North Canton City Website may be More Social in 2011

City officials hope their recently revamped website will lead to more online updates and a more informed public. But it also might spur them to dip their toes into social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The new site, which launched last week, could make it easier to get involved in social networking sites, one area of the online world in which the city hasn't ventured, said Teresa Dolan, who works in the mayor's office and will handle much of the site updating.

"Some people don't bother with websites," Dolan said. "They go straight to Facebook."

She said it's likely the city will use RSS feeds — short for Really Simple Syndication — so that when the website updates, Facebook and Twitter would, too.

That's the direction those at the web and technology company steered them in, owner Norm Clark said. He said he likes to view smaller entities (like the city of North Canton) on the same level as more populated places and larger companies, which are more likely to use social media.

"We try to give them the same opportunity to do the things the big corporations are doing," Clark said.

He said he looked to booming cities' websites to bring North Canton up to par.

"I went to the big boys," Clark said. "Let's see what the big cities are doing. Obviously they have a bigger budget, but let's try to give North Canton the same thing. And I'm confident that we did that."

The site, which Dolan said cost about $6,700, also will be easier to manage on the back end.

"The big thing for them, it was so cumbersome to update it that they didn't update it," Clark said.

Dolan, who was instrumental in working alongside North Canton-based Graydian to create the site, said one of the most convenient features is the ability to update several pages through just one page. For instance, she can add a blog post on the homepage and it can appear on other pages without updating those pages individually.

About the visual layout, Dolan said, "It's awesome. It looks very user-friendly, and it is."

User-friendly features also played a big role in the layout of the site, Clark said. And it wasn't necessarily easy when you look at how much information is located on the city's website. It contains hundreds of files and information dating back to 2005.

"We tried to think about who was going to be on the site, what they were going to be looking for," he said. "There are only so many ways you can get creative on searching hundreds of PDF files."

The most-frequented links are at the top of the homepage now — events, frequently asked questions, contact numbers and information on the city's safety services. It also has a search function on its homepage and a weather widget.

Mayor David Held, who will likely keep up a blog on the homepage, said he's pleased with the final product, although the city plans to add more features as they go.

"It's a work in progress right now," Held said. "But our goal is to have as much information on the website available to our residents that we possibly can."

He also will push for more photos of the city. It already features a large photo of Walsh University's Hoover Park on its homepage.

"I think pictures speak a great deal," Held said. "We want it to have pictures of the community. We want it to have pictures of our operations. We want it to have pictures of the services we provide to North Canton."