Website Onboarding

Create a New Website

“I want to build a digital presence from the ground up.”  

This path is for departments, programs, or initiatives that do not currently have a dedicated website. Starting fresh allows you to take full advantage of SUpal’s modular Canvas system without being constrained by legacy content.

The Goal: Establish a modern, accessible, and brand‑aligned home for your project.

The Process: You will work through the initial planning stages to define your audience, map out a clear navigation structure, and build pages using our library of pre‑approved components.

Ideal for: New research centers, special campus events, or newly formed administrative units.

Reimagine an Existing Website

“I want to transform my current site’s structure and strategy.”  

Choose this path if you have an existing website but find that the navigation is confusing, the content is outdated, or the site no longer reflects your goals. This workflow focuses on strategic improvement rather than simple migration.

The Goal: Improve user experience (UX), modernize visual storytelling, and streamline content for better performance.

The Process: You will complete an in‑depth Audit and Strategy phase to evaluate what is working and what is not. This often includes rewriting content, reorganizing menus, and restructuring pages before rebuilding the site in SUpal.

Ideal for: Large academic departments or student service units with complex, multi‑layered information.

Migrate an Existing Website

“I want to move my current content to the SUpal platform as‑is.”  

This path is for site owners who are satisfied with their existing structure and content but need to transition to SUpal for improved security, accessibility, and centralized support.

The Goal: Achieve a smooth transition of existing content into the new Drupal‑based environment with minimal structural changes.

The Process: Our team uses a dedicated WordPress‑to‑Drupal migration tool to import your existing data into SUpal. Some manual polishing may be required to ensure images, formatting, and layouts align with the new theme, but the core content remains intact.

Ideal for: Established sites with large archives or those undergoing a multi‑phase digital transition.

TIME: 2-3 weeks

Step 1: Submit Request

To kick off your new or re-imagined website project, contact your Marketing Strategist, who will serve as a close partner with your team.

Following that conversation, submit a Website Request Form with the following information.

• Who are the project stakeholders and who will manage the website?
• Why do you need a new website? (moving to new theme, outdated content, new program, accessibility issues, etc.)
• What are the goals for your website? (e.g., recruitment, information sharing, donor engagement, etc.).
• Who is your primary audience?  Secondary audiences?
• FOR EXISTING SITES ONLY: What is your current website URL?
• FOR NEW SITES ONLY: What is your desired URL? NOTE: Visit Syracuse University’s Digital Governance section for guidance on URLs.

Step 2: Schedule Initial Meeting & Needs Assessment

After receiving the Website Request Form, a kick-off meeting will be scheduled between your key stakeholders and representatives from the Division of Marketing’s digital and strategy teams. 

During this meeting, we’ll walk you through how to:

• identify and understand the various audiences and their needs (Primary vs. Secondary vs. Tertiary audiences)
• review the existing website, if applicable (analytics, issues with performance or functionality, user complaints, etc.)
• identify content gaps, challenges or technical blockers
• consider technical requirements (e.g., integrations, functionality needed, etc.).
• Identify roles and current team resources (existing team members vs. outsource, specific needs, etc.) and whether budget is needed.

Step 3: Develop a Project Scope & Timeline: 

A website project typically takes 3-12 months to complete depending on complexity, resources and levels of approval. Following the initial kick-off meeting, your next step will be to lay out a timeline and scope for the project.

• Identify hard deadlines, if any (e.g., must launch before the semester starts)
• Define key phases and major milestones (see the phases below)
• Confirm project scope (what is and isn’t included) to avoid scope-creep
• Clarify who owns the content on the site

TIME: 2-3 weeks

Step 1: Content Inventory:

It is important to understand the scope of what you are working with at the beginning.

• Go through the entire website and make a list of everything that’s on it — all the pages, documents, images, videos and other files — so you know exactly what you have before making changes.
• If possible, review analytics for each page — like how many people visit it, how quickly they leave and what they searched for to find it.

Step 2: Content Audit

Now that you have insight into the scope of content and how it’s used, the content audit reviews everything on a website to see what should be kept, updated, removed or added, so the site stays accurate, useful and easy to navigate.

• Take out anything on the website that’s outdated, incorrect or duplicated somewhere else. You can make those changes right away on your current website!
• Look for gaps in your content. What things aren’t there but should be? Make a list of new content you need to create.

