In 2024, SMPH will convert med.wisc.edu from Terminalfour to WordPress—the prevailing CMS used at UW–Madison. Once the site is in WordPress, the Office of Strategic Communications in the SMPH Dean’s Office will assume responsibility for site operations, content strategy and content maintenance.
Working in collaboration with a web content vendor and a brand strategy firm, SMPH will engage in 4 development phases.
Phase 1: April–July 2022
- Identify non-strategic and/or low-performing content—as determined by internet-wide search (SEO) data and historical analytics
- Audit content to assess current keyword performance and opportunities for improvement
- Interview stakeholders and gather requirements
- Prioritize user experience improvements and content revisions
Phase 2: August 2022–March 2023
- Design static mockups of templates and gather feedback
- Define information architecture
- Develop and revise content
- Document best practices
- Research SMPH brand, reputation and differentiator impact and awareness (ongoing into phase 3)
Phase 3: April 2023–February 2024
- Plan for and prioritize new visual assets
- Develop custom WordPress theme
- Migrate content
- Pilot and refine theme
- Finalize theme
- Perform QA and accessibility testing
- URL redirect management
- Relaunch med.wisc.edu site
Phase 4: 2024 onward
- Continue to update assets and optimize content
- Maintain site and add content
- Monitor analytics and accessibility
- Gather user feedback
- Evaluate and refine design, content, theme and processes
Process
The design process is iterative and user-centered. It begins with understanding the objectives, landscape, key audience behavior and pain points followed by brainstorming solutions and testing those ideas. Testing, feedback, and refinements are woven throughout the process so changes can be made before too many resources have been invested.
Define – Understand strategic objectives, define goals and scope of work, plan phases of development, define key audiences, understand current user behavior, evaluate data analytics, understand limitations and timelines, develop content strategy and digital strategy
Explore – Imagine possible solutions, gather requirements, conduct user interviews, evaluate comparable and aspirational institution sites, audit current content
Design – Select an approach, diagram information architecture, revise and consolidate content, create new content and visual assets, design prototypes, refine, iterate
Implement and Evaluate – Implement solutions, test for usability and quality assurance, audit accessibility, evaluate analytics, evaluate search results placement, loop back to exploration and design as needed