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Web Content Manager Support and Resources

Best Practices for Web Content

Helpful Information

Website Tools and Integrations Available for Agency Websites

The Goal of the IN.gov Best Practices Guide

The IN.gov Web Content Manager is responsible for maintaining and growing their website. The role entails more than just putting content on pages and letting it stand on its own. A Web Content Manager must keep an eye on interactions to ensure the content is relevant and easily viewed without impediments to the visitor.

This is done through monitoring all aspects of their website including content, analytical reports, and visitor traffic. It is important to identify issues and to adjust accordingly. Your job is crucial to your agency; a website is an invaluable vehicle to reach the citizens an agency supports, as well as serve as a recruiting tool for potential employees.

This guide should be used by new and existing web content managers as a road map to fulfill the responsibilities of their position. Each agency is responsible for maintaining the quality of content within their sites. This is paramount for maintaining an effective web portal and ensuring information is timely and accurate.

This document is the product of the collaborative effort of the IN.gov Advisory Council, IN.gov staff, and additional web content managers from various agencies. It is expected to evolve with time and serve as the source of knowledge for all web content managers of sites hosted within the IN.gov Web Portal.

Web content managers are encouraged to contact the IN.gov staff with comments and suggestions regarding the content of this Best Practices Guide. With the assistance of all stakeholders, we will continue to maintain the highest of quality across all affiliated websites.

Note to Agency Communications Directors and Executive Staff

The IN.gov Web Portal has been recognized nationally for providing an award-winning digital experience for its visitors. This is only possible through continued partnership with every agency, including the support of agency leadership.

We appreciate agencies doing their best to manage their websites with the resources available to them. It is important to continue moving forward by ensuring all websites within the portal are informative, accessible to all visitors, and free of any impediments, such as broken links and misspellings. In addition, page analytics should be used to create a meaningful website experience for the visitor. All of this can be done with the tools we provide at no additional cost to agencies. It only requires the effort of whoever performs the role of your agency’s web content manager(s).

The IN.gov Best Practices Guide is intended to highlight the importance of the web content manager and webmaster positions by providing an activity baseline. Having a web content manager in your agency is vital for your communication efforts. This is especially true living in a digital world where everything and everyone is connected to the internet.  Again, we appreciate our continued partnership in making the visitor’s experience informative and enjoyable.

Web Content Manager’s Responsibilities

This section was developed with the assistance of a webmaster who has worked for two State agencies. Years of knowledge and experience were leveraged in the development of the list. However, the information provided should only be used as a minimum standard baseline. Think of it as a basic template of work to be accomplished.

No two agencies are the same, so it is important to consult with your agency’s Communications Director or whoever is ultimately responsible for approving website content. However, as web content manager, maintaining the quality of your agency’s website is now your responsibility.

IN.gov completes quarterly scans on IN.gov websites; however, the IN.gov team focuses on global/template issues that fall outside of the control of agencies. Each agency is responsible for the content within their website’s pages, including any images/code/files they have placed on the page, and agency users are granted access to the IN.gov-provided accessibility products to review any issues that may have occurred after content revisions.

The focus of an agency’s web content manager is to constantly improve and/or maintain the quality of your agency’s website. To do so we encourage every web content manager to take advantage of all the web management tools made available to you. A full list is available within this document and is also published on the IN.gov Web Portal at IN.gov/INWP.

  • Starting Out
    • Request access (requests can be made through INWP)  to the following tools:
      • WebCMS
      • Data Analytics
      • Quality Assurance and Accessibility
      • Messaging Engagement Platform
      • Internal Site Search Services
    • Create a metric spreadsheet (a template is available here) to track website performance of:
      • Data Analytics Tool – Page Views, Unique visitors, search queries
      • Quality Assurance and Accessibility tool – 508/ADA Compliance, quality assurance on broken Links and misspelling (consider setting up weekly QA notice emails to be sent to you from the Quality Assurance and Accessibility tool)
      • Messaging Engagement Platform – Open and click rates on communications
    • Form a team to do quarterly website content reviews (multiple teams for different programs)
    • Join the IN.gov Advisory Council on Teams
    • Join the Mentor Program and set up an initial meeting with your mentor; decide how frequently you would like to meet
    • Review all your agency’s FAQs on IN.gov to ensure content is still accurate
    • Use the Quality Assurance and Accessibility tool to remediate 508/ADA accessibility issues and clean up all broken links and misspellings
    • Use the Data Analytics Tool to review the top 10-20 pages viewed on your website
    • Create a planning calendar for scheduling posts and updates. If one exists, review and ensure recurring events are accurate
    • Review agency events calendar and ensure all events are accurate
    • Develop or review your agency’s communication strategy: What meetings must be posted? What events are no longer pertinent?
    • Review all Messaging Engagement Platform content watches and subscribers. Is there a subscribed audience that the agency is not communicating to?
  • Weekly
    • Check in with your supervisor to see if there are any tasks on deck and whether there is anything important happening or expected to happen related to your agency
    • Check in with people on your team for collaboration if needed
    • Run a Quality Assurance and Accessibility tool Quality Assurance report for the entire site (accessibility compliance issues, spelling errors, broken links, etc.)
      • This can also be bi-weekly
    • Review Internal Site Search Services to see where search term trends are, how to improve search results, etc.
      • This can also be bi-weekly
    • Adjust/update the planning calendar (see annual task for setup)
  • Monthly
    • Review the Data Analytics Tool, looking for trends and search trends, top access pages, follow through on the path users go on your website, get an idea of how to improve (i.e. reduce having to go through multiple pages to find things, remove redundant pages, ensure content is readable and easily understood by all constituents, etc.)
    • Review 508 accessibility compliance issue resolution progress on The Quality Assurance and Accessibility tool
    • Complete monthly media reports including the IN.gov websites (reports can easily be generated using Data Analytics to share with senior staff so they can see trends, point out improvements, etc.)
    • Check in with your leadership regarding “what lines of business will I have to interact with on a monthly basis?”
    • Attend the IN.gov Advisory Council meeting if a member
    • Set aside some time to view the websites maintained by other agencies
  • Quarterly
    • Review Data Analytics Tool trends between quarters
    • Check in with main lines of business (i.e., check in with Policy team to make sure content in their respective section of the website is in order or needs updates/removed)
    • Check in with business unites that may be responsible for their own content pages and review with them to ensure everything is kept up to date
    • Participate in webmaster continuing education, whether it is formal or a free online class
    • Review all IN.gov FAQs to ensure content is accurate
    • Review website sections and pages for accuracy and relevancy
  • Annually
    • Create a yearly report from the different platforms (Quality Assurance and Accessibility tool, Data Analytics Tool, Internal Site Search Services)
    • Refresh the planning calendar for the next year
      • Look at the previous quarterly reports for different trends in the different times of the year
    • Review entire site: consistency, branding standards met, revamps needed, etc.
    • Meet with the Web Portal Provider Contractor for annual website review
    • Plan content refresh for the new year