Engaging a Wide Variety of Constituents, .orgSource helps the American Dietetic Association Improve its Online Presence

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, www.eatright.org. The ADA was in need of an improved online presence in order to demonstrate to members, the public, students and the media that it is THE source for trustworthy, science-based food and nutrition information. At the same time, the ADA needed to ensure a positive online experience for all visitors to the website. To that end, making content on the site easy to find was critical.

.orgSource was brought in to:

• Complete an overall assessment of member needs relative to technology  and digital communications
• Conduct a comprehensive review of the current website and develop an overall website strategy for the next three years.
• Organize online content more efficiently.
• Assist in choosing a content management system and implementation to improve the overall infrastructure.
• Manage the implementation.

The Results

.orgSource began by conducting market research of the ADA's various audiences. Telephone interviews, online surveys and card sorting exercises were developed and conducted to ascertain member (and nonmember) usage of the current website and its content. Card sorting is a user-centered design method for increasing a system's "findability." The process involves sorting a series of cards, each labeled with a piece of content or functionality, into groups that make sense to users or participants. The end result was an audience-driven architecture, improved search through the establishment of a taxonomy and engagement of users through Web 2.0 functionality. Because of obtaining meaningful data through this process, .orgSource was able to help the ADA make informed decisions, one of which to implement a more robust public presence and features for the public.  The ADA site now has several tabs on the home page for the distinctly different audiences it serves:  members, public, students, media and health professionals. With the targeted home page the ADA now has, any individual who visits www.eatright.org can easily and quickly find the information he or she needs. The entire site is now audience-driven, which is a major benefit for ADA constituents.

"The new website has provied a much enhanced offering to the public and suports the ADA's branding initiatives", says Paul Mifsud. "Sherry help tremendously in the overall planning and kept us focused on the overall goals of the organization".

Secondly, the ADA had an enormous amount of content on its previous Website. While much of it was useful, it was not organized well which was frustrating to the ADA audiences. Too, the ADA needed assistance reviewing content through a content inventory, categorizing content and creating new content for various sections of the site.

In order to create a positive Web navigation experience, .orgSource worked with the ADA to create topic areas that were easily searchable, such as "Hot Topics" and "Question of the Day." Content was organized and displayed in a much more user-friendly manner. Now that the content is labeled clearly and arranged with the user in mind, visitors can locate information easily … which means "content" (as in satisfied) constituents who will return to the site repeatedly and most likely direct colleagues to the site.

Finally, .orgSource added robust collaboration tools to the site for greater member engagement.