SWANA Website Redesign

Waste, Reimagined

Waste has a negative connotation, yet it is one of the richest resources we have. SWANA, the leading professional association in the solid waste management field, is committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management through their shared emphasis on education, safety, advocacy and research.


Serving over 10,000 members and thousands more industry professionals with conferences, certifications, publications, networking opportunities, and a large offering of technical training courses, SWANA desperately needed to modernize their website to not only better serve their members, but to present waste in a better light.

Davey Award Win

CLIENT
Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)

Content Management System
Sitefinity

SERVICES
Information Architecture
User Experience
Web Design
Development
Integration with iMIS & Higher Logic
Search Engine Optimization


Challenge

The SWANA website was outdated, and didn’t adequately showcase the organization’s deep educational content, world-class events, and industry-recognized certifications. SWANA sought to reimagine its website to:

  • Present the industry in an aspirational light and showcase all the good that the industry does and is involved with.
  • Create more awareness of SWANA certification.
  • Generate higher visibility for SWANA safety programs.
  • Encourage higher use of SWANA’s safety resources so that the solid waste industry is no longer in the Top 5/Top 10 list for injuries and fatalities.
  • Change the public’s perception of waste; make people see waste as a resource
  • Be viewed as a leader in shaping policy.

Solution

Matrix Group worked closely with the SWANA team to design and develop a website that provides a compelling experience for SWANA members, prospective members and the public alike. The new website features:

  • A new information architecture that facilitates wayfinding through clearer navigation, close integration between the website and SWANA’s community in Higher Logic, and relationships between content through taxonomy. For example, a new Initiatives navigation item clearly delineates SWANA’s priorities. 
  • A bold design that shows how waste can be a beautiful resource. For example, Instead of dozens of items competing for your attention, the home page features inspiring video and just three calls to action: Resources, Events, News.
  • Seamless integration with iMIS, SWANA’s Association Management System, and Higher Logic, the association’s community platform. Through these integrations, events, products, and publications dynamically import to the CMS and display through widgets. 
  • A better staff experience through the Sitefinity content management system. Sitefinity templates make it much easier to create beautiful new pages, content types make it a snap to update commonly updated sections, and mobile-responsiveness is supported through mobile stylesheets.

Implementation of Searchblox for the site search, including extensive consultations about ways to make the entire site more search-friendly, establishment of featured results, search analytics, and the ability to easily narrow search results. The search now indexes Sitefinity content, Higher Logic libraries and discussions, and all publications and events from iMIS.

Result

Web traffic to SWANA’s safety information, a key goal, has increased greatly, especially in light of  COVID-19 restrictions and guidance.

Since launch, pageviews have increased by 66%, unique pageviews are up 81% and the bounce rate is down 8% when compared with the same time periods year over year.