Extension's website: Reflections & looking ahead, and a GAME!

Many of you will remember three years ago when we launched the "new" UMN Extension website. I'd like to reflect a little after all that time, and share some ideas for looking forward! Also there's a Scavenger Hunt!!

We've come a long way

Our goals when we redesigned the site in 2018 (!) were:

1. Content that is fresh and relevant
2. Easier/better search options
3. Site is 100% mobile-friendly
4. Federally mandated accessibility standards are met/exceeded

Looking back on those goals, they strike me as "the basics." Which shows how far we've come. The Web Team take these four things for granted as the baseline for an acceptable site! Now we have a site on the most modern platform (Drupal 9, as of this week!), 98 staff editors, 5,773 total pages, and over 1 million pageviews per month.

This past year specifically we put a lot of our web efforts into integrating local/county content into the main site (instead of a separate one), improving visibility of online offerings on the 'courses & events' menu, and more user surveys to gather data.

What's next

Our goals for Extension.umn.edu have gotten more complex over the last few years, and focus on effectively reaching and engaging our audiences, educating and changing behavior, improving our audience's experience, improving our staff editor experience, and evaluating the effectiveness of our online content.

You want to know one thing about the site that's been bugging the Web Team? The Connect menu in the navigation. We started out with good intentions, but has it sort of become a bit of a catch-all? Definitely something to look into this year!

How well do you know the Extension public website?

We have made a fun scavenger hunt to challenge everyone to poke around the website and explore more than your usual areas. And when you finish, you get a little surprise from IT Goldy! 

• Start the Extension public website scavenger hunt!

Your ideas wanted!

What ideas do you have for improvements and enhancements we could make to the public website? We'd really appreciate your feedback via this quick survey!