Step-by-Step Guide for EICs Developing and Maintaining Web Content

• Before You Start Working on One EPA Web
  • Step 1: Learn about One EPA Web
  • Step 2: Be familiar with EPA requirements
  • Step 3: Understand your responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief
• Before You Start Working on Your New Site
  • Step 4: Define the purpose, audiences and top tasks for your site
  • Step 5: Get approval for your new web area
  • Step 6: Plan your site's structure
  • Step 7: Take training and read guidance
• Creating Your Site
  • Step 8: Establish milestones and a publishing timeline
  • Step 9: Develop your content
  • Step 10: Build your test site in the WebCMS
  • Step 11: Get your site reviewed and approved
  • Step 12: Deploy and market your site
• After You Publish Your Site
  • Step 13: Maintain your web area

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Before You Start Developing Content

Step 1: Learn about One EPA Web

• Read One EPA Web Principles Guiding Content Development to understand the concepts behind our content.
• See an example of the EPA web format:
  • Microsite: Columbia River, Nutrient Pollution
• Discuss with your Web Council member why creating a new web area for your topic is a good use of your organization's web resources.
• Review the Web Plan to see if there is an existing web area that should house your content. Remember, EPA is topic-based so often a web area already exists that closely aligns with the information that you are looking to provide.

Step 2: Be familiar with EPA requirements

• Review:
  • EPA Web Standards
  • Writing and plain language:
    • AP Stylebook
    • Plain writing
    • Writing for the web standard
    • Copyright Issues
  • Section 508 and Digital Accessibility

Step 3: Understand your responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief

• Roles and Responsibilities of One EPA Web Editors-in-Chief (EICs)

Before You Start Working on Your Site

Step 4: Define the purpose, audiences and top tasks for your website

• Identify your top 1-3 audiences to help determine the scope of your new site. Who visits your content to learn about your topic? Set aside all audiences other than your top 1-3.
  • Examples could be students, teachers, manufacturers, state and local government, regulatory officials, etc.
  • Do not say the ‘public’ or ‘general public.’ This is not specific enough.
    • Ask yourself - what specific members of the public will be coming to my website?
    • Examples: parents, families; residents, renters, homeowners; community organizations; small businesses.
• For each of your audiences, identify the 1-3 top tasks they seek to accomplish when they come to epa.gov. What are your audiences trying to do when they visit your content?
  • Examples: parents may want to know about safety issues for their family, especially young children; manufacturers may want to know what federal environmental regulations affect their business or industry.
  • Tip: Think about what they want to do, not about the information you can provide
• Define the purpose of your site. What information does EPA have or should EPA develop to help your audiences answer their questions? Tie the purpose to EPA strategic plan goals or agencies priorities if possible.

Step 5: Get approval for your new web area

• Ask your Web Council member to consult with your respective Public Affairs Director (PAD) or Communications Director (CD) about your request for a new web area.
• Submit the Form to Request a New Web Area in the WebCMS
  • Reference the instructions for completing the form for additional information and helpful tips.
• OWC will review your request and determine what additional review may be needed by OPA management. Then OWC will notify you once the request has been approved.

Step 6: Plan your site's structure

• Identify the content needed so that your top audiences can complete their top tasks. This content may or may not currently exist on EPA's website.
  • It is natural to want to serve every possible audience, but we don't have the resources to do so; focus entirely on your top 1-3 audiences and their top tasks; ignore other audiences and other tasks.
  • Don't duplicate content on sites outside of EPA. If your new site will duplicate information on another EPA website, then meet with the editor of that content to decide which one place within epa.gov that content will reside, and always link rather than duplicate.
• Develop a navigational wireframe in Word.​
  • How to Create a Navigational Wireframe in Word, With Site Map Example
• Accessibility

  OMS monitors websites for accessibility, and the pages with non-accessible features may be taken down until remediated by your office. If you have questions about Section 508 and accessibility, send us an email at Section508@epa.gov. Do not wait to address accessibility at the end of site development.

  Plan ahead and throughout development for accessibility (Section 508 compliance) particularly for PDFs, multimedia, maps, tables and graphs.
  • Use these links for guidance. In order to publish your content, you will be required to certify that you made your site accessible.
    • Create Accessible Content
    • USWDS Accessibility
    • GSA’s Guide to Accessible Web Design & Development
• Send your Web Council member information about the proposed site: purpose, audiences, tasks, structure.

