Marketing & Communications and Opin, our web project vendor, will collaborate with you on assessing, deleting, adapting and creating content for your section[s] of the new site.
The current website was migrated into the new page templates on a development server, on which we’ll build the new site. Each section of the site has [or will have] a project point person who is responsible for organizing content review/development within your unit and meeting deadlines. We’ll follow up with each of them to arrange access to the relevant pages on the development server.
Content Review/Development
1. Why am I reviewing/developing content for the new website?
We migrated the current site content into the new page templates on a development server. Our current content wasn’t designed for the new templates so each page needs to be reviewed and edited [or deleted if necessary] to ensure that the content works in the new templates.
Also, some of the content currently on the website is out-of-date or inaccurate, which confuses our audiences and reflects poorly on John Jay. Launching an entirely new website is an opportunity to assess the quality and accuracy of our current content and decide what to delete, update/adapt or create.
Finally, the current website evolved over many years, becoming disorganized, unintuitive and inconsistent. It’s challenging for users to find important, sometimes vital, information and resources. Developing a new website allows us to not only refresh content but also organize it more intuitively and helpfully.
2. Who is your main audience?
John Jay has several audiences: prospective students, current students, alums, etc. Who is the primary audience for your section[s] of the site? Keep their perspective in mind as you review/adapt/create your content.
3. What are your goals?
What do you want your content to accomplish? Is it to encourage an action, such as submitting an application, registering for an event or making a donation? Is it to share information, such as tuition, scholarship deadlines or faculty publications?
Clarifying your goals will help you review/adapt/create content that serves a specific purpose.
4. What are your audience’s goals?
What you believe your audience needs to know may not be what they want to know.
Create a persona of your typical audience member and develop/organize content that’s most relevant for them, and link off to more detailed information.
We'll share analytics that indicate how users have interacted with your current content, which may provide insight as you consider your content. Post-launch, analytics will help identify if audience needs shift so we can adapt as necessary.
5. What are my specific content needs?
Based on 1-4 above, what current site content can be reused, updated/adapted or created? It may be helpful to organize your content development along these lines to determine where you need to focus.
6. How do I create content and what about Search Engine Optimization [SEO]?
SEO is how we ensure our content is identified as relevant and delivered to people using search engines, like Google. We will automatically implement SEO best practices, such as incorporating a key word into page metadata and URL. Your focus is meeting user needs and readability.
Keep in mind that people approach online content differently than print.
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Users spend about 15 seconds on a webpage, on average, and even less on mobile, scanning information vs. reading it. They search for things that stand out, like bullet points or data points. Draft content that readers can absorb quickly.
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Millions of other options are only a click or two away. To maintain interest, ensure that the most pertinent information is also the most prominent.
7. When do you need content for my section[s]?
We’ll share a proposed development timeline that includes content deadlines for you to review and finalize.
| Unit/Department | Point Person |
| Phase I | |
| Advancement | Steve Dercole |
| About Us | Kira Poplowski |
| Events | Kira Poplowski |
| Homepage | Kira Poplowski |
| News | Kira Poplowski |
| Phase II | |
| Academic Affairs | |
| Student Affairs | |
| Phase III | |
| Administrative |