PRI Launches New Website

January 16,  2003

Volume 5/ Number 2

Dear Colleague:

I am proud to introduce PRI’s new website (www.pop.org), which is up and running, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, and to PRI’s Marie Smith who spearheaded the project. Following is a feature article written by Marie about our new website, which will appear in an upcoming issue of the PRI Review.

Steven W. Mosher

President

PRI Launches New Website

On the night when all the world rang in the New Year, PRI launched its new, completely redesigned website.

PRI disseminates reliable research and educational audiotapes, videos, brochures, bi-monthly publications, and up-to-date weekly news briefings accessible through email or regular mail.  Everyday we are looking for ways to reach a wider audience. One unsurpassed method is through the Internet.  PRI receives an estimated 4,100 visits per week to our present site.  That means we are able to address people twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week—a perpetual conference for informational exchange.  And when the PRI office is closed for the evening, our materials continue to be accessed across the world, educating and inspiring people to advance a culture that is pro-natal and pro-family.  “Rapid information exchange is the unique characteristic of the Internet, and we want to continue to take full advantage of that,” says Steve Mosher, the president of PRI. “The generosity of our supporters has enabled us to launch a completely redesigned website.”

What new features will you see when you visit the updated site?  First you will notice the change of the design.  PRI consulted Veraprise, Inc., a full service Internet solutions firm located in Front Royal, Virginia, who selected restful photo images of nature and peoples from varying cultures and enveloped them in a warm and calming green background.  “We chose the colors and the overall design to inspire people to linger at the site,” says Michael Schmiedicke, Creative Director at Veraprise.  “PRI’s mission objective is research and education, so we created an atmosphere like a comfortable reading room or library that invites the reader to relax and browse the virtual bookshelves.”

The next improvement you will find on the site is easier navigation.  You will spend less time finding what you are looking for. We have reorganized how information can be accessed, and viewers will be able to more easily identify and download their topic of interest.

Most major companies and even small organizations have changed their web layout one or even a number of times, to accommodate the growing needs of web users and to increase traffic to their websites.  The web viewer in this millennium demands quick downloading and easy navigation.  Savvy surfers want to find what they are looking for with fewer clicks and less scrolling or else they’ll move on to the next site.

A feature that may not be apparent to the viewer but one that makes a world of a difference to PRI’s modest budget, is what Veraprise calls the “Content Management System (CMS).”  Matthew Gelis, Director of Site Development at Veraprise, recommended the CMS to PRI, recognizing the financial constraints of a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.  “With the CMS, any staffer with limited knowledge of building a website can add or make changes to the site and avoid the high costs of out-sourcing this type of work to web content managers.  Really, by designing such a system Veraprise is, in a sense, running the risk of putting itself out of work.

However, we developed the CMS for the convenience of our clients.”

While heavily relying on the viewer to give us feedback on how the site is serving their needs, changes of any size can be made in-house, even changes that require the restructuring of an entire section in order to better facilitate our objective of easily accessible information.  Besides streamlined navigation and logical organization, we will be able to keep our information current encouraging our viewers to return day after day for the latest updates.

So, keep ringing in the New Year with a visit to www.pop.org.

Marie Smith is the Coordinator for International Affairs and Conferences.

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