Based on the many aspects of life that a local government website is a part of, a municipal website can no longer be seen as a nice-to-have, but rather a necessity.
What the best municipal websites are made of
In today’s society, it’s become almost impossible to imagine a business not having a website. Individuals nowadays live on their phones: to order meals, research holidays, buy plane tickets - even to date. Having an online presence is a long term investment for businesses and local governments alike.
A local government website regardless of the size of your community serves to:
Based on the many aspects of life that a local government website is a part of, a website can no longer be seen as a nice-to-have, but rather a necessity.
To give you and your community the best, arm yourself with information on what local municipalities need. Local community websites differ from commercial websites in that they offer a steady flow of information, all the time. The information differs from complex documents like meeting notes and agendas to easier ‘digestible’ information like events and town hall business hours. This means the website and the information have to be easily accessible by everyone, including differently-abled individuals.
Another characteristic of the best municipal websites is accessibility. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 stipulates that municipal websites need to be ADA compliant. The American with Disabilities Act, that came into play in 2012, serves as a guide to all mediums of technology (websites, apps etc) to be accessible to differently abled individuals.
Furthermore, local government websites must be armed with the tools to deliver emergency notifications in the event of a snowstorm or water outage. Information about the town and its services, like tax rates and garbage days, together with contact details of elected officials and different department contacts must be easily accessible.
Here we chat through a couple of the must-haves for the best municipal websites:
Last, but not least, a vendor that helps with the maintenance, hosting and security of your website is worth gold! Leaving your capacity to deal with community needs, while they sort out the tech side.
ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds were signed into law in early 2021 to assist the recovery nationwide. Having lived through a pandemic and having seen the impact this had on individuals, families, businesses and all levels of government, it is wise to seek out support provided to businesses and organizations to recover. ARPA funds can be used for building local public services, which enable and support local communities - this means, ARPA funding can be used for websites and digitization tools for local municipalities.
Look at your local government website as a long term investment into the community: assisting local government to look out for its constituents. For all of this and more, contact Town Web: for the best municipal websites around.