Client Spotlight: Region 9 Education Cooperative

Educational Service Agency | 7 School Districts in New Mexico

Visit Website

Client Summary

Region 9 is an education cooperative. Founded in 1984, it serves the needs of seven small, rural school districts in south-central New Mexico. Region 9 provides direct services for and supports the needs of students, teachers, and administrators in the area. Its website is a resource for Region 9 staff members, district members, and state entities and individuals.

School Webmasters undertook a website redesign project for Region 9 Education Cooperative in 2005. Region 9 was interested in rebranding with a new, fresh, clean, modern look.

Project Overview

Because it serves such a widespread and varied community, Region 9 needed the website to focus on communication and community and marketing its available resources. To meet these goals, the new website includes a custom blog feature and managed social media pages.

The design goal of this project was to create a website that was not only responsive but could grow as Region 9 added additional future content. Their new website includes content that can be changed and updated as their services expand. The site also features a search function that displays only internal results, making it easier for visitors to find information.

Along with an updated, cutting-edge, friendly, and energetic design, Region 9 also needed help with its rebranding efforts. While the staff had chosen new colors and drafted a logo, they asked School Webmasters to polish the image they wished to present

Website Features

Blog

With a focus on community and communication, Region 9 needed a way to host and organize a blog. Posts are arranged by topic and listed with the most recent at the top. Community members can subscribe to the blog and receive an email notification when new articles are posted.

[dizo_image_hover image=”https://wsos-cdn.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/9/Region9_BlogExample.jpg” button_url_new_window=”1″ module_link_url_new_window=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” alt=”Region 9 Blog” title_text=”Region9_BlogExample” sticky_enabled=”0″][/dizo_image_hover]
Social Media Management for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

To increase awareness for its services and resources, Region 9 needed to get their content in front of their audience. Social media is key for improving brand visibility and marketing. Region 9 uses School Webmasters’ social media management service. That means they have a dedicated social media manager who works to build their community and posts five to ten times a week on their main social media pages.

[dizo_image_hover image=”https://wsos-cdn.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/9/Region9_SocialMediaFeeds.jpg” button_url_new_window=”1″ module_link_url_new_window=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” alt=”Region 9 Social Media” title_text=”Region9_SocialMediaFeeds” sticky_enabled=”0″][/dizo_image_hover]
Search Engine Function

Region 9 wanted website visitors to be able to quickly find what they were looking for. School Webmasters’ website search function helped address the issue. The best part about this function? Results of the search only include information from Region 9’s website, so their website traffic stays on their website as their customers find the content they need.

[dizo_image_hover image=”https://wsos-cdn.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/9/Region9_Search-function.jpg” button_url_new_window=”1″ module_link_url_new_window=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” alt=”Region 9 Search” title_text=”Region9_Search-function” sticky_enabled=”0″][/dizo_image_hover]
Main navigation dropdown graphic features

One special feature School Webmasters added to Region 9’s custom website was graphic images in the subpage navigation menus. Displaying district logos in the menu was particularly important and contributes to the sense of community Region 9 values.

[dizo_image_hover image=”https://wsos-cdn.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/9/Region9_SocialMedia_MenuGraphic.jpg” button_url_new_window=”1″ module_link_url_new_window=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” alt=”Region 9 menu” title_text=”Region9_SocialMedia_MenuGraphic” sticky_enabled=”0″][/dizo_image_hover]
Content boxes

Region 9’s website features content boxes as one of the main navigation channels. The square graphic boxes have an opaque black hover feature and contain text and hyperlink content that can be edited. With a quick request through our customer service portal, the client can change the graphics, the content, and the links as needed.

[dizo_image_hover image=”https://wsos-cdn.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/9/Region9_SocialMedia_ContentBoxes.jpg” button_url_new_window=”1″ module_link_url_new_window=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” alt=”Region 9 Content Boxes” title_text=”Region9_SocialMedia_ContentBoxes” sticky_enabled=”0″][/dizo_image_hover]

Website Reactions

“The new design is stunning, professional, and unique. Please take a moment to view their new site, and join us in thanking our wonderful development team for their ‘eye for detail’ and talent!”

-Pammy Thomas, Project Coordinator

“Wooooohooooo… wow it looks good!”

-Bryan Dooley, Technology Director