CICOA Launches New Website

CICOA is pleased to announce the launch of its newly designed website at cicoa.org. The new site is faster, easier to navigate, and more mobile friendly, helping CICOA remain the premier source of information and access to resources for older adults, people with disabilities and family caregivers in Central Indiana.

Dana Robinson, director of marketing and communications, said the website was in need of a refresh.

“It’s pretty standard practice to update a website every three to four years,” she said, “and our last redesign was almost five years ago, so we were overdue. We had observed that forty percent of the people coming to the site are now doing so on a mobile device, so it was important that we keep up with best practices for mobile friendly design.”

Robinson and Cassie Dull, CICOA’s digital communications manager, began the search for a web developer in the spring. The decision to partner with Blackbaud was driven by the CICOA Foundation’s choice of Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT for its donor management software. The design phase began in July.

“Cassie shepherded the entire process through the design, development, implementation and launch phases,” Robinson said. “The result is a modern, visually appealing website that creates an elegant user experience.”

The user experience was a priority. A focus group comprised of 50 CICOA stakeholders completed a card sorting exercise to arrange content in a way that made sense to each person. Results from that exercise were used to formulate the new site map and navigation.

“We used their input to reorganize things,” Robinson said. “For example, our Aging & Disability Resource Center—CICOA’s call center and the front door to our services—was moved from the service area to its own section under the heading of resources. We also added additional content to that section.”

Another major issue Robinson and Dull aimed to fix was the visibility of content. On the old site, visitors often had to click through multiple pages to find information they were searching for. To fix this, a new mega menu at the top of every page directs people to the most popular content.

“We wanted to improve the user experience by having fewer things to click,” Dull said. “There’s also more direction on what to click next.”

Here’s what to expect from the new website:

• Improved visual experience with more pictures and video
• Responsive design that looks great on any screen size — laptop, tablet or mobile device
• Reorganization and easier navigation of resources
• Accessible, ADA-compliant design
• New content, such as an explainer video about options counseling, the media center, financials and accountability, legal resources, expanded careers and volunteer sections, and links to all of CICOA’s social media accounts.

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