Lavinia Crawford-Browne, long-time PA to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and marketing-liaison officer for the Foundation, says its previous website (donated) was unsupported and difficult to use, giving the Foundation an unwelcoming, out-of-date public façade.
"We had to have a new site. I came upon the developer, which offered a compelling package that could help showcase the Foundation's contribution to HIV research and community work and the value of partnering with us."
She says a visual element was important. "We commissioned a video to feature on the site, which might seem extravagant for a non-profit, but given modern information consumption trends, it was worth it. At a very good price, the developer has given us a great-looking site that is easy to navigate and meets the information requirements of those interested in HIV and TB as well as potential donor partners.
"It is backed by a powerful, yet easy to use content management system [CMS] that has been very empowering for us in its simplicity and the immediate control it gives us over managing our content."
Simon Bestbier, account director at Realm Digital, says the site is based on Platform, the company's CMS. "Search engine optimisation is part of the offering, because it can be managed within platform."
Crawford-Browne adds that what impressed the foundation is the on-going support. "They stood by us from the start, to ramp up our knowledge of the CMS, covering technical issues and instances where we want extra functionality or simply needed guidance.
"I am confident of their continued support. The amount of face time we've had with them has been exceptional; when you consider the propensity of many service providers for withdrawing active support once they've made the sale.
"It received an endorsement from the technology department at the Graduate School of Business, so we know our instincts were right," she concludes.
Bestbier says Platform will scale to load well under any volume of visitors on a site of this nature. As regards future functionality, he says additional modules can be made available to the foundation as needed.
"We are looking at tighter integration with donation systems as well as e-marketing options including newsletters. We think website analytics could identify additional necessary design or functional adaptations going forward."
For more, go to http://www.desmondtutuhivcentre.org.za/
