The Village of Orland Park, IL, is a community located 25 miles southwest of downtown Chicago and boasts a diverse demographic among its residents, ranging from young families to a growing senior population. To better serve its community and encourage resident involvement, Orland Park undertook an overhaul of its website with the intent of making it easier for visitors to find their site and the information they need.
Their site had long been used as a “storage unit,” housing an abundance of outdated information, broken links and dead ends. Staff spent a great deal of time trying to clean it up, but ultimately realized a new website would better suit the community. After much collaboration and customization, the village launched a new, more modern site; the project would ultimately result in Orland Park receiving the Granicus Website of the Year award.
Developing a Custom Website That’s Easy to Use
Orland Park wanted to develop a site that met its unique needs, addressed resident pain points, was customizable, and was easy to implement. The village utilized other Granicus products and reviewed the Granicus govAccess solution as they began their website project. Orland Park staff created a comprehensive plan to determine which features and capabilities their new site should have to help achieve their goals.
Their planning process included developing heat maps of the community to determine the demographic makeup of Orland Park residents. Staff designed the new site using the knowledge that the community included young families that would want easy access to a variety of information on their programs and events, as well as a substantial senior population who were willing to learn how to use technology and the Orland Park website more effectively. The project team worked closely with Granicus to develop a site with custom features to reach everyone in the community.
Implementing the Rule of Three
The village was determined to develop a new site that was exactly what the community wanted, and that meant implementing a digital solution that was not “out of the box.” Orland Park staff understood that to achieve their website goals, their new site would need a good amount of customization. Additionally, when they began the planning process, Orland Park staff knew they wanted its new site to satisfy the “rule of three,” meaning:
Orland Park also wanted the opportunity to connect with residents regularly without bombarding them with unwanted information. This presented a good time to tie in the Granicus govDelivery solution and as part of the new website design, a pop up on the home page was added to capture the emails of those residents actively seeking information on Orland Park news, programs, and events.
A Better Experience for the Whole Community
The redesigned website met the village’s “rule of three” requirements and the feedback from the community, internal employees, and elected officials has been overwhelmingly positive. The new site is easy to navigate, organized well, and regularly updated. Users are spending less time trying to find information on the website and as a result, the village is fielding fewer calls and emails from frustrated residents.
Perhaps one of the more unexpected results of the new website has been a stronger collaborative effort between the village’s departments. Website maintenance responsibilities are shared among all departments, so each office has been trained on the content management system. Rather than one department having responsibility for keeping the website current, it has become more of a team effort.
