Here to Here
We made it easy to know what they do. That brought new support.
Deliverables
Custom website: copywriting coaching, design, and development
Editable, mobile-friendly, interactive map
Easy for staff to create custom page layouts
We needed flexibility in the process. They were able to accommodate us but keep us on track moving forward. We appreciated that discipline.
— Communications Project Analyst, Educational Nonprofit
The Story
Who are they?
Here to Here expands career opportunities for low income youth in the Bronx and New York City.
Background
Over time, their website had grown without much strategic direction. As a result, the site contained a lot of redundant copy and duplicate content in various sections of the site. The Here to Here staff felt that the site didn’t best represent who they are or what they do. They brought in Wire Media to help them shape the site into something more truly representative.
The Challenge
The website had a lot of text content that had to be organized, parsed, and pared down to eliminate redundancies. New copy had to be written — free of internal jargon — to help the website best tell Here to Here’s story. The design had to be updated as well to reflect a more modern, connected organization.
The Way Forward
Here to Here had a vision of a new website that would really help explain the complexities of what they do. The overlapping interests of their four primary audiences makes it challenging to explain Here to Here’s role, but they felt that a focus on content would do the trick, and wanted some guidance around how to best do that.
Working through our content strategy and planning process Here to Here became clear on:
- How to say what they do in plain English and in one short sentence
- How to best organize content to help each audience find relevant information
- How to create content for the web, rather than for internal audiences
Wire Media provided structure and coaching for the content creation process. We also did some copywriting for key content areas like the homepage. We developed a component-based design so that Here to Here staff can easily create unique, custom page layouts with no coding knowledge needed. This offers them flexibility for the future of the website, and means they’re fully in control of the site. We also provided a design concept for the home page that riffs off of their name, to help showcase their audiences, while simultaneously letting people quickly get the main idea of what they do and why it matters.
The End Results
- Newfound confidence in their ability to maintain the site: The team feels good about being able to make content updates to the site without help, and without having to spend too much time on it, while knowing the site will still look great.
- Clarity around how to explain what they do: It’s often difficult to get away from the jargon and language you use every day. Now, Here to Here’s website states what they do in plain English that anyone can understand, and makes the complexities of their work seem straightforward and clear.
- Future-proofing: The custom-designed, interactive Google map shows their geographical reach, and is designed to expand. Later, when they’re ready, they’ll be able to add more content and information to the map. Similarly, the flexible component design approach means it will be easy to add new pages and features at will in the future.
The Future
We’ve since been hired to provide ongoing optimization and maintenance of Here to Here’s website.
