Phase I of the www.uwex.edu revitalization was completed in April 2008.

Key finding: The Web site receives a lot of traffic, but users are confused about who we are and have significant problems finding the information they need.

Audience. 9,697,098 people visited the UW-Extension Web site in 2007. 3,496,779 people visited the home page and top-level pages (863 pages) of the UW-Extension site. The number of visitors is substantial and represents a wide variety of audiences including our external public, employees, stakeholders, prospective and current learners, legislators, donors, and job applicants.

Design. Staff and stakeholders felt the current home page looks dated and cluttered. Many respondents also cited they would like more photos of our clients and programs.

Navigation. Many respondents found the current site difficult to navigate and expressed frustration in locating information and services. The current navigation design focusing on locations and programs was generally found to be inadequate. In addition, the search engine results are confusing and in many cases do not produce relevant results.

Information. Respondents think our site is incredibly rich with lots of useful information. They also commended our updated jobs and news databases. Current topical pages were perceived as helpful, but respondents would like more topical links and content.

Read the Discovery Phase report (PDF, 20 pgs.) for detailed findings and next steps