1. Staff Information. Add staff names and photos to your website to allow constituents put a face with a name. This will make their experience with staff more personal and they may appreciate it.

2. Pictures of the office location. Almost every website has the Google map which is very helpful for getting directions to the offices, but what about an actual photo or a description of the location? Is there anything a constituent needs to be aware of? Is there free parking? Is the building under construction?

3. Short video about casework. How does a constituent get a passport, help with a delayed Social Security payment, or a U.S. flag flown over the Capitol? What’s involved? What is the time commitment? What should I expect, etc. Do people really know the answers to these questions? You could direct constituents to the page on the site that answers these specific questions. If the video lets them know that they should proceed with reaching out to your office, then they can correspond with your office through your contact form.

UPDATE: We received information alerting us that members aren’t allowed to promote any events unless he or she will be attending the event as part of their official business.

Highlight Social Media and Other Communication

Social media integration is a great way to share information with constituents and receive feedback on important issues. Implementing Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube feeds into a website allows constituents to keep up-to-date with the ways their Representative is working for them. Maintaining social media accounts also allows for fast updates that target a variety of demographics. Rep. David Scott’s redesign prominently displays his social media accounts, E-Newsletter signup and contact information on his homepage for easy access. These forms of communication encourage constituents to stay in touch.

Ensure a User-Friendly Website

The goal of every Congressional website is to provide information for constituents in the most effective way. This can include accessibility features like font sizing options, streamlined navigation and content organization strategies. Considering the way constituents seek information on your website is an important part of the redesign process. By reducing the number of “clicks” required to find relevant information on your website, you help constituents access what they need more quickly. These features work together to make a constituent’s visit to your website as helpful as possible.

Call Attention to Issues and Features

With the ability to view your website’s analytics in Fireside Web, it is very easy to see which pages are the most popular with your constituents. A redesign may include ways to make important issues more prominently featured on your website. Website features can also be promoted to encourage constituent participation. Rep. John Boehner’s recent redesign calls attention to his Constituent Mailbag by adding it to a feature section on his homepage. This strategy can be used to highlight a number of features that may be beneficial to constituents.

If you would like to turn off the option to see related videos through your embedded player, simply add “&rel=0″ after the video ID number in the embed code. Here’s an example of what your embed code should look like if you’d like to turn off this feature:

<object width=”425″ height=”350″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/xxxxxx&rel=0″></param><param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/xxxxxx&rel=0” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” width=”425″ height=”350″></embed></object>

OR

1. On the right side of each video is the link to the video and the embed code.
   Next to the embed code there is a box that if you hover over should say customize. Click on that box. A box should pop-up below the embed code.
2. The box should have two buttons. One says: Include related videos and the other says Don’t include related videos.
3. Click on the button that says Don’t include Related videos.
4. In the lower right side of the box you can click on the “close” link which should close the pop-up.
5. You can copy the embed code now which will automatically not include related videos. At the end of the video it will say Replay.

We’re happy that our clients have been able to maintain an open avenue of communication with their constituents via the Web during this important debate.

In addition to having the benefit of our infrastructure, many of our clients have wisely intercepted an influx of emails by posting a Web survey for their constituents. These same offices have instructed staff to submit the same survey on behalf of constituents who call their DC and district offices. This real-time feedback clearly had an impact on yesterday’s vote.

Here’s a glimpse at requests to one of our servers over the last 10 days:

For a little perspective, here is a graph of requests over the last 6 months:

1. Click the “Photos” link from the e.Manager homepage.
2. Click the “Add Photo” link from the “Photos” homepage tool bar.
3. Fill out the “Add Photo” form.
4. Select a photo directory from the “Photo Directory” drop down box.
5. Type desired photo name.
6. Type a brief photo description.
7. Type name of the desired photo file for upload or choose file by clicking “Browse” button and then selecting the desired file.
8. Click “Submit” button when finished.

TO ADD A PHOTO IN A TEXT COMPONENT:

1. Right -click on the thumbnail and select copy.
2. Find the page with the text component and click edit.
3. Paste the photo into the text component.

TO RE-SIZE THE PHOTO:

1. Right click on the pasted photo go to Set Image Properties
2. Find the URL in the middle of the page. Scroll through the URL and find the word Thumbnails. (Example: http://representative.house.gov/UploadedPhotos/Thumbnails/bbd7c3d7-0175-473a-85a0-d2811c7cd7ac.jpg)
3. Change the word thumbnails with either: lowresolution (small), mediumresolution (medium), or highresolution (large).  It should look something like: http://representative.house.gov/UploadedPhotos/highresolution/bbd7c3d7-0175-473a-85a0-d2811c7cd7ac.jpg *Make sure you do not erase the forward slash before the word and after the word. *Every time you change the word thumbnails or change from lowresolution to mediumresolution etc. you have to erase the width and height.
4. Click Ok/Update and it should re-size the picture.

A Web alert is an email that lets the user know if new web pages appear in the top twenty results for his/her Google Web search. Users can determine the frequency of the alert as well. Set up your Google Alerts today!

Also recommended: Google Analytics. Google Analytics allows you to recieve detailed statistics on your vistor’s and how they interact with your website. Google Analytics is free and easy-to-use. Some benefits are fast implemenation, custom dashboards, email reports and more! Sign up today: Google Analytics.

Integrated Flash Video

Our video player features the latest flash technology to allow videos to be played directly in any browser. This is a great tool to share floor speeches, news clips, or personal messages recorded by the Congressman with your constituents.

Plus Fireside Web™ video tool provides video embed code to be shared just like YouTube.

Animated Photo Slideshows

Reorganize your photo albums in a clean, attractive and engaging new interface. Instead of clicking to new pages, this photo slideshow lets you browse hundreds of photos with no delays.

The intuitive user interface displays previews, captions and smooth transitions.

Social Bookmarking Tools

Social bookmarks allow constituents to “tag” web pages they find interesting and share them with their friends. Fireside Web™ social bookmark integration provides one-click shortcuts on documents in your new room for all the popular social networds including: Facebook, Digg, Newsvine and Yahoo News.

Through these networks, your site’s content will spread virally through your constituents friend networks.

Interactive Google Maps

Google maps are an engaging and interactive feature for any web site. These maps will not only dress up your site’s district page, but also enhance up your “Visiting Washington” page or be implemented as an “accomplishments” map.

Here is a link to the flash animation:

The team at Fireside21 really pulled off quite a feat to deliver the animation from concept to live site in less than two weeks. A big thanks to everyone here who put in the extra hours so that the Congressman was able to launch on schedule.

Here’s a peak at one of the storyboards we did during the development:

The Have you ever thought… page solicits legislative ideas from their constituents:

Roskam will be seeking legislative ideas from all of his constituents on what they believe are the solutions to some of the toughest issues our communities face today. While many of the ideas expected to be received will be Federal in nature, several thoughts may be addressed by the State. As such, Roskam invited all state legislators from both political parties who serve his constituents to join him, in hopes that he can refer any offered solutions onto his colleagues on the State level, where appropriate.

This is a simple and effective device to engage constituents. Well done!

Here’s a full run-down of how video works inside of Fireside Web™.

Easy Upload and Playback

• Fireside Web™ allows you to post videos in minutes.
• Videos play in the browser right on your web site.
• Avoid constituents leaving your site.

Viral Sharing

• Fireside Web™ makes it easy for bloggers and media outlets to display your videos by generating unique links and embed code.
• You can embed all your videos on any page of web site.

Franking Compliance

• Fireside21’s video servers are within the House domain.
• Fireside Web™ allows you to have your own private video channel.
• No advertisements or “related” videos.