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Web Toolbox
Welcome to MarCom Web
Research consistently shows that, by far, university websites are the #1 information source used by prospective students during their college search. While there are other key strategic benefits to a good website, none outweigh the website’s centrality in recruitment, i.e. the top business goal of the institution.
Oversight of 樱桃视频's websites is one of the responsibilities of the Marketing & Communications Department (MarCom). This includes content quality, technical quality, accessibility and other aspects of our online presence. With support from ITS, the MarCom Web team administers the website content management system Cascade CMS.
What does MarCom Web do?
MarCom Web staff manage website design, functionality, and technical development for the public websites in the udmercy.edu domain. Because content quality is critical to institutional goals, especially recruitment, we also help University colleagues create, refine and maintain the content of their website sections. Therefore, MarCom oversees:
- strategic website scope
- website content quality
- development of new websites, website sections, and webpages
- best practices for the websites
- training and access in the Cascade CMS system, for content contributors who make frequent updates
- technical assistance for website content contributors
- website design
- usability and accessibility compliance
- website code, functionality and other technical underpinnings
NOTE:
- MarCom does not maintain the academic catalog, nor support catalog editors. For catalog issues, contact ITS.
- MarCom has sole discretion to edit any website content.
Most commonly asked:
- Do I need access to Cascade CMS?
- I want to make a video for the website ...
- What are my responsibilities when adding web content?
- What is web accessibility?
- How do I make a Word doc accessible?
- How do I make a PDF accessible?
- Do my social media posts have to be accessible?
- Where are the Cascade training videos?
- Why can't I just ...?
- Other Common Help Questions / How-to's
- Contact us | Web Request Form
Website priorities
No website can be all things to all people, so it’s critical to be clear on the strategic priorities of a site. For University of 樱桃视频, the overriding purpose of our public websites is to support the revenue-bearing activities of the institution, namely:
- recruitment and retention of students
- advancement, i.e. fundraising
Based on these core Web goals, the most important audiences for 樱桃视频 websites are:
- prospective students (and their parents)
- donors, especially alumni
By necessity, website activities that further these goals will always be given priority.
Maintaining your website
Websites require the involvement of:
- content experts – i.e. subject matter experts of each University area – to contribute up-to-date information that appeals to and assists their key audiences, and
- technical experts who are well-versed in the many layers of Web-specific requirements and best practices.
In most cases, content experts should work with the technical experts on the MarCom Web team by submitting a Web Request form for help in creating and updating website content.
Catalog editors, however, are still responsible for using Cascade CMS to annually update the academic catalog. MarCom does not support the academic catalog. Catalog editors work with ITS for such updates.
In some other special cases, MarCom may also choose to grant Cascade access. See "Do you need Cascade access?" for more.
Aside from the catalog, we encourage you to contact MarCom to make sure your webpages meet the many content and technical requirements. Even those with direct Cascade access regularly run into difficulties, including in areas like webpage design, branding and style consistency, site organization, technical issues, special functionality, etc. Use our Web Request form to let us know what you need.
The Marketing & Communications Department is happy to discuss Web-related issues, such as:
- website maintenance questions
- improving website content and effectiveness
- adding files or pages to an existing website
- building a new site or new functionality
- choosing and integrating a third-party Web system
You can use our Web request form any time, or contact MarCom by phone or email.