A State Affiliate's Guide to Website Management is now available on the ASHP Affiliate Website
Most likely, your organization's audience already has expectations of your website and what it can offer. Those who use the web have high expectations of what is on webpages and how up-to-date it is. So, an affiliate's website plays a significant role in its professional identity and has tremendous influence over the opinions and decisions of those with whom the affiliate interacts.
But, managing the website is a challenging part of the state affiliate's activities. The concepts and terminology associated with overall management of a website are not well understood. Fortunately, good website management requires many skills that are familiar to pharmacists--gathering subjective and objective information, assessing the available information and options, and creating a plan designed to reach a specific set of goals.
ASHP employed a website consultant to develop this guide for use by state affiliates to keep their website current and to provide a guide to decision-making. The purpose of this guide is to review the principles important to the management of a state affiliate website and provide useful information on issues that will be faced by staff and volunteers. Specifically, this guide focuses on developing a plan for the website; evaluating hosts; hiring web designers; and implementing a procedure for maintaining the website. The Affiliate Relations Division hopes that you find this guide useful.