On Track for Launch

Well folks, it looks like we’re on track with the website redesign. Despite COVID-19 pulling many members of the Web Team onto other projects the last few months, we’re still planning on launching relatively on time. Here’s the path forward:

1. The new website is currently being built on a separate server (AKA, you can’t see it yet, but it’s there in the ever mysterious and ethereal cloud)
2. In mid-November we’ll be reviewing key pages and changes with departments. We’ll be asking subject-matter experts to proof pages for accuracy.
3. In early December we’ll have a townhall to preview the website to the larger community
4. If all goes according to plan we’re hoping to launch post graduation. This will allow for the least amount of distribution in what’s already been a pretty unique semester.

What’s next after that? Websites are never really “done,” that’s why you don’t see “Website Under Construction” pages anymore like you might have in the early 2000s. We’ll be working on two key projects to close out the redesign, SEO and analytics.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a fancy way of saying, “let’s help Google find our web pages.” Having highly searched words and phrases in certain parts of a web page can help this. We’ll be using a tool called Site Improve to help us with this.

Second, and most importantly, we’ll be working on an analytics project with iFactory to make sure we’re measuring our new website properly. We’ve invested so much time and many resources into this new website that we want to make sure we’re collecting the right sort of data. Leveling up how we do analytics will help us do just that.

Overall, we can’t wait. We really think you’re going to love the new website and can’t wait to make Angelo State shine.