This is How to Launch a Website

Illinois officials, a Chicago alderman, a local school council representative, a radio personality, an Olympic medal winner and top Chicago school officials descended on Chicago neighborhood school, Bateman Elementary School, to demonstrate how to strategically use a website launch in pursuit of a greater mission.

The Chicago Public School Alumni website publicly launched today not only with the support of leading public figures - many of whom are CPS alums, but with prominent print and media coverage from most local media. As my colleague, Kelly, and I joined with other guests at the public roll out and watched a short video highlighting the major benefits of the site, it dawned on me (duh!) that I was in the presence of a major and strategic campaign rollout of a significant initiative by the Chicago Public Schools to build community among over 3 million living alumni. And the website Duo had just built and launched was the catalyst for this initiative. Woo Hoo.

Although Duo’s mantra – or one of them, anyway – is that a website should have a job description, it is still a real treat when we get to develop a tool – a website - that is so core to meeting an organization’s business objectives – especially one with such great public purpose. But the real prize today was to witness how the professionals with the Chicago Public Schools have taken the steps necessary to build an ongoing campaign around the roll out of the site.

Tonight I looked at the website analytics and the tangible impact of this first day of the public rollout. It was very exciting. I am confident that the site is in great hands and on its way toward building community and increasing alumni participation for the benefit of all.