Step 7: Take training and read guidance

You must take these trainings and read the guidance documents before building content in the WebCMS:

• Writing for the Web:
  • Review Writing for the Web Requirements
  • Use Digitalgov.gov resources, including:
    • Plain Language in Practice: Writing for the Web
    • Plain Language Web Writing Tips: includes downloadable checklist
  • Review Federal Plain Language Guidelines, from the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN)
• WebCMS Training (for those on your team who will enter web content into the WebCMS)
• EPA Image Guidance
• EPA Microsite Format

Creating Your Site

Step 8: Establish milestones and a publishing timeline

• Your milestones and production schedule should include:
  • Content inventory and analysis
  • Determination of which existing content will appear in the transformed site, and which will be deleted, archived, or moved to the searchable collection
  • Development of:
    • Wireframes / navigational structure
    • Content
    • Graphics
  • Review after your draft site is developed:
    • by your own management and by your Web Council member (who will be reviewing your Checklist - Step 13)
    • by OWC and OMS (don't forget special approvals for high-profile content)
  • Verifying/testing for accessibility
  • Launch date

• Example of Milestones and Production Schedule (Word) (docx) (14.92 KB)

Step 9: Develop your content

• Write your content specifically for your top audiences and their top tasks:
  • Based on Writing for the Web Requirements
  • Following the AP Stylebook guidelines, and
  • In plain language.

Step 10: Stage your site in the WebCMS

• Once the new web area has been created, you can set up your web area and create homepages, basic (internal) pages and webforms
  • Make sure you have reviewed all Get Started with the WebCMS resources.
  • Attend EPA Web Training Classes
  • Contact web_cms_support@epa.gov with any questions the above resources don't answer.
• Remember to edit the Contact Us webform. You will need to decide who will receive the emails that come in through the form (can be an individual or a group, such as mercury-team@epa.gov). Be sure to add a mailing address.
• For each page you create, you will need to add metadata.
  • Review the metadata instructions and requirements.
• Ensure that your web content is accessible. Follow EPA's guidance to Create Accessible Content.
• • Follow GSA guidance for:
    • Developing Accessible Web Content
    • Creating Accessible Digital Products
      • Documents Checklists
    • Website Accessibility Testing
  • HHS Accessibility checklists

Step 11: Get your site reviewed and approved

• Review your draft site against your list of top audiences and tasks.
  • How easy would it be to accomplish the top tasks from your site's homepage?
  • How easy would it be if a visitor came straight from a search engine to an internal page?
• Obtain approval from your AAship or Regional leadership.
• Ensure your web area meets EPA Web Standards and One EPA Web requirements.
• See Successfully Preparing Your Website for OWC Review before submitting.
• Ask your Web Council member review the site, and make any changes they request.
• Ask your Web Council member to submit your site to OWC for review by emailing a request to Angela Shogren in OWC.
• Once you submit your site to OWC, there are two parts to the Review Process, which are summarized below:
  • Step 1: OWC conducts a basic review of EPA Web Standards and general One EPA Web principles.
    • OWC must approve before you can publish your site, unless publication prior to review is approved by senior management.
  • Step 2: OWC conducts a more thorough content review based on One EPA Web requirements.
    • OWC will decide on a case-by-case basis whether your site will be allowed to publish after Step 1 is completed, or whether Step 2 needs to be completed before the site is allowed to publish.

Note: Once you get OWC approval to publish your site, then see How to publish multiple content pages at once (aka bulk publish).

Step 12: Deploy and market your site

• Immediately after launch, contact:
  • Cathy Edstrom in OMS, to ensure that searches for the topic are optimized and your site gets into Siteimprove;
  • Lina Younes in OPA, so that she can identify critical consumer content for possible future translation into Spanish;
• Develop a plan for marketing your site. Consider:
  • writing a Perspectives article about the website's topic that includes a link to your new site.
    • Review the Perspectives guidance and contact OWC with questions
  • social media content that might be suitable for one of EPA's account.

After You Publish Your Site

Step 13: Maintain your web area

• Read about steps you should take soon after publishing, monthly and at least quarterly to effectively maintain your web area.