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Article:
Internet Offers Smaller Cities the Chance to Shine
MuniNet Guide and Review, July, 1999

The following interview appeared in MuniNet Guide and Review and is reproduced here with permission.  For information on subscriptions to MuniNet Guide and Review, contact Mardee Alvaro.

Does the size of a city—or its budget—impact the quality of its web site? Can a small city afford to host and maintain a web site? Is it more efficient to hire a consultant, or assign internal staff to develop and maintain the site? We recently spoke with Curt Anderson, president of Municipal Web Services [http://www.muniweb.com], who shared his insights on web site development for smaller cities, towns, and villages.

MuniNet: Does bigger mean better? Is there any correlation between the size (population) of a city and the quality of its web site?

Anderson: While there is some relationship between the size of a municipality and the quality of its web site, the correlation is not a strong one. Many smaller cities, towns, and villages are very interested in making an investment in a web site, typically because there is either a "visionary" in an influential role (like a city manager, council member, finance manager, or other such position) or an enthusiast willing to take responsibility for the project. In these cases, the "trailblazer" has the rare blending of skills that involve design, layout and good content—or the city is willing to spend the money to hire a company like Municipal Web Services to develop the site.

On the flip side, some larger cities host substandard web sites—or don't have a site at all—because they don't feel it's necessary, or, more likely, have other priorities, and aren't willing to spend the money to do it right. Without naming names, I can point to one example of a Midwestern city, with a population of about 75,000, that has a web site, but a fairly poor one in terms of design and depth of content. This site doesn't have a professional appearance, but rather looks like it was done by someone who has many other job responsibilities and had never done a web site before.

In contrast, I can think of many smaller cities, towns, and villages—like Bell Gardens, California - population 44,000; Birmingham, Michigan - population 20,000; and Novi, Michigan - population 42,000—that host very respectable web sites. One Midwestern city with a population of around 17,000 has hired Municipal Web Services to do a major overhaul of its site. It will cost the city around $15,000 to launch a comprehensive, professional-looking web site with special features that include a searchable assessor's database.

MuniNet: Does the size of a city's budget influence the quality of its web site?

Anderson: The size of a budget has a definite impact on the quality of a web site; in fact, there is a very strong direct correlation between the two. A small budget allotted to a web site project makes it difficult to spend the time—or hire the right people—to design a professional-looking home page that works efficiently, optimizes graphics, and is laid out properly.

A great deal of the costs (in time, effort, and dollars) associated with developing a web site come into play in designing the first few pages, particularly the home page—which gives first-time and repeat visitors an initial impression of the site—and the first secondary page, where the look and feel of site, navigation approach, color, background, and signature elements at the bottom of each page are defined.

Interactive elements, like electronic forms or searchable databases and archives, also require a lot of time, and therefore will cost more than static elements; yet they can add great value to a site.

MuniNet: In your opinion, can a city with a limited budget—less than $5,000, for example— host/maintain a good web site?

Anderson: No, not for what we consider to be good web sites. Since the words "limited" and "good" are both relative, this question is somewhat difficult to answer. But if we define a good web site as comprehensive, with the ability to effectively communicate information to residents and businesses, then the answer is "not really."

At approximately $150 per page, the rate we charge, and say 60-70 pages, we would recommend a budget more in the neighborhood of $10,000-$15,000 to fund a comprehensive web site. For $5,000, a city can expect to get a pretty good design developed for a site with about 20 pages—certainly a decent start. Remember that the first couple of pages, as well as any interactive elements, will be the most costly.

The more dynamic the web site, the more maintenance that will be required. At $50 per hour (Municipal Web Services' rate for maintenance), and 10-20 hours per month, a city would be looking at anywhere between $500-$1,000 per month to keep a good-size web site up to date.

MuniNet: Using ballpark figures, how much money should a city expect to spend on a web site?

Anderson: The overall costs involved in developing and maintaining a site are dependent on several factors, but generally can be broken down into three segments.

