Are you planning on getting a municipal website made? Well, websites meant for municipalities or for any local government office are different, and not what you typically expect from private business websites. Moreover, having a website, just for the sake of having one isn’t the way to go about it either. So, what should you do? Local government websites such as a municipality website needs to be well optimized for efficiency. Only such websites can withstand the incoming traffic and facilitate easy communication within the community. Here are a few tips on how to get a robust municipality website made.
How to make a dynamic and functional local government website?
Check out our brief but informative suggestions on how to make your municipal website dynamic, functional, and up-to-date.
- It’s a space for people to get information: When building a website for the citizens, it’s important to ask them about the features they want to be implemented into it. By conducting a survey and gathering information on the list of services they wish to access through the website, would give the digital agency as well as the municipality an idea on what needs to be added to the site. With the advancement in technology and access to the internet through phones, people expect information at the press of a button, and thus, a survey or feedback is a great way of finding out what’s relevant to the target audience.
- Staff need to be thoroughly trained: Local government websites work best when they are handled by the authorities themselves, but this seldom happens. No government official feels comfortable handling backend operations of the site. In fact, most feel a little out of place when asked to learn any new technology. However, we’ve found out that the right amount of one-on-one training can actually go a long way in making them self-reliant as far as uploading documents or sharing information on the website is concerned. This also makes sure that the information shared on the site is up-to-date and authentic.
- Set a proper management plan: A clean and new site with outdated information may look pretty, but wouldn’t serve its intended purpose – to offer up-to-date information to people of the area. Thus, have a team and a plan ready – of things to do or to share with the people. Hire someone for the specific role and see to it that all relevant information gets uploaded to the site without fail. A clear management plan would make sure that people stay informed about everything happening in the municipal area that directly or indirectly affects them.
- Start with a simple site and build from there: Creating a new site may seem too easy these days, but building a new municipality website from scratch isn’t as easy as it seems. While you may be tempted to add any and all widgets and functionalities into the website, it can seriously hamper the organizational workflow and create complexities further down the line. Therefore, it’s important to assess or evaluate every step before integrating the same into the site. Start with the basics, and as the comfort factor increases, add additional features as may be necessary.
Key takeaway
We recommend getting local government websites made from reliable and professional design agencies, who’ve had prior experience in working with government offices and building some form of government websites in the past. Why so? Well, such an experience helps the agencies to be mindful of the hiccups or challenges that they might face while building government websites. That said, ask your design agency to follow a clean design language and focus more on the UX. Government websites usually carry tons of information and hence, only by implementing a robust UX can the site be actually of use to people and serve its intended purpose – helping people find what they’re looking for without any hassle.
If you are still not sure how to go about it, we’d recommend getting in touch with an experienced design agency. They’d not only be able to assist in every step of the way but would also guide you about the features that should be implemented in every government website.