AVSAB
A membership website, rescued and then rebuilt
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior is a nonprofit association of veterinarians and researchers who work in animal behavior. In 2016 its website was failing. Renewals broke, member emails stopped, and members were leaving. I got the site working that summer, then designed and built a new one, with online renewals, a private community for members, and a public directory of behavior consultants. It launched in March 2018.
The homepage, with two clear ways in, to join, or find a consultant.
I kept the site updated, helped members, and added the features the board asked for.
- Client
- The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB)
- Where
- A national association, with members across the United States and Canada
- Built
- The old site rescued in 2016, and the new site launched in 2018
- Organization
- A nonprofit association of veterinarians, researchers, and students who work in animal behavior
- What I did
- Repair of the old site, then the design and build of the new one, with memberships and renewals, a private member community, a public consultant directory with a map, the move of every member and forum post, and help pages for members
From the old site to the new one
The whole project, charted the way a vet charts a patient.
In June 2016 the society's old site was failing. Seven weeks after the first call, a working site was live and members could renew again. The new site launched on March 29, 2018, and I kept improving it after launch.
The society
Veterinarians who study why animals do what they do.
AVSAB is a nonprofit association of veterinarians, researchers, and students who work in animal behavior. Many of its members see behavior cases in their own practices. The society's aim, in its own words, is to bring "the latest scientific approach to dealing with animal behavior problems to both the public and to our veterinary colleagues."
Its website had three jobs. Members needed to join, renew, and use the forums, which the society called "our most valuable asset." Pet owners needed to find a behavior vet near them. Reporters needed an expert to interview. In 2016 the society was run by a board of volunteers, and the website was struggling with all three jobs.
Summer 2016: getting the old site working
A deadline, a half-finished site, and members who couldn't renew.
The society's old site ran on software that was no longer supported, and the developer who built it had left the business. Dr. Carolyn Lincoln, a veterinarian and the society's corresponding secretary, wrote to me in June 2016, "It is impacting our membership and threatens to destroy our association."
In July, the old site stopped sending email. Members got no notice of forum posts and no receipts for their payments. Carolyn had spent most of a year, as a volunteer, building a replacement site herself. The board asked me to finish it and get it working by the society's general meeting in August. Carolyn put the priority plainly. "'Pretty' can wait. 'Some functions' can wait. The website on the whole, cannot wait."
I set up sign-up forms for each membership level, loaded the member lists with each person's renewal date, and moved payments to a new system. I connected the newsletter lists and gave members a grace period, so nobody lost access during the switch. The new site went live in early August 2016. Dr. John Ciribassi, the society's past president, wrote after his first look, "It is EXACTLY what I wanted!! Clear, easy to find. Perfect."
- 1working by the August meeting
- 2renewals and email fixed
- 3"'Pretty' can wait."
The same society, seven weeks apart
On the left, the old site the week Carolyn wrote to me. It looked fine. The trouble was behind it, in renewals, payments, and member email. On the right, the working site that replaced it in August.
2017 to 2018: designing and building the new site
One site for members, pet owners, and the press.
The rescue bought the society time to plan. That fall, the board answered my questionnaire about what a new site had to do. The society listed its top frustrations as "integration with membership database, accuracy, ease of use." Dr. Terri Derr, a member of the board, wrote, "We need a more coherent design so anyone visiting can find what they are looking for, whether it's a member of the public looking for a behavior vet, an AVSAB member looking for the forums to get questions answered, or someone considering joining."
The board approved my plan in March 2017. I designed and built the new site over the rest of that year. The board reviewed it on a test site in December and January, and it launched on March 29, 2018.
"We need a more coherent design so anyone visiting can find what they are looking for, whether it's a member of the public looking for a behavior vet, an AVSAB member looking for the forums to get questions answered, or someone considering joining."
Membership that runs itself
Members join at their level and pay online, and their membership can renew on its own. Before a membership runs out, the member gets reminder emails. If they miss the date, they log in, click renew, and find their details already filled in. Each membership level sees the pages meant for it.
A community of their own
The forums mattered most to members, so I moved every old post over to the new site. Around the forums I built a private community, with member profiles, friends, groups with their own forums, and messages. The homepage described it as "sort of like Facebook, but for Vets specializing in Animal Behavior."
The public side, and moving day
Pet owners and reporters used one side of the site, and members used the other. Both had to work the night it launched.
A directory for pet owners and the press
The public side of the site is built around one button, Find a Behavior Consultant. Pet owners search by name or location and see consultants on a map, with the closest listed first. Filters narrow the list to dog, cat, or bird behavior, or to public speakers and media experts, so a reporter can find someone to interview. Each member can edit their own listing.
A move that brought every member along
I moved every member to the new site before launch, with their renewal dates, and brought over the newest sign-ups right before the switch. I wrote help pages for the new account tools, a page explaining what had changed for members, and the email that announced the launch. On launch night, I ran live payments to make sure joining and ordering worked.
Running a membership organization?
Tell me what your members needWhat the board said
The new site, in the words of the people who ran the society.
The board asked for one site that worked for members, pet owners, and the press. Here is what happened once it did, in the board's own words and the society's.
Working again in seven weeks
7 weeksFrom the first call to the working site going liveThe first call with the board was on June 20, 2016. By the second week of August, members could join and renew on a working site again, and the society told them so in an email.
Better at first glance
"MUCH Better"A board member, on her first look at the new homepageIn January 2018, Dr. Sally Foote, a member of the board, took her first look at the new homepage on the test site, "MUCH Better just looking at the home page."
Every member came along
100%Of members and forum posts moved to the new siteThe morning after launch, John wrote to the board, "After a long period of development, the site is up!! … Josh has put in a lot of work and I think it has paid off. He did a great job developing and communicating. … We chose the right person to make this happen."
Thanks to everyone that took the time to add themselves to our behavior consultants directory. We have already had a number of members contacted directly for behavior services via our directory. Are you listed yet?
Pet owners found members
13 daysFrom launch to members contacted through the directoryTwo weeks later, Carolyn wrote, "This is working so much better." The same day, the society told members that pet owners were already contacting them through the directory.
More than 50 consultants listed
50+Behavior consultants in the public directoryMembers added their own listings after launch. By December 2018 the directory listed more than 50 consultants for dogs alone, with more for cats, horses, birds, and livestock, plus