• The design and development phase of a good web site will probably fall into the $10,000 - $15,000 range.
• Hosting the site is relatively inexpensive, running approximately $20-$30 per month—although larger databases, like a GIS database, for example, that call for hundreds of megabytes of information would cost more.
• The cost of maintenance depends on the amount of dynamic content, as well as internal hourly wages or consultant rates. We consider $400-$500 per month to be a rather high-end estimate that would keep a good-sized web site up to date; a low-end figure would be somewhere around $200-$250 per month.

Other insignificant costs include registration of the domain name, which shouldn't cost anything if you register it with Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California [http://www.isi.edu/us-domain]. You can also register your domain name with Network Solutions, a public corporation, for $35/year. Network Solutions requires two years' fees up front. Remember that municipalities should use the appropriate domain name—ci. (or "to." for township, "vi." for village, or "co." for county) cityname.stateabbreviation.us—for their web site. Soon, Internet users will be as familiar with the ".us" domain name as they are now with the ".com" ending.

MuniNet: What if a city really wants to host a web site, but simply doesn't have a lot of money to spend on the project?

Anderson: Our advice to cities that don't have a large budget to spend on a web site is to sacrifice design for good content. Get some meat on the site, and come back later to improve its appearance. At least, a site that provides substantive content can serve a function, whereas a nice-looking site that offers no real information is virtually useless.

MuniNet: What are some of the advantages for a city to use an outside consultant, like Municipal Web Services, rather than internal staff to develop a web site?

Anderson: The biggest single advantage is that when a city hires an outside firm, particularly one with an understanding of municipal web sites, it benefits from the experience of professionals who are familiar with design and layout, are aware of the latest tools and technology, and understand the objectives of a local government web site.

Another significant advantage is that an "outsider" can bring a fresh perspective. In many cases, cities have a tendency to mimic their own internal vocabulary, and therefore organize their site by department, but that's really a very city-focused thing. Users on the other end— in this case, residents—aren't necessarily going to be aware of (or understand) government function; they just want to know what to do if they need a dog license, for example. A third-party company can bring that "outsider" viewpoint.

MuniNet: When it comes to maintaining the site, is it more efficient to have city staff keep the site current, or can an outside firm offer advantages here, too?

Anderson: Contracting with an outside firm to perform maintenance on the site can help guarantee that its content will remain fresh. Particularly with a small city, the danger of having the site maintained internally is that it often becomes a small part of one or more employees' jobs, often a responsibility that is relegated to the bottom of their "To-Do Lists," one of the last things people do if/when they have the time.

A city also needs to consider internal turnover, and the havoc that could potentially wreak. Having one employee responsible for maintaining the site on an ongoing basis puts the city in a precarious position should that one employee leave.

MuniNet: Overall, how would you characterize an effective local government web site design?

Anderson: Regardless of a city's size or coffers, it needs to encompass the "three easy's"—easy to expand, easy to maintain, and easy to use—when developing or improving its web site. These factors, key ingredients for a successful local government web site, include page design, navigation elements, consistency and, of course, strong content.

MuniNet: Any general advice for smaller cities vis-a-vis their web sites?

Anderson: If a city does not have sufficient staff to keep dynamic information up to date, it needs to make sure that it doesn't over commit to material like monthly updates from the city manager, for example. Visitors to the site will look for any such commitments to be kept.

Also, make sure that more than one employee is trained to perform maintenance on the site; if the one staff member that knows how to handle updates wins the lottery and is gone on Monday, it's essential to have somebody else who can step in and post those council minutes online as soon as they become available.

Most importantly, I would advise smaller cities not to shy away from the Internet, but rather to look at a web site as a vehicle that can provide a competitive advantage with perhaps larger cities in the region. A good, comprehensive web site can set a smaller city apart, giving a community a more progressive image, and an effective vehicle through which to communicate with its residents.

Curt Anderson is president of Municipal Web Services [www.muniweb.com], an Internet consulting and development firm that specializes in municipal web sites.

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