Merging 3 DEI websites into one
Saint Joseph’s University was undergoing the second phase of its website redesign. My team was tasked with migrating its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) websites from WordPress to the new Drupal content management system.
TIMELINE
December 2020 - February 2021
TEAM
Web content specialist (me), director of digital marketing, associate director of communications, DEI department
TOOLS USED
Octopus.do, Drupal, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Analytics, SiteImprove
The problem
The sites were outdated and difficult to navigate. Having three different websites also made it difficult for the DEI team to update their content on a consistent basis.
How might we make it easier for students, faculty and staff to find the information they need while making it easier for the DEI team to manage their web content?
Hypothesis
Merging the three websites into one holistic web experience will make it easier for students, staff and faculty to find information about DEI initiatives and activities. It will also make it easier for the DEI team to manage content across their areas.
We’ll know this is true when we see increased traffic to the website and fewer web update requests from the DEI team.
DEI website navigation before
DEI website home page before
What I did
Conducted competitive analysis and content audit to identify gaps and opportunities
Used Google Sheets to classify and sort content, which informed the site’s architecture
Built website hierarchy and site navigation using Octopus.do, which informed initial wireframes
Edited and migrated copy from 100+ WordPress pages to Drupal, ensuring it was in plain language and met brand standards
Optimized pages for search and tested before going live
About section of the new DEI website
Results
The DEI website saw a 10% increase in site traffic and 10% lower bounce rate from before launch (2020-2021) to post-launch (2021-2022)
The DEI staff learned how to use Drupal and make updates on their website, reducing the number of support tickets our web team gets.