William Woods University launches new website

5/21/2012 Mary Ann Beahon
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (573) 592-1127

 

Websites play a large role in attracting prospective students to universities, so keeping a website updated is essential. William Woods University s recently launched new website has proven to be a success.

While pursuing his master of business administration (MBA) degree, Bradley Prasuhn served as a graduate assistant for University Advancement and started designing a new website for WWU.

In July, with his MBA in hand, Prasuhn joined the staff as a full-time web designer and continued the process of launching a new website.
We wanted to redesign the website, not just for today, but also for the future, Prasuhn said.
Prasuhn noted that with the fast pace of technology, websites are also being viewed mobile devices, which demand flexibility. The new site provides improved flexibility for current and future needs.
Kristina Bright, marketing and creative director, added, Our university website is an essential piece of our marketing. Most of the current generation of incoming students find their chosen school while searching online.
One part of website redesign project was the investment in a content management system (CMS). The CMS houses the web pages, as well as creates a workflow for website editors, in order to provide a unified website experience.
The CMS allows us to store only the files and pages that are part of the website, which means things on the website are more organized and uniform than they were before, Prasuhn said.
Getting the new website up and running was a collaborative effort.

Shane Fountain, applications developer, worked with Bright and Prasuhn for access to the internal network at William Woods. Fountain also assisted Prasuhn in the exchange of template files with the content management system company.
During a three-month period, Prasuhn and student workers, Michael Brown and Danielle Propst, created, from scratch, web pages in the new content management system. The new pages were then populated with fresh content that each department and office had provided for their section of the website.
Bright is excited about the potential the new website has for drawing students to William Woods.
All of our recruitment materials drive prospective students to our website, but if it's not up-to-date, they will move on and not come back to it. In the past, it was hard to find what you were looking for on our website, but with all the improvements made, it is now easy to navigate and search.

CUTLINE:
A screenshot of the William Woods University website homepage.