Step 3: Information Architecture & Sitemap

Information architecture is the way we organize and label all the content on a website so people can easily find what they’re looking for. In this step, we’ll review how the content is organized and navigated, with a focus on the needs of the primary audience. This includes:

Draft or revise site map/navigation: Create or update the outline of the website — showing all the main sections and links — so it’s clear how visitors can move around the site.

Organize content around user needs and behavior: Arrange information so it matches what people are looking for and how they naturally search for it. (Note: they do not know how your school/college/division is organized, so think more about tasks your audience would need to complete or types of information they would look for.)

Optional -- Validate against personas and user journeys: If you have created personas or user journeys for your audience, now is the time to check the plan against those typical visitors and the paths they take on the site to make sure it works for them. 

NOTE: Keep the main navigation to no more than five sections/links (e.g., About, Programs, etc.) and additional navigation links can go in a secondary menu.

Step 4: Content Strategy

Content strategy ensures the right information is in the right place, in the right format, and for the right audience. In a website update, it keeps the project focused on what visitors actually need, so the site is clear, consistent and useful from day one.

• Decide the key messages, main ideas and points you want each visitor to take away from the site and page.
• Decide who will write, update and manage the website content now and in the future.
• Aim to write at a level that is easily consumable by the public (typically, a 10th grade level according to the Flesch-Kincaid test).
• Create a clear workflow process for reviewing and approving content (if needed) before the site goes live. In some cases, the person updating the content is also the one approving.

TIME: 4-6 weeks

With Syracuse University’s platform, you gain instant access to fully designed, brand-aligned components that you can easily configure to create the pages you need. The components act much like Legos – you can arrange them in almost endless ways.

Step 1: Page Layout

While you do not need to create a new design or look and feel for your website.  Several page templates and general designs will be available for your use., You will want to consider what content goes on each page of your website and in what order it appears on the page. Start by answering the following questions:

• What content can you reuse from your existing website?
• What content does someone need to write or rewrite?
• What images (if any) do you want on the page?
• Do you want to include testimonials?
• Do you have any important stats to highlight?

You’ll want to feature the most important content at the top of the page.

Step 2: Accessibility Review

• Ensure compliance with WCAG 2.2 [LL1] or institutional accessibility policies.
• The Drupal platform has an integrated accessibility checker that will guide you and help you to discover issues with your pages as you edit them.
• Plan for ongoing accessibility testing (not just at launch).

TIME: 1-2 weeks

Step 1: Request Hosting for Your Site

Syracuse University’s Marketing Division provides secure web hosting for websites that utilize the common SU Drupal theme. All sites are hosted through Amazon Web Services (AWS) and have a 99.999% uptime.

• To get started, open a ticket through ot.syr.edu and request hosting for your website. Include the URL you prefer (most will move to URL.syracuse.edu).
• Once approved, the team will set up a staging environment for you to build out your site.
• Once your site is complete and ready to launch, it will move to a production environment.

Step 2: Determine Integrations

Choose the functionality that you need to add to your site from the available options, including, but not limited to:

• Calendar feed
• Faculty/Staff directory
• Course catalog
• List of programs
• Forms
• News feed
• Connect Google Analytics or other analytics platforms.

Step 3: Assign Permissions

• Assign roles and publishing workflows (e.g., editors, admins).

TIME: 4-6 weeks

Step 1: Write/Edit Content

Writing and editing content for your website can be done at any point during the process, and you will want to make sure you follow a few best practices:

• Use plain language and SEO best practices.
  • Write content in a way that’s clear, conversational and easy for all audiences to understand. Avoid acronyms and long sentences so your readers quickly get your message.
  • Organize information logically with headings, bullet points and short paragraphs to improve readability.
  • Incorporate keywords naturally into titles, headings and body text so content is discoverable in search engines without feeling forced.
  • Include descriptive page titles, meta descriptions for each page and alt text for images to improve accessibility and SEO performance.
• Focus on audience needs (e.g., prospective students, faculty, etc.).
  • Identify the primary audience for each page or piece of content, and tailor the tone, examples and level of detail to them.
  • Anticipate questions your audiences are most likely to have and provide clear, straightforward answers.
  • Highlight information that helps them make decisions or take action (e.g., how to apply, where to find resources, what deadlines matter).
  • Avoid content that is too inward facing; instead, frame messages in terms of benefits and value to the audience.
• Use a consistent voice, style and tone.
  • Follow Syracuse University’s brand guidelines so content feels unified across the entire university digital ecosystem.
  • Maintain the same terminology, formatting and style conventions (e.g., capitalization, punctuation, spelling) to ensure clarity and professionalism across your entire site.
  • Adapt your tone according to the primary audience and context (e.g., warm and welcoming for prospective students, clear and reliable for faculty and staff) while still sounding like the same institution.
  • Avoid sudden shifts in formality, terminology or writing style that can confuse or alienate readers.
  • Maintain a consistent frame of reference throughout your site.
  • Strive for a balance: conversational enough to be approachable but polished enough to reflect the credibility of the University.

