Steve has been hiding, sorry

Many of my regular readers (all 3 of you) may have been wondering where is Steve Heye and why hasnt he been blogging in 2010?  I miss his witty comments, deep insight and... OK lets just stop with the self flattery it will get you nowhere.

I want to apologize for my lack of blogging, I have succumbed to the fate of many NPTech staff out there, I have been buried in work, plus hiding in denial that my oldest son is graduating High School.  But as a reward to my faithful followers I will give you a peek at what I have been working on so hard.

The YMCA of Metro Chicago is launching an all new online registration system, that will hopefully reinvent the way people sign up for our programs.  We came in with the thought of "lets design this from the audience perspective" instead of mirroring our own internal structure, nomenclature and ideas.  The shift of how things are displayed, categorized and common across centers took months of conversation with our staff.  The technical aspects of coding, database integration and web development were challenging, but nothing like the cultural shifts that have started.

We had to create a translator or match maker application to "match" the classes stored in our database with the structure we created on the web.  Then we assigned the task of matching to our staff at our centers.  We had quite a few staff comment, "I never knew that my classes were displayed online that way because of the way I set up the data."  We had spent so long coming up with work-arounds in our database, that many didnt realize the implications.

But anyway, sorry for the short post, but I need to get back to work.

Oh but wait, here is your sneak peak access:

Web Address: http://register.ymcachicago.org/
Username: ymca
Password: testing

I would appreciate any feedback also.   But just know that as I type changes are being made to the site based on early member feedback.

YMCA web site, make it useful

My first plan of action with our web site was initially to jump in and fix two major things - the content and the "look and feel".  We have very little content that tells you who we are, what we do and whats makes us better than other alternatives (and yes we are better ;-)).  I had (and actually still do) this big plan for creating deeper content that describes our programs, services, philosophy and mission.   All of this would improve our organic search results, provide more information to members-prospects and would (in theory) increase traffic.

Then a revelation came as we talked through some things.  Why increase traffic when there is no real reason for people to come to our site?  Our online program registration is functional, but needs work.  We have an online donation page.  But beyond that, we dont have anything in place to make that increased traffic stay once they are on the site.  Our current members dont have much of a reason to visit the site.

So that is when our plan was rearranged a bit. We are working to create an innovative, meaningful set of online tools that will extend the services that the YMCA offers.  Our first step is to super size our online registration system.  We plan to make finding the class that is right for you much easier and even pointing out ones you didnt know we had.  We also plan to make the whole experience much more enjoyable and effecient.  We still plan to really beef up our content, but that will take a little time.  

So what is unique about that to merit a blog post? Nothing, but it is my blog so PLLTTHH. (is that the sound when you stick out your tongue?)

Just kidding.  This is worth posting and sharing because I wonder how many of us out there focus on spending so much time getting new traffic, recruiting new members, pushing SEO and such that we forget to make the experience meaningful to our audience.

Too many YMCAs are just OK with mediocre online registration and membership management tools.  Their web site is just there as a reproduction of their brochure and a cash register to accept payment for classes.  I am sure this is true with other orgs as well.  My thought is to offer a set of tools like no other YMCA that adds real value to our members.