Excentia Human Services – Website Redesign
INDUSTRY:
Non-Profit
SERVICES:
– Website Strategy, Design & Development
– Copywriting
– Graphic Design
“Redoing our website as a small team felt like a daunting undertaking, and I could not be happier that we chose to partner with GRIT Marketing. Their approach was consistently professional and creative, and they brought excellent marketing insights after taking the time to understand our organization’s needs. The team has been responsive, easy to work with, and truly collaborative. We plan to continue working with them on our website, and I cannot recommend GRIT or their team highly enough.”
-Mary Godin
Director of Advancement and External Relations, Excentia Human Services
Transforming a Website into a Gateway for Community Resources, Connections, & Empowerment
Excentia Human Services, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals with developmental needs and their families, partnered with GRIT to reimagine their online presence. The goal was to create an accessible, user-friendly website that could serve as a central hub for information and engagement for diverse audiences.
Planning with Diverse Audience Needs in Mind
An important part of the website planning process was creating an intentional user experience tailored to Excentia’s core audiences. Working in close collaboration with Excentia, GRIT defined their primary target audiences, dug deeper into the organization’s communication and engagement goals for each one, and built intuitive hubs to deliver information and engagement paths. Key goals included:
Individuals & Families Seeking Services – Clearly presenting service offerings for adults and children, sharing information to reinforce Excentia as a go-to resource, and delivering a streamlined path to request personalized information and support was key.
Prospective Employees – Ensuring the website could support recruitment goals by showcasing the company culture and available positions was critical.
Donors – To support donor connection, the new website would include a subdomain for the organization’s Aspire Foundation with an integrated online donation path.
Volunteers – The refreshed website needed to empower volunteers and advocates to engage on behalf of Excentia.
Partners – Building the website so it could grow with the organization as it expanded opportunities for training and partnership was essential.
Evolving Website Copy for Optimal Performance
The redesigned website required an extensive evolution of the legacy website’s content. To guide this effort, GRIT executed strategic content mapping, recommending which page template and available layouts would offer the best fit for each page and needed storytelling component. Search performance was also a priority. GRIT recommended targeted keywords and phrases for every page to strengthen SEO, and ensured the website was built on a solid technical foundation to support optimal performance.
Designing a Modern Website with Authentic Photography
Guided by Excentia’s brand, GRIT crafted a visually rich website design. The organization’s photo library played a key role, allowing GRIT to showcase authentic imagery throughout the website.
Developing a Functional, Easy-to-Use Website
Building a functional website that was accessible and empowered users to find critical resources was essential. GRIT ensured the following elements were in place across the new website.
Key audience hubs within the website that offer a clear path to relevant information.
Integrated content feeds, including blogs and events, that provide a seamless opportunity to keep site information current and support ease of ongoing management.
Dedicated subdomain for the organization’s Aspire Foundation and an integrated on-site donation path.
ADA compliance and usability for all target audiences. The website design and programming deliver foundational compliance and an added accessibility extension allows users to further customize their experience by changing contrast, font sizes, and more.
Event calendar with the ability to activate registration and payment capabilities as needed.
An easy-to-use admin that allows Excentia’s team to update content and create dynamic and visually unique pages as needed without development support.
GRIT is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Excentia Human Services on a website transformation that reflects the organization’s mission, elevates its impact, and better serves its key audiences. The GRIT team is deeply committed to non-profit work, so it was an honor to be part of this meaningful project.
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