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State of the Web at HUD
July 2004
Annual Report on Web Management at HUD From HUD's
Departmental Web Team
One million website visitors in a month�2.9 million visitors in
3 months�9.5 million individual visitors in a year. That's big news
for HUD!
In February 2004, HUD's website hit a major milestone - for the
first time in its 9-year history, HUD's Homes and Communities website
attracted more than 1 million visitors in a single month. In fact,
during the shortest month of the year, we recorded 1,041,372 individual
visitors to HUD's website. In the period January - March 2004, Nielson/Netratings
estimates that 2.9 million individual visitors viewed HUD's website.
Over the past year, HUD's website has served 9.5 million people,
at an average per visitor cost that's less than a postage stamp.
Who are those people and what are they seeking?
Statistics show that about 93% of them are private citizens, some
who visit the website more than once. Business partners account
for about 7% of our web traffic (70,000 individual visitors per
month). Nearly 38% of our web audience is African-American and Hispanic,
a significantly higher percentage of minorities than any other federal
agency. Most of our web audience is looking for information on buying
a home. Consistently, 6 of the 10 most accessed pages on the site
each month are about homeownership. Clearly, HUD's website is a
powerful asset in achieving the Department's strategic goals and
mission.
This report summarizes some of the highlights of the past year
and plans for the next year.
WHAT'S NEW WITH THE WEB?
- HUD Kiosks reach low-income families that don't have access
to the Internet. In the past year, more than 330,000 people
- predominantly low-moderate income families without Internet
access - used HUD's 106 web-based kiosks to find out how to buy
a home, search for affordable housing, and learn about fair housing.
But the real news is that HUD's kiosks now offer citizens even
more government information. In January 2004, HUD began a pilot
with the Department of Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt, to
see if citizens would value broader content on the kiosks. In
addition to HUD's information, kiosks now tell citizens how to
buy U.S. Savings Bonds, perhaps as a way to save for that downpayment
on a first home. The pilot was a success; and in March, we convened
a meeting of representatives from 16 federal agencies to begin
a Governmentwide Kiosk Project. Kiosks are delivering citizen-friendly
web content to a population often left behind.
- HUD's pioneering Spanish language website is launched.
Espanol.hud.gov was officially launched June 2003 at the LULAC
conference in Orlando. Today, espanol.hud.gov has more than 7,000
pages of information on homeownership, rental assistance, and
local resources. In one short year, espanol.hud.gov has more than
quadrupled in size. HUD is viewed as the leader in the Federal
government in reaching out to our Spanish-speaking audience. Already,
about 25% of the estimated 100,000 Hispanic families that visit
HUD's websites choose espanol.hud.gov. An aggressive marketing
and outreach program got the word out. Booths and demonstrations
at the National Council of La Raza Conference in Austin, Texas;
the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Annual Conference in Chicago; the
Latino Book and Family Festival in Cicero, Illinois; the MAFO-National
Partnership of Farmworkers Organization Conference in San Antonio;
and the HUD Homeless Conference in San Juan exposed a whole new
audience to the information and services available from HUD. Regional
Public Affairs Officers used new press kits to help promote the
site, and ads appeared on radio and television and in print publications.
Everything from HUD stationary to news releases carries the address
of HUD's newest website.
- Webcasts grow in popularity.
Webcasts have been great
tools for training HUD partners for a number of years. But this
year, webcasts became a centerpiece in our efforts to inform citizens.
During Homeownership Month, we introduced our new webcast on "How
to buy a home," the most recent in our series of webcasts for
consumers on such topics as how to avoid predatory lending, how
to buy a HUD home, and how to keep your home safe and healthy.
All of these videos are available in Spanish, as well as English.
Region 8 became the first in the Field to start offering local
public service announcements on HUD's website. And Public Affairs
created a 7-minute "History of HUD" video that tells the story
of our Department and how it impacts America. Webcasts of training
sessions and conferences - like the Colonias/Migrant Farmworker
Practitioners Conference - continue to be popular among HUD's
partners, particularly for those who can't attend in person.
- Slide shows spotlight HUD's impact on America's communities.
To answer that question: "What does HUD do for me," Regional Web
Managers have been working with Field Office Directors to create
"slide shows," featured on the front of each of the state pages.
We're using pictures to tell the good stories about the ways HUD
funds improve communities. From "before" and "after" photos of
homes that have been rehabbed to photos showing how CDBG funds
help turn aging buildings into new businesses to photos of young
people participating in after-school programs, these slide shows
tell HUD's story.
