Case Study Archives: Building an online community

BrandLogic was given the challenge of redesigning the Web site for Guideposts, a company whose mainstream publications enjoy the third-largest readership in America. The assignment was to create a family of Web sites that would strengthen the online community and also complement the look and feel of Guideposts' magazine's recent redesign.
    The project included developing a brand strategy and experience model; nomenclature and information architecture; user-friendly navigational tools; interactive content; and custom content management tools. The resulting Web sites experienced an immediate and substantial increase in traffic; the number of hits more than quadrupled in the first month.
    In addition to increased traffic and sales of merchandise, significant gains in employee efficiency were realized through enhanced workflow and intuitive content management. The new system allowed a small staff to manage numerous sites effectively.
    USA TODAY named Daily Guideposts and two of its sister Web sites as "Hot Sites," a designation given to Web sites that are judged noteworthy by the newspaper's technical editors and its substantial readership.