{
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    "title" : "Timeless top 10 best practices for great government websites |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Timeless top 10 best practices for great government websites",
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    {"title" :"Timeless top 10 best practices for great government websites","deck" : "Better websites. Better government.","summary" : "While the field of federal web management continues to evolve, the core best practices have remained essentially unchanged for two decades.","date" : "2024-02-09T11:00:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"ammie-farraj-feijoo" : "Ammie Farraj Feijoo","rflagg" : "Rachel Flagg"},"topics" : {
        
            "best-practices" : "Best practices",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "digital-service-delivery" : "Digital service delivery",
            "governance" : "Governance",
            "usability" : "Usability"
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      "filename" :"2024-02-09-timeless-top-10-best-practices-for-great-government-websites.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2024/02/2024-02-09-timeless-top-10-best-practices-for-great-government-websites.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2024/02/2024-02-09-timeless-top-10-best-practices-for-great-government-websites.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2024/02/2024-02-09-timeless-top-10-best-practices-for-great-government-websites.md","slug" : "timeless-top-10-best-practices-for-great-government-websites","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/02/09/timeless-top-10-best-practices-for-great-government-websites/","weight" : "1","content" :"\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"image image-right\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/web-content-gov-top-ten-list-clipboard_w200.jpg\"  alt='A vintage blue clipboard distributed by the WebContent.gov team in the 2000s. A tagline, Your Guide to Managing Government Websites, is followed by a list of the top 10 best practices for great government websites.'\n    srcset=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/web-content-gov-top-ten-list-clipboard_bu.jpg 48w,https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/web-content-gov-top-ten-list-clipboard_w400.jpg 400w,https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/web-content-gov-top-ten-list-clipboard_w200.jpg 200w\"\n    sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 40vw, 400px\"\n  /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDigital.gov — celebrating its 10th anniversary on February 14, 2024 — used to be called \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20040101000000*/webcontent.gov\"\u003eWebContent.gov\u003c/a\u003e. In the mid-2000s, the WebContent.gov team published the \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20070610235006/http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/reqs_bestpractices/checklist/criticaltasks.shtml\"\u003etop 10 best practices for great government websites\u003c/a\u003e. In those days, they printed this list on a clipboard so every web manager across the government could have it at their fingertips, on their desks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite a significant amount of change in federal websites and digital services over the past two decades, the fundamental aspects in how they are managed have remained the same.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet’s take a look at the constants that persist over time and each best practice — then and now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"1-meet-all-federal-requirements-policies-and-other-directives\"\u003e1. Meet all federal requirements, policies, and other directives\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen this checklist was first published, the overarching policy guiding federal web management was \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/delivering-digital-first-public-experience/\"\u003eOMB M-05-04 Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites\u003c/a\u003e, issued December 17, 2004.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday, that policy has been updated twice, evolving into OMB M-23-22 Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience. Management practices are more sophisticated, but the core principles remain the same.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"2-have-a-web-governance-plan\"\u003e2. Have a web governance plan\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwenty years ago, \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/an-introduction-to-digital-governance/\"\u003eweb governance\u003c/a\u003e was a new idea, but now the principles of web governance are key to maintaining any digital environment. Web governance is especially important for federal agencies, since a federal website is often the first (or only) contact someone has with a federal agency. So, federal websites must be managed by skilled, knowledgeable people, empowered to publish websites that meet the needs of users.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"3-have-an-established-process-for-managing-content\"\u003e3. Have an established process for managing content\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eContent is still king, and agencies continue to struggle with managing the sheer volume of content we publish. Many federal websites have been online for decades, and it’s often much easier to publish something new than it is to clean up what’s already online. A recurring theme in OMB M-23-22 is the need to review and clean up redundant, outdated, or trivial content.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCheck out \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/2023/09/12/a-conversation-about-content-audits/\"\u003ea conversation about content audits\u003c/a\u003e to get some ideas that you can incorporate into your content management process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"4-collaborate-across-agencies-to-manage-and-deliver-web-content-and-avoid-duplication\"\u003e4. Collaborate across agencies to manage and deliver web content and avoid duplication\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s always been in the best interest of our customers that we collaborate across silos and agencies. In response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, federal web managers came together and developed the “lane” concept to ensure agencies distribute accurate information on our websites during emergency situations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday, this concept is codified in Emergency Support Function 15 (ESF-15) of FEMA’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/frameworks/response\"\u003eNational Response Framework\u003c/a\u003e, which organizes authoritative “lanes” of communication across the federal government during emergencies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"5-focus-on-tasks-rather-than-information\"\u003e5. Focus on tasks rather than information\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeople are busy. If they don’t have a reason, they won’t visit your website. That’s as true today (maybe moreso) than twenty years ago, so helping people complete their top tasks is still at the core of federal web management.