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WASHINGTON, DC – The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently launched its new web site, AEI.org. This enhanced online presence places AEI at the forefront of public policy organizations on the Internet. The redesigned, feature-rich site was built on the eResources Content Management System (eRCMS).
As one of the nation’s premier think tanks, AEI required a flexible and scalable web solution to help effectively distribute its research. With HMTL-free content publishing, all AEI staff members can now update the site so that information is immediately available to policymakers, the media, and academics. AEI can now efficiently disseminate their research to a larger constituency, especially outside the Beltway.
Monty Brown, AEI’s Vice President for Publications, was pleased with the results, "Working with eResources was the best decision we could have made for revamping our website. Dusty Gulleson and his colleagues focused on our needs, our mission, and our priorities from the start and were model collaborators for our project."
eResources CEO Dusty Gulleson touted the size of the project, “The new site will allow AEI to manage an unlimited amount of documents, publications, and pages online. We were able to customize our CMS to meet the specific needs of AEI, providing them with a state-of-the-art web system. While other CMS products have rigid parameters and impose constraints on an organization’s ability to develop an effective web site, eResources provides freedom and flexibility so that our clients can meet their goals and objectives.”
Visitors of the AEI site should recognize an immediate improvement in navigation due to the new design. Each page will preserve the framework and structure of the homepage, so that users may quickly click through different sections. This uniformity allows AEI’s research projects to grow while maintaining a consistent and look and feel.
The new AEI site contains a number of custom applications and modules built by eResources, including an Event Manager and Press Room. Visitors to the site will find it much easier to register for conferences, purchase books, subscribe to publications or newsletters, or contribute to AEI. AEI Communications Manager Kathryn Burrows noted, “The developers at eResources were flexible and patient, and were committed to working closely with us on everything from big-picture decisions to the nuances of a complex website."
eResources also developed a ‘My AEI’ feature, which allows users to personalize the AEI site to reflect their individual interests. Users may login, create a profile, and select different topics to monitor. These ‘watches’ can include a specific policy issue, the work of a certain scholar, an event series, or a particular project or publication. Users can also receive automatic email notifications generated by the website on these subjects. At any time, a user may login and change their preferences.
A newly renovated scholars section helps promote the work of AEI’s 57 resident specialists. Each scholar’s individual page includes their background, area of expertise, and contact information. Convenient links are provided to all of the scholar’s research projects and articles on the AEI site. In addition, a rotating banner system allows AEI to highlight the work of the featured scholars.
In addition, the searchable database is a dramatic improvement over the previous model, which often returned unrefined results. Users can now conduct advanced searches using data fields such as keyword, date, author, or section. As such, visitors can now quickly locate the information they want without sorting through unwanted documents or pages.
eResources was also signed to create an online home for the Institute’s monthly publication, The American Enterprise. eResources will integrate the new site, TAEMag.com, into the existing Content Management System of AEI’s main site. Content can be tagged for publishing on either web site, and TAEMag.com will filter all content specifically designated for the magazine side. Gulleson noted, “This functionality will lower the ownership cost for both sites, decrease the labor cost in managing them, and more efficiently deliver content to targeted audiences.” The feature-rich web site will include a ‘Press Pass’, which allows media members to login and view upcoming articles. Users will have the ability to subscribe online, search through archived articles, receive email updates on issues of interest to them.
About The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI)
AEI is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of freedom through scholarly research, open debate, and publications. For more information about AEI, visit their web site at www.aei.org.
To schedule a meeting or receive information about eResources products and services, please call (202) 216-0124 or e-mail at info@eresources.com.
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