I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the webinar, “Building a Member-Centric Web Site” during Friday’s virtual portion of UnTech10. I’m so glad such a highly virtual alternative was concocted so quickly, since I wouldn’t have been able to attend the sessions otherwise!

One statement in particular really struck out to me during the webinar’s duration. Members’ expectations for Web sites are set through the commercial sector. Think Google, Amazon, YouTube, etc…

What does this mean? It means your user experience has to be much more directed. What do you do when you go to google.com? You type something into the search engine and know you’ll get efficient, accurate results. At amazon.com, categories are easily broken down and identified. Users know what to expect, navigation is intuitive and it’s easy to understand.

What about your association’s Web site? How are content categories and navigation broken down?

Another key takeaway here: Think outside department silos. It’s not important to your members to know which department content came from. It’s more important for all similar content to be grouped together, regardless of where it originated.

Take advantage of tagging articles and content so related pieces can be automatically grouped together. As an association, it’s vital to connect the dots between different pieces of content so members can more easily browse and find valuable information.

Creating a directed user experience can help every member have a more unique and tailored visit to your Web site.

Image credit: Flickr