WEBSITE CREATION POLICY
revised 5/9/2013
WEBSITE CREATION POLICY Life University web sites that are not hosted on the original “LIFE.edu” domain (also known as “microsites”) should exist to promote and provide information to the visitor about University programs, services, events, resources, facilities and personnel. All sites must support the University’s mission, vision and goals. Use of the Life University logo indicates that the site is an official University publication. Individuals who develop and publish University web sites must ensure that their sites comply with the guidelines and standards referenced in this document, in University handbooks, and in federal Section 508 accessibility guidelines (www.section508.gov). Electronic information published to the web is subject to the same copyright and trademark laws as printed material. Individuals publishing and developing sites are therefore responsible to ensure that all information, graphics, images and sound files are used with permission and cited (preferably with links) when appropriate. Aesthetically, sites and pages should follow Life University standards established by the LIFE’s Marketing Department’s Style Guide. The Marketing Department will grant exceptions to Style Guide adherence for web pages on occasion.
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Content All content for all university sites must, at minimum, support the university’s mission. However, departments may have additional guidelines and restrictions, inline with those of the University’s, for their web pages. All published content must be accurate and current. Outdated or inaccurate content may cause confusion among site visitors and university personnel and may legally compel the University to be liable for the erroneous information. For this reason, rather than reproducing and republishing general University information or course descriptions, pages should link back to the appropriate page(s) on the University’s website. Site developers should use engaging content such images, photos, and video. Note, this type of content usually has large file sizes that may frustrate visitors who have slow connections or those on mobile devices. The use of such content, therefore, should be guided in part by the intended audience, the location of the intended audience, and its technical capabilities. Content should not include any advertising. However, Life University event sites may identify and link to sponsors of those events. Content Violations Content that violates local or federal law, or infringes University policy is subject to immediate removal. Listed below are some types of inappropriate content: • Libelous statements • Use and/or distribution of pirated (illegally obtained) software, sound or video files • Use and/or distribution of destructive software • Illegally used copyrighted material • Pornographic or lascivious material • Pages that redirect or link to sites with any of the previously listed materials
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Look and Feel The look and feel of a site refers to its aesthetics, functionality and navigation. While we do not expect or want all sites to mirror each other in these aspects, all University sites should, at minimum, be noticeably associated with Life University. Functionally serves to enhance the visitors’ experience so they are not repeatedly looking for the navigation, search, or other features in new places on each University-associated site. A general unified look helps in promoting a unified marketing message across all University sites. Moreover, with the growth in “fishing” and other scams using fake websites, sudden and stark differences in sites under a single University’s web umbrella may be a cause of concern for wary visitors who may mistakenly think that because the site “doesn’t look like a Life University site,” they are on a forged page. This is especially true with the use of .com URLs and the move off of LIFE.edu URLs. Therefore, all website developers should work with the Marketing Department to determine to what extent a site could, and should, deviate from the University’s brand. At the very minimum, this would entail including the University logo and a link back to LIFE.edu. Note, even at this minimum level of unified look, the site’s inclusion of the University logo will be taken by the public as a sign of University endorsement. All parties must therefore work to ensure the accuracy of all content. Maintenance and Management Details of content maintenance will be worked out with the Marketing Department during the project planning. The general options are listed below in step 9. Please consider the importance of content maintenance and management while planning your project submission since outdated or inaccurate information reflects poorly on the site’s owner, Life University, and may on occasion present ethical or legal liabilities. Another aspect of maintenance and management entails site analytics. Marketing employs Google Analytics for the University’s main site and for all related sites. This allows Marketing to view all reports from all sites together, simultaneously, and to create interrelated reports that allow analysis of site usage relationships. Marketing will supply the analytics code if a third party develops your site.
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Process 1. Submit a Project Request form from the Marketing Department’s webpage a. Upon receiving the form, Marketing will schedule a meeting with you to begin discussions and planning 2. A decision will be made by all parties about who will develop the site. Due date and lead-time, cost, and features request are some variables affecting this decision. Some development options for the project include: a. The Marketing Department develops the site as a completely new entity b. The Marketing Department develops the site within the University’s existing site template structure c. A third party consultant develops the site as a new entity 3. Gather your content a. Regardless of the details of how the page is developed, in most instances you will be the content provider, though Marketing can offer editorial assistance. b. Begin sending content by email to Marketing 4. Work with the web developer(s) on layout, features, functionality, design 5. Review web mockups and content edits 6. Submit your changes back to Marketing 7. Repeat steps five and six until final approval 8. Site is uploaded, tested, and activated. 9. Manage Content. A decision must be made at some point in this process about content management and maintenance. Options include: a. You will manage content updates. This is not difficult to implement and allows for departments to quickly make webpage content updates. This is ideal for sites that have small changes in dates, times, names, downloadable files, etc. Marketing will train you, in usually less than an hour, to handle these changes from a web browser. b. Marketing will handle the updates. This is easily done as well. However, you remain responsible for getting those updates, electronically, to Marketing. This will add a usually small amount of time to the process. c. The third party that developed the site will handle the updates. This is similar to option two, but you will send the update requests to the consultant. Page 4 | Life University Website Creation Policy
Life University Department of Marketing 1269 Barclay Circle SE Marietta, Georgia 30060 USA 770-426-2833
WEBSITE CREATION POLICY revised 5/9/2013