CivicPlus Blog

10 Misconceptions About Government Websites

jmarabellawriting@gmail.com (Jessica Marabella) — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 18:30:00 GMT

On this year’s polling day, ask your citizens how they really feel about government website design. Most likely, you’ll hear consistent, unflattering feedback:

5 Tips to Writing an Effective Job Posting

jmarabellawriting@gmail.com (Jessica Marabella) — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 15:30:00 GMT

Finding the right talent starts with defining the right candidate. The job descriptions that you post for open positions in your municipal administration will impact the quality of the applicants you receive. The more qualified the applicants, the better opportunity you will have to add the right member to your team who is able to make an immediate impact. When writing effective job descriptions, keep the following five best practices in mind:

South Orange Village, NJ - Improves Emergency Communications with CivicReady

her@civicplus.com (Pang Her) — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 14:00:00 GMT

The Township of South Orange Village, New Jersey, is an extremely diverse community of closely-connected residents. With a population of almost 16,500, the residents of South Orange Village have developed an interpersonal culture and a feeling of close-knit familiarity among neighbors, business partners, and community leaders. South Orange Village prides itself on being a town with a city sense and a village vibe. South Orange offers residents proximity to culture, nightlife, art, entertainment, and education, both locally and via a 30 minute train ride to New York City. The Township of South Orange Village is in a transformative cultural state.

CMS Enables Gulf Shores, AL to Keep Content Current and Accurate

baker@civicplus.com (Jeff Baker) — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 14:42:01 GMT

Gulf Shores is accustomed to wearing two hats. On the one hand, it’s a small, tight-knit community known for its Southern hospitality and family-friendly atmosphere. On the other, it’s home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the U.S. that attract hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. But all of this was jeopardized when Gulf Shores became one of the most affected areas of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Instead of folding, however, the City of Gulf Shores saw an opportunity to tell millions of people about their community and its determination to be better than ever. Their website became one way to convey and spread that message.

An All New Way to Build Websites

gach@civicplus.com (Kyle Gach) — Fri, 27 May 2016 15:30:00 GMT

At CivicPlus, we help government work better by building websites and other products for municipalities like cities and counties. Over the years, we had developed a process not unlike an assembly line, with the site going from Creative Services → Web Administrators → Content Development in a strictly linear fashion. Any kind of back-and-forth was considered a failure in the process, as it always resulted in more time. Worse, each department had evolved its own efficiencies unique to this process to speed things up as much as possible. Creative Services was creating pixel-perfect comps of highly-static, fixed-width sites that looked very similar to one another, so as to reduce the work of the Web Admins. After those comps were approved by the client, Web Admins would build the site using an antiquated system of textboxes for HTML snippets and directly-edited database tables that would output a table-based layout filled with lots of extraneous markup.

The 5 Keys to Selecting a Local Government Website Partner

her@civicplus.com (Pang Her) — Thu, 26 May 2016 18:00:00 GMT

As a local government administrator, you understand the need to foster two-way communications with your citizens. To help foster such dialogue, your website needs to be a central repository for community resources, forms, documents, news and information. Before you invest the time and money in a new website, understand what digital design and development options may be available to you and what type of vendor can best meet your needs. When selecting a website design partner, you will need to decide if you want to align your local government with a local freelancer, a website design company or a large, national provider that can provide multiple services like design, hosting and security. Before you make your decision, consider the most important qualities of a true strategic partner and what type of organization is most likely to meet and exceed your requirements.

8 Benefits of Online Applications

jmarabellawriting@gmail.com (Jessica Marabella) — Tue, 24 May 2016 18:00:00 GMT

Municipalities are people-centric entities that are managed by the types of individuals who are motivated to serve those around them and improve their local communities. Human resource managers in the public sector are faced with one unique challenge: how to find ideal candidates for civic service positions through the impersonal job recruitment process.

Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Website

her@civicplus.com (Pang Her) — Thu, 19 May 2016 19:28:07 GMT

If your local government website needs an upgrade, but the idea of launching a full-scale replacement feels overwhelming, or doesn’t fit into this year’s budget, know that you can still make big improvements to your website through simple enhancements. Consider these ten things that you can do right now to improve your website.

Creating Great Websites With Design Flexibility

her@civicplus.com (Pang Her) — Wed, 04 May 2016 15:38:23 GMT

As a government website expert, I've had the experience of working with hundreds of municipalities in identifying and designing the best municipal websites available. I've seen my fair share of unattractive websites (you know, the kind with flying words and pixelated images), but I've also seen websites go from nothing spectacular to something much more impactful. I also understand the frustrations municipalities have when it comes to website designs and the flexibility to maintain a great looking website.

Building Your "Must Have" List when Shopping for a Website

jmarabellawriting@gmail.com (Jessica Marabella) — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:30:00 GMT

The factors that need to be taken into consideration when shopping for a new government website are no different from those to be considered when shopping for a new car, or a house, or any other long-term item that will greatly influence your day-to-day life. Before you set out to build a new website, take the time to build a shopping list to make sure you walk away with everything you need from your new investment.