Web Site Content Management

Terry Miller
Chief Information Officer
Sam Houston Area Council

The Sam Houston Area Council implemented a Web content management system to support its www.samhoustonbsa.org Web site.

The tool:

• Permits the council to distribute Web content writing duties to volunteers; however, council employees control the publication of content through workflow controls.
• Permits the council to create online forms within a matter of minutes.
• Permits the data from completed forms to be automatically aggregated into a database and also e-mailed to council employees and stakeholders.
• Provides a mechanism for delivering a monthly online newsletter (The eScouter), which substantially reduced printing and mailing costs.

Results of implementation:

• The council now has 115 Web content authors.
• Reduced the amount of time to publication of urgent Web content.
• Increased online daily visitors from 50 per day to nearly 2,000 per day.
• Increased online registrants to the Web site from zero to 15,000.

The council's Web site has earned the National BSA President's Award for Best Council Web Site and two American Marketing Association Crystal Awards.

The Merits of Marketing (marketing.scouting.org) is a resource for local councils, developed by the Marketing & Communications Division of the National Council, Boy Scouts of America.