Overview Of Municipality

Bethel Park, Pennsylvania is located approximately 8 miles south of Pittsburgh and home to around 33,000 residents. The community of Bethel Park offers an attractive mix of entertainment, history, shopping, dining and local business attractions for residents and visitors to enjoy. Allegheny County’s South Park is one point of interest which host a wide range of activities including concerts, golf, a wave pool, skate park, trails and much more.

The Project

E-Gov Link recently worked with the Bethel Park municipality on a website re-design. The website was over 9 years old and was ready for some enhancements. Specific goals for improvements included

  • Unique imagery and design for the site. This was very important to the customer as they really wanted their new website to stand apart from some of the typical website designs municipalities have adopted over recent years
  • A website that was easy to navigate. The customer wanted residents to be able to quickly navigate to the information specific to their needs, without having to search through many menus
  • A website that was easy to manage and update internally
  • A technology driven website that was delivering the current needs for residents

Judy Miller, Assistant Municipal Manager at Bethel Park, worked closely with E-Gov Link throughout the process, “We do not have an internal IT department but E-Gov Link has served as an exceptional extension to our team in meeting the needs for our new website design.”

The Result

Bethel Parks new website features many unique design elements. A desire for the website to look very different than other municipal websites was an important goal for this project. Some of the creative features, specifically requested by the customer, include right side navigation and large images on the home page. The website also features a new pan and zoom effect on the home page that adds a new and refreshing effect to the design.  https://bethelpark.net/

    

“E-Gov Link patiently listened to our unique request for our website re-design. We started from scratch and delivered a much more user friendly, easy to manage website.” – Judy Miller

Through implementing the number one content management system, WordPress, the new website gains access to many benefits:

  • The website is easy to navigate for residents. The site uses breadcrumbs, which are navigational aids that help the visitor understand the organization of the site.
  • The new website is easy to manage and update. Non-technical staff can use editing tools similar to Microsoft Word to add and update content.
  • WordPress offers a wealth of customizable options to increase the power of service to citizens. A few customized features on this website that both residents and staff really like are the information pop up feature on the home page and the ward look up. Judy loves the informative pop-up because it is easy to for residents to see and easy for staff to update, which is great for sharing timely information the residents may not be looking for specifically, but would benefit from reading. The Ward look up allows Citizens to input their address and quickly reference what ward they live in.
  • A powerful calendar lives on the site that also is easy to use and navigate. And a searchable document repository is available for quick reference to a comprehensive library of documents for residents on demand.

“Throughout the process E-Gov Link was able to offer a variety of solutions for us to decide upon based on what best worked for our community, we really appreciated the range of options!” – Judy Miller 

Embracing The Future

E-Gov Link solutions are designed to meet your specific needs. We work to ensure your technology investment has a rapid return on investment, while being solid for long-term. 

  • WordPress is a smart investment for longevity. With thousands of developers contributing to the WordPress platform you have access to the most widely adopted technologies in the industry.
  • A Broken Link checker regularly monitors the site for broken links, including links that point off the site.
  • The site uses Google Analytics which provides a wealth of information about how the site is being used to aide in content updates needed over time.
  • The new photo gallery on the site is easy to manage and update and offers more cool features such as the pan and zoom on the home page.
  • The site has a post expirator (old information is automatically removed when the appropriate date arrives)
  • SSL is used on the site for secure communications.

“E-Gov Link’s approach to understanding our needs, delivering our goals and being available for training has delivered beyond our expectations.” – Judy Miller 

 

E-Gov Link is more than just a website design & development provider, we partner with you to Build a Stronger Link to Your Community!

Create a more user-friendly experience
Provide residents more self-service options
Save staff time & increase productivity

                                                                                                                                            Download a printable copy here