Ongoing Website Development Tasks
What We’re Working On Now
Current Tasks As Of January 25, 2024
January 25, 2024 Update
Hello Zac and Friends of the Red River Wildlife Refuge,
I have begun adding content and structure for your new Website. At this point I'm only focused on the high level menu structure and some of the basic content. From there we can drill down into the details of each section. To access the Website under development, use the following:
https://salmon-porcupine-lg95.squarespace.com/
Password: redriver
Note: The Website will change often based on your feedback.
In addition to the user's experience, it is important for your group to have clear goals for the Website. They could be:
Increased donations
Increased memberships
Increased volunteer rates
Conservation goals
Choose goals that are measurable and I will help you track the results over time.
When someone visits your Website they are looking for the following:
1. Basic information about the refuge, including the location, hours, events, volunteer opportunities or possibly something related to a wildlife species they are interested in.
2. They may also be interested in the results of their volunteering at the refuge. For example, if they were involved in wood duck banding, they'd want to know the final results of that project for the year.
3. Other?
The primary navigation should provide solid bookends for the user's experience. If they are looking for something that falls outside the primary navigation, it can become frustrating. The Website should provide
answers to their questions OR a way to get the answers by communicating with friends staff.
Below I'll cover each major section of the Website, as it stands now, what is known as well as current questions and comments. We'll start with the first four sections.
Home
Gloria's Comments: Home page: The Friends support the refuge in its efforts to support wildlife, conservation, culture and research
High level overview of the refuge and friends group with a few project examples.
Terri: Gold standard refuge/friends group in Florida has a friends store which is also a visitor desk. This is important for our Website.
What I Need:
Because the store is a major focal point, we'll need images and text about the store.
A few high level paragraphs about the refuge as well as the friends group. Additional images and videos are always welcome!
Important stats to share. See bottom of the page. These are only placeholders.
Blog topics for 2024. Strive for one per month to drive traffic to your site.
About
Gloria's Comments: How to join the Friends, Mission statement, when we were established, Nature store, Bench program, Tree program, accomplishments (canoe, habitat restoration garden sheds), future goals
Comments: I've changed Gloria's text to bold where I feel the content fit for an About page.
Terri's Comments: For anything having to do with the refuge itself, like the USFWS Refuge boundary maps, official brochures, or USFWS Volunteer forms we should link to the official web site and that way it will always have the most up to date information/format according to USFWS and the DEPT Of the Interior policy.
Comments: The page will be adjusted accordingly.
Refuge information: Need feedback and modifications if necessary.
Friends information: Need feedback and modifications if necessary.
Results: Share the top two or three results from the Friends supporting the refuge in the past several years.
What I Need: I need feedback on the Friends information page as well as some of your top results of projects or programs at the refuge.
Engage
Become A Friends Member - Member Application
Programs: Superset of opportunities
Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteer at the refuge directly or become a member of the friends group.
What I Need: The refuge volunteer form will be on the national site. I'll need the Friends volunteer form to create an electronic version.
Events
Gloria's Comments: Educational programs, Animals in winter, fall celebration, guided walks, story trail,etc
What I Need: Please provide all of the 2024 events you are aware of. I'll need a description of the event, whether payment is required and the dates of the event.
Consider adding "members only" events to drive more membership for your Friends group.
Let's start with these four sections. I'll continue to work with Zac Burson as the primary contact.
Warm regards,
David Neils
970-481-9795