don't have to ask...'would you like to supersize your order'!

Now, that is food for thought!

Ciao

Road Trip

Getting Directions

Summer is a great time of year! Even when gas prices are up the American way is still to load up the family and head out for a day, a week-end, a week or a month long road trip! Exploring the country side, beaches, national parks and other great places making memories that last a lifetime.

A Trip Down Nostalgia Lane

Maybe I’m just getting older, but I remember those nostalgic trips of my youth. First, with my parents there was the big trip to

• Yellow Stone
• The Grand Canyon
• And of course GRANDMA’S house!

Along the way my parents used the infamous atlas to guide us across the country. My mom is wonderful navigator, though my dad never would have asked for directions, even if she wasn’t.

Municipal websites are much like driving across the country. You know you want to get to the good stuff:

• Minutes and Agenda
• Parks and Recreation
• Program Registration
• Or other online transactions that keep you out of line and save time.

Who Will Stop and Ask for Directions?

Yes, yes the search box and site map are there (or should be) but stop and get out of the car (mentally) to ask for direction? Well, if you are anything like my dad, you are saying, “I can find it just give me some time.”

If the webmasters knew you were struggling they would be praying please use the search box, or ask for direction it is right here. But don’t forget most people will abandon a site within 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes.

That is why having a smartly architecture site is basic building block to a successful municipal website.

Use Clear Road Signs

Helping your site visitors find information can be done in lots of ways such as:

Using Boxes, Grading or Coloring/Shading areas to help call the users attention to areas

Icons for commonly sought after items

• Pull Down Menus
• Drop Down Menus
• Bold Headers
• Most importantly is the efficient reuse of content which saves your publishers time so they don’t have to republish and keep up with like information in various areas throughout the site.

Enjoy the Ride

Save yourself some time with smart publishing and smart architecture and get out on that road trip today!

Adrenaline, Wheels, and the Month of May

OK, so I bet you are wondering about the blog line for this topic…hmm, I was too, until I pseudo-reasoned with myself that it works.

You see, May is the month where wheels and adrenaline come together and are totally highlighted by the various activities presented. Whether it is two wheels, four wheels, or a uni-wheel (yep, I’ve seen them and I don’t believe they were a part of the circus).

We had “Bike to Work Day” held all over North America wherever possible on May 14th, which benefited the biker in two ways.

1. Getting that extra workout in.
2. One less carbon footprint on the earth for the day.

Now, leaving the carbon footprint aside, we also had the “Indianapolis 500” held on May 24th, and BTW congratulations to Helio Castoneves who won this awesome feat.

Still in search of more high wheeling action, I watched the movie “Speed”, which to me, is packed with adrenaline flowing, non-stop action, catch your breath, eight wheeling drama. Not to mention it stars a fave Hollywood icon(for me) in it.

Which brings to mind another wheel, the one Tina Turner sings about in her song “Proud Mary” that has the lyrics…big wheel keep on turning…, I wonder if this is where they got the idea for the “Big Wheels” that you see children riding…hmm.

So, with all these wheels in the month of May, whether events, or my own injections, what’s the point?

Websites and web pages of course! You see your website can be viewed as a wheel and your web pages can be viewed as the cogs of the wheel, you know like the spokes on a bicycle rim. So, it’s a good idea to keep them revved up with the latest events, news, and features, which are happening in your county, town, or city.

And if you want to promote various events on a wide scale basis, contact us for our latest demo on how we can help. That’s right; we can pump up the adrenaline on your website, and not just in the month of May, but all year long.

VaRoom!

It's the Trajan font, stupid.

I have to get off topic and give some props to eGov's lead designer, Brian Fisher. We were working on creating a new website and didn't have the original artwork readily available in the format we needed (photoshop).

So we looked at the graphic and thought ... how difficult would it be to recreate the graphic -- not difficult at all, except for getting the font right. That perplexed us ... until we brought Brian over -- asked him if he knew what font may be close -- and he said: "Yeah, that's 'Trajan' -- or maybe 'Caesar' or 'Augustus', but try 'Trajan' first."

AN EXACT MATCH.

Your Wish Is My Command

Doesn’t everyone wish they could find a Genie in a bottle? Last year at a Chris Botti concert, Chris mentioned how he used the web like a Genie in a bottle.

• If he needed direction, Internet Search Find Location…
• If he needed to find a date, Internet Dating…
• If he needed self-help, Internet Search….

Basic Community Information
Then why can’t we find simple information about the communities we live in? Just basic stuff:

• Town Hall Hours and Directions
• Minutes and Agendas
• What the heck is going on?
• Jobs or Bid announcements

Completing Transactions
Then there is actually completing transactions, like:

• Registering my dog
• Reporting a street sign down
• Who provides utilities and getting those set up
• Pay parking ticket (oops, I hate it when that happens! But it’s life we all get forgetful when we drive as we are thinking about what we’ll be Blogging about or something like that…)

The Next Step
What I’d like to do is like:

• Give pages a thumbs up or thumbs down – nothing complicated just this government page was useful thumbs up or this government page was not helpful ठुम्ब्सdown
• Create my own log in page so I don’t have to go looking for the stuff I want each time I return to my city or county website
• Definitely use Real Simple Syndication – it keeps my e-mail box cleaned out of “clutter” or having to go look in separate e-mail folders and open tons of e-mails.(Not to mention how much it can save the government offices and our environment by not printing and mailing!)
  