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003carticle class=\"dg-ring\" aria-labelledby=\"fbd02395576164b4e4e158c763a48d2a\"\u003e\n  \u003ch2 id=\"fbd02395576164b4e4e158c763a48d2a\" class=\"dg-ring__title\"\u003eCase study\u003c/h2\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat are top tasks?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are two core elements of top tasks: top tasks identification and task performance indicator. Watch this one-hour talk to understand how to use top tasks to prioritize and continuously improve what is truly important.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\n  class=\"video\"\n  style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\n\u003e\n  \u003ciframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/5llJ98UkXYI\" title=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" \u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/article\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"6-follow-usability-best-practices\"\u003e6. Follow usability best practices\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe field of usability has broadened to address the varied experiences of people as they use our websites. You may hear people talk about \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/topics/user-experience/\"\u003euser experience\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/topics/customer-experience/\"\u003ecustomer experience\u003c/a\u003e, or \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/delivering-digital-first-public-experience/\"\u003edigital experience\u003c/a\u003e. They are all slightly different fields of work to make our websites and digital services easy to find, understand, and use.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the first federal web policies were issued, smartphones were in their infancy, but now digital practitioners incorporate mobile-first designs into their products. Today most people use mobile devices to view government websites.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to \u003ca href=\"https://analytics.usa.gov/\"\u003eanalytics.USA.gov\u003c/a\u003e, about 54% of sessions to federal government websites in the executive branch are from a mobile device, 45% from a desktop, and 1% from a tablet. Over time, these best practices have had to adjust to changing technology, but because the best practices always center user experience, that shift has been seamless.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"7-evaluate-the-effectiveness-of-your-website\"\u003e7. Evaluate the effectiveness of your website\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs agencies look more and more to digital channels to serve customers and meet missions, accountability for delivering useful and effective information and services continues to be a priority. We have better tools now to measure website performance and user experience, as more teams across government continue to mature their ability to gather, analyze, and use data and customer feedback to improve effectiveness of digital services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003carticle class=\"dg-ring\" aria-labelledby=\"4c4258b5f01d61e446da68a7b7e39235\"\u003e\n  \u003ch2 id=\"4c4258b5f01d61e446da68a7b7e39235\" class=\"dg-ring__title\"\u003eCase study\u003c/h2\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eLearn from the Internal Revenue Service as they share how they collect user feedback and use web analytics to improve Free File, one of the IRS’s most widely used applications.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\n  class=\"video\"\n  style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\n\u003e\n  \u003ciframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/8zkHN3rxXHw\" title=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" \u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/article\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"8-get-found-on-search-engines\"\u003e8. Get found on search engines\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/topics/search/\"\u003eSearch\u003c/a\u003e continues to be a primary way people find information on the internet. Agencies continue to get better at creating and editing content that’s tailored to reader search patterns, because if users can’t easily find the content they need, it may as well not exist.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"9-create-opportunities-for-customers-to-interact-with-their-government\"\u003e9. Create opportunities for customers to interact with their government\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the first federal web policies were issued, \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/topics/social-media/\"\u003esocial media\u003c/a\u003e was in its infancy, but agencies have fully embraced the idea of participatory government, and today it’s easier than ever to interact with government agencies. For example, now it’s commonplace for agencies to offer a variety of communication and collaboration channels to the public—from social platforms, to email, blogs, feeds, and even \u003ca href=\"https://www.challenge.gov/\"\u003echallenges\u003c/a\u003e and code repositories.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"10-celebrate-when-youve-done-the-top-9\"\u003e10. Celebrate when you’ve done the Top 9!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe don’t often take time to celebrate our successes, as most people we know who work in this space always have plenty of tasks on their to-do list. When they check something off, they typically move right on to the next thing because a web manager’s work is never done. But \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/\"\u003eour communities\u003c/a\u003e have come a long way in the past two decades, and we continue to grow, and learn, and deliver for the public, every single day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTake a minute now to think about all we’ve accomplished together, while remaining true to the core values and best practices this community was founded on. We have a lot to be proud of.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}