Step 2: Select and Optimize Media

The images and videos you use for your site can help bring your pages to life. As you select media, consider the content on the page, the audience and whether the image or video helps get the message across or gets in the way of the visitor finding what they need. For example, a section landing page would be well-served with a captivating photo or a 10-15-second video loop at the top, while a page with more task-based content likely does not need an image.

• Select imagery and videos you want to use for each page.
  • Prioritize high-quality, brand-aligned photography and videography that reflect the diversity, energy and values of the University.
  • Use videos strategically to explain complex topics, showcase experiences or highlight stories that words alone can’t capture.
  • Maintain consistency in style, color and composition so the visuals feel cohesive across the site.
• Optimize images, videos and PDFs for web.
  • Compress files to reduce size without sacrificing quality, ensuring faster load times and a smoother user experience.
  • Use the correct file formats (e.g., WebP for photos, PNG for graphics with transparency, MP4 for video, PDF/A for documents).
    • Do not post Word or Excel documents online.
  • Ensure PDFs are searchable, tagged for screen readers, and not just image scans.
  • Use responsive settings so images and videos scale appropriately on desktop and mobile devices.
  • Host large files (like long videos) on approved platforms (e.g., Kaltura, YouTube) and embed them rather than uploading directly.
  • Regularly review and replace outdated or oversized files to improve performance.
• Add metadata and alt text to media assets.
  • Follow accessibility best practices by providing alt text for images, captions or transcripts for videos and ensuring media does not slow page performance.
  • Add descriptive filenames and alt text for images, captions for videos and metadata for PDFs to improve accessibility and SEO.

Step 3: Enter Content in CMS

This step is often the most satisfying, as your website begins to take shape as content is added through the CMS admin. 

• Using your staging site, add content to the CMS.
• Marketing has created this reference site to help you learn about how to use Drupal and the modules and components that will be available to you. You can access this site at supal.syr.edu.

TIME: 1-4 weeks (depending on review process)

Once your site is complete, you will need to test each page and feature for a variety of elements. Track each issue using a system familiar to your team. This can be a project management tool or a simple Excel spreadsheet.

Step 1: Functional Testing

• Test all features, forms, integrations and any interactive elements to ensure they work as intended.
  • The good news is that everything should work perfectly if you’re using the Drupal theme. 

Step 2: Content Review

• Proofread all content, test links and verify consistent formatting.
  • Conduct a thorough review of all content for accuracy, typos, grammar and adherence to editorial guidelines.

Step 3: Cross-Browser & Device Testing

• Test the website across various web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and devices (e.g., tablets, phones) to ensure consistent appearance and functionality.

Step 4: Accessibility Testing

• Conduct rigorous accessibility testing using automated tools and manual checks to ensure compliance with WCAG standards.
  • The university provides access to PopeTech, an accessibility checker, which will identify any areas needing adjustment.

Step 5: SEO Review

• Verify meta descriptions, titles, headings and image alt text are optimized for search engines.

Step 6: User Acceptance Testing

• Your website stakeholders should review the site last to ensure the website meets their requirements and expectations. Any issues found should be documented and addressed.

Go Live Plan:

• Review your originally scheduled launch date and confirm if you are still on track. If not, select a more realistic date to launch the new website.
• Communicate the launch date to any internal and external audiences who need to know.
• Coordinate DNS changes or URL redirection (if needed). This would have been noted at the beginning of the project.

Post Launch Support:

• Make sure to provide an easy way for your audiences to provide feedback.
• Be on standby for urgent fixes, updates or additions of missing information.
• Monitor analytics, broken links and user behavior, if that information is available.
  • This will be most important as you look for opportunities to improve your website.