Wow, Chris was right, the Internet is like a Genie, you just have to be sure that you have your information within reach of the Genie so he can access it। Watch for my next blog about SEO Search Engine Optimization-Feeding the Genie…

Yoga and the Related Page

While attending my yoga class this week (which is suppose to be relaxing and meditative) I found myself contemplating answers to a question posed by some of our clients. How in the heck did this happen?

Well I'll tell ya, we were in Vrksasana Pose (sanskrit for Tree Pose), by the way, this can be an agonizing pose if you have on slippery yoga pants. And with my arms held quietly in namaste, this pose supports drawing the attention and center of gravity inward and downward. You know like the roots of a tree, hence the name.

As I focused on my balance and breathing, my thoughts wandered to the branches and leaves on a tree. Branches and leaves on a tree, well that's quite normal, until I realized, this is an answer to the question.

The question being, when do you use a department, division, or related page on your website? In structuring the website, the department is the tree, the divisions are the branches, and the leaves are the related pages.

Therefore, if you have a wealth of information to post to your website, yet you want to break up the information into segments, then you have a department. From here, you whittle down to the division names and the composition for each as they are a separate branch from the department. And any special documentation that doesn't require a division, yet it supports the department or division it is assigned to, is then added as a related page, the leaf or leaves.

Wow, now that information, was worth being in this pose for what seemed like eternal endless time, until, I had to switch to the other side. So me being me, after the switch to the other side to balance out the pose, I wandered if I'd get the answer to the lottery numbers for the upcoming week.

Nope, nada, nothing. Oh well, I tried. Namaste!

Greensburg, KS's Green Initiatives

If you're a fan of reality TV (like I am) and you have a strong interest in the inner workings of local government (I'm assuming we all do - why we're here), you really need to check out the TV series "Greensburg" on Planet Green TV (check your Cable Listings).

TV Website: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/greensburg/
City Website: http://www.greensburgks.org/

Now I wasn't really a huge "green" advocate (I tend to side more on the side of "blue", but that's probably a different posting for a different blog) ... but this docu-series really sheds light on how one city devastated by a tornado two years ago is rebuilding their city with an extreme focus on using "green" and "sustainable" resources in the reconstruction of their community.

Without realizing it, you get educated on key public policies that are emerging nationwide to encourage sustainable, "eco-friendly" construction policies and practicies -- and at that same time, get to armchair quarterback decisions and approaches taken by the Mayor, City Manager, Council members and community leaders.

Season 2 is just beginning so you can probably come up to speed over a weekend or two.

Going Green

Going Green is a lot easier than one might think. How is that you say? By implementing these few simple steps that are listed below.

• Unplug the printer when not in use to save on what is referred to as 'Phantom Energy'.


• Make valuable information available on-line to citizens and visitors (this one saves time and fuel).


• Ensure the visitors to your website know they can get RSS feeds from your website (this eliminates printing pages, which saves trees).


• Recycle your print cartridges (most cartridges come with information and labels for doing just this).


• Turn off the lights in offices and conference rooms when they aren't in use (that's just plain smart).


• Promote 'Recycling' in your city, town, etc.

Just by doing these few simple things, you are now starting on the road to becoming a 'Greenie'.

Let the citizens and visitors to your website know that by visiting on-line they too have just contributed to your efforts of 'Going Green'.

Get To The Point, Before You Lose Your Readers

What to do about long pages and detailed instructions

Providing information and services is your business. If you are like most government entities you have a lot of information to provide. Being helpful you also want to provide the details and keep people fully informed of options or requirements.

Characteristics of Website Users
Wait just a second though, don’t forget that your website users are real people. They want to:
· Skim and scan
· Read links and short descriptions
· Use search features to find what they want

How to Present Long Copy
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice providing information with a little planning your content will be easier for people to use. Here are a few ideas for working with long web pages:
· Use headers to help people jump to the information they want
· Break information into several pages
· Can’t break up the information – no problem, use bookmarks within the page. (Don’t forget to provide hyperlinks to take them back to the top of the page.)
· If you decide a PDF is the best option here is a helpful hint: Provide a short description of the document. Nothing is more irritating for people with slower connections than waiting for a large document to download then finding out it isn’t even what you needed!

Presenting Tasks or Instructions
Instructional pages can be just as easy! You might also want to consider numbering the steps making it easy to follow. For example:
1. Complete form. (link to the form)
2. Make payment. (link to payment options page)
3. Receive confirmation.
Self-service options not only allow your site user to complete the task, but also promote good will, reduce waste, and actively promote environment friendly actions!

Resource Books for Content Writing
If you’d like additional resources for web content writing you might check out some of these great books.
Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works By Janice Redish. Published by Morgan Kaufmann, June 2007.

The Web Content Style Guide: An Essential Reference for Online Writers, Editors and Managers By Gerry McGovern, Rob Norton, Catherine O'Dowd. Published by Financial Times Prentice Hall, October 2001.

Three ways to ensure your website is on the right track.

1. Review your site statistics. This is a great way to find out what your visitors are interested in without asking them to complete a survey or opinion poll (both are also excellent ways to listen to your site users and find out what they want).

2. Enter your site for Web Awards. There are many options free and for fee. The best options are those that provide you with information on how your website compares with Industry Standards. WebAwards 2009 is currently taking nominations www.webaward.org. Don’t delay deadline is May 29th.

3. Engage in a free site review. Many companies offer FREE site reviews which can help you assess your site and plan for the future. I’d recommend looking for an Industry Expert. eGov Strategies would be a good fit for city, county, or government entities.

There you have it three easy ways to assess your website. Watch for easy to implement ideas to engage site visitors on your government website.