Last March 21^st Lyquix launched the redesigned website of this non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of culture, traditions and roots of Venezuela in the Delaware Valley.

Strategic Initiative

The initiative to redesign the website casadevenezuela.net started last fall as part of the organization strategic planning, when it became evident that the website would play a major role in achieving many of the organization's objectives: to raise awareness about the organization, strengthen management and governance, and improve membership programs. With those objectives in mind Lyquix started the development of a new website that would feature a redesigned image and structure, and would take advantage of the current Internet technologies and tools.

Lyquix provided Casa de Venezuela with valuable insight on how to best achieve their objectives for the website. Working together with the Board of Directors, the scope of the project was defined, and the launch date was set: the 5th anniversary of Casa de Venezuela on March 21st. Once funds were available, the project started on January.

Comprenshensive Redesign

The light, colorful, and stylish graphic image aims to attract a larger, general audience while mainting a vibrant Latin look and ensuring that visitors can easily navigate the site. The whole site structure was redesigned from scratch, to allow easy access to information. Additionally, Lyquix implemented a content management system on the site that not only will allow Casa de Venezuela to easily update the contents of the site, but also enables the publishing of a fully bilingual English-Spanish website.

View of the redesigned home provides a more attractive image with easy access to the main sections of the site, as well as sharing and donation links.

The system features an event management functionality that automatically organizes and publishes events and calendars, and the news section was concieved to serve as a repository of all past events and activities, including reviews, photos, videos, and even the possibility for visitor comments.

In order to take advantage of the latest Internet technologies and tools, the site is fully integrated to Facebook and other social and professional networking sites. As part of the project, a Facebook group for the organization was created and links towards the website and back were configured. The group already has close to 200 members and it provides an additional communication channel between Casa de Venezuela, its members and the community at large; and to take advantage of it, all events and most news available in the website are also published in Facebook.

Visitors can tell friends about Casa de Venezuela via e-mail sending a note directly from the site Home page, and they can also join the e-mail list to stay updated on coming events and activities.

Support to Revenue Generation and Operations

The new website also plays a role in generating revenues for the organization. An easy to use donation button placed on the Home page allows visitors to make quick donations with their credit cards. As part of this project, Lyquix also assisted Casa de Venezuela in selecting a membership management software, that was installed, configured and integrated to the site by Lyquix. The system allows for those interested in joining the organization to do so instantly by registering online and paying with credit card. Current members will also be able to access the membership system with a username and password to update their profiles and renew their memberships.

In order to support the activities of the board of directors, the new website includes a restricted-access section and a file sharing system where documents, calendars, and other information will be available to them. And to allow for a systematic and objective evaluation of the new website performance, it is equipped with a visitor tracking system that will provide details on the website traffic.

The new Casa de Venezuela website is available at casadevenezuela.net.