- Web content gets a clean up:
HUD's web managers are
zeroing in on web content, implementing processes to improve overall
quality, clean out outdated information, and eliminate bad links.
Our goal is to make our content as easy as possible for our primary
audience - citizens - to use.
- Web
Managers learn how to create better web content from international
expert.
Gerry McGovern, international expert on web content
and design, delivered a one-day training session for HUD's web
managers, emphasizing important concepts such as focus on the
content that most visitors want and keep content short and simple.
We're learning how to write, edit, and organize our content
better to be more effective.
- Quality
Control process uses peer reviews to improve content.
A
new Content Quality Control (QC) process already has helped
us weed out old, outdated content and vastly improve pages with
content "sins," such as unexplained acronyms, complicated wording,
and mixed audiences. Web Managers use a scoring system based
on HUD's web content standards. QC reviews will cover 400 randomly
selected web pages every year.
- "Spring
Cleaning" campaign reduces bad links and obsolete pages.
In May 2004, Web Managers used new management reports to tackle
bad links and obsolete pages on HUD's website. In a 2-week period,
we removed 5,500 pages; and we've reduced the number of bad
internal links (those going from one page on our site to another)
by 79%.
- Quarterly
certifications result in an estimated 1,200 corrections and
updates every 3 months.
HUD's 3-year-old quarterly certification
process continues to produce excellent results in identifying
and correcting errors, outdated content, and other problems
on the website.
- hud@work
gets overhauled.
For the past year, Web Managers have gathered
employee input through an online survey (1,400 responses), more
than 35 focus groups, and usability tests to help us redesign
HUD's intranet. We'll be testing the draft design with employees
before we introduce the new intranet website later this year.
Already, we've created a section for new employees; and we're
working on online customer service guides for field offices. We're
determined to get this important tool for managers and employees
right.
- First
bi-lingual Web Clinics for HUD Partners target Spanish-speaking
audience.
HUD's homeless conference in San Juan in April 2004
presented a great opportunity to reach out to HUD partners in
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to help them build good public
service websites. At the suggestion of HUD's San Juan Office,
HUD's Web Managers held a clinic attended by 60 partners in San
Juan and 40 partners on St. Thomas - including 20 who attended
via videoconference from St. Croix University of the Virgin Islands.
These bi-lingual clinics were a big hit, and more are planned
in FY05.
- HUD
Web Managers lead effort to develop web content standards for
all federal public websites.
HUD's Departmental Web Team members
played key roles in crafting 43 recommendations to OMB for policies
and guidelines for all federal public websites. Candi Harrison,
Departmental Web Manager for Field Operations, co-chairs the Web
Content Standards Working Group, which is part of the Interagency
Committee on Government Information (ICGI) that was established
by the E-Government Act of 2002 to recommend policies for federal
websites. Sam Gallagher, Departmental Web Manager for Headquarters
Operations and Working Group member, is helping build a website
"toolkit" that will offer implementation guidance for federal
web content managers. Helen Savoye Minor, Deputy Web Manager,
serves as one of the advisors to the Working Group. OMB will issue
official web content policies to Agency Heads by December 31,
2004. These proposed policies and guidelines are a significant
step toward ensuring that all federal public websites are as citizen-focused
and audience-friendly as possible. The full ICGI report is available
at http://www.cio.gov/documents/ICGI/web-guidelines.html
WHAT'S
NEXT?
With all our successes, many challenges remain. Four major initiatives
will drive the web management agenda for the next several months:
- Implementing the forthcoming OMB policies for federal public
websites;
- Developing HUD's web management organization and preparing
for succession;
- Directing the Governmentwide Kiosk Project; and
- Enhancing the web content of all our websites.
- Implementing OMB policies for federal public websites.
Though HUD sets the standard for many of the ICGI recommendations
on web content submitted to OMB, others will require new efforts.
And since all of the recommendations are based on laws, requirements,
and best practices, we're not waiting to be told to implement
them.
- Assess customer satisfaction:
This fall, HUD will
begin using the American Customer Satisfaction Inventory (ASCI)
to survey website visitors and gauge their satisfaction with
hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov. Pop-up survey forms will gather
data to tell us not only how our audiences view the website,
but also how we compare to the 23 other federal agencies using
the ACSI. We'll use these results to improve our content and
design.
- Establish web records management procedures:
What
is a "web record?" Is every web page a record? Do we have to
keep copies of every web page we create? For how long? Establishing
web records policies and procedures has been a huge problem
for all federal agencies, for years. The National Archives and
Records Administration will issue new policies and procedures
for web records this year; and web managers throughout the Department
will be working with the Office of Administration to develop
reasonable web records policies for HUD. At the top of our list
of planned improvements is a way to archive important historical
web documents, so that researchers, students, and others can
find them in the future.
- Use "plain language:"
Simple word choices can make
a huge difference in conveying information or directions. We've
engaged a well-known plain language expert to teach HUD's web
managers and staff tricks of the trade in communicating with
the public, both citizens and partners.
- Use domains the public can trust:
The ICGI has recommended
that all federal public websites use .gov, .mil, or .fed.us
domains, so that citizens can be sure that this is official
government information. Usability testing confirms that the
public does view these domains as important indicators that
information can be trusted. Though HUD has a long-standing policy
that all official web content is at www.hud.gov,
there are a few sections that are outside the hud.gov domain.
This year, we'll be working with program managers to bring those
web pages into HUD's .gov domain.
- Publish an inventory of information to be posted in the
future:
The E-Government Act of 2002 requires every federal
agency to publish a schedule for posting additional commonly
sought information on the web, by December 31, 2004. Though
HUD's websites already offers most information commonly requested
under the Freedom of Information Act and through email and telephone
contacts, we'll be talking with managers and staff throughout
the Department to make sure we identify content our customers
want and need and plan for its publication.
- Developing HUD's web management organization and preparing
for succession.
Like all organizations, HUD's web management
organization experiences turnover. So the Departmental Web Team
has developed a strategic plan for developing HUD's web management
organization. It includes training courses, on-the-job training
options such as "shadowing" and short details, and rotating interns
through web duties. We've already begun to incorporate skills
training into regular Web Manager meetings, including training
on web content by Gerry McGovern and training on using HUD's web
content standards to do Quality Control reviews. More training
is planned. In addition, we'll be encouraging Web Managers to
teach "writing for the web" training sessions for their Web Coordinators
and other staff who routinely contribute to HUD's websites; and
we hope to start webcasting web-related courses for HUD employees,
such as using "plain language."
- Directing the Governmentwide Kiosk Project.
HUD is seeking
federal partners to turn HUD's successful kiosk program into a
Governmentwide Kiosk Program. There's been a good deal of interest;
and at present, 6 federal agencies are considering joining the
effort. Partners will sign agreements for an initial 1-year period.
During that time, a new Kiosk Board will be formed to develop
long-term plans for using kiosks to reach underserved populations,
sharing the costs of the program. We already know this program
works. If we can broaden it to give citizens even more information
about government services that can help them, it can be a real
"e-government" success story.
- Enhancing our web content.
It all comes down to this:
if your content isn't good, your website isn't good. So we will
continue our efforts to write and organize HUD's web content more
effectively, to keep it current and accurate, and to use customer
feedback to make it more responsive.
- We'll expand the translations available on espanol.hud.gov,
using customer-generated data to set priorities.
- We'll complete our revamping of hud@work
and continue to seek feedback from employees on how to make
it better.
- We'll push the envelope on webcasts, working with program
offices to develop "how to" webcasts similar to the "How to
Buy A Home" video that was completed this year.
- We'll make sure our consumer information videos are available
to our Spanish-speaking audience, as well as the English-speaking
audience.
- We're revising the state page templates, using customer feedback
to make them easier to use.
- We'll continue to teach Web Clinics for HUD Partners, helping
them create websites with local information and services, to
which we can link.
- We'll begin a requirements analysis toward developing an
automated content management system that will help us make content
creation and management even more effective.
- We'll use our web analysis tools (statistics, broken link
reports, usability data, and customer satisfaction survey) and
our certification and Quality Control processes to fine-tune
our web content.
Happy Birthday, hud.gov!
Next March, HUD's website will be 10 years old; and we plan to
celebrate. There's good reason to look back - and ahead - with pride.
Creating and managing effective public service web products is something
HUD has done very well. But don't take our word for it. Here's an
email we received from Rachel McAlpine, author of Web Word Wizardry
and well-known international web content consultant:
"The material (about web management) on your website
is terrific. May I please use (it) as a model in my public workshops?
It shows a commitment and breadth of vision that puts most government
sites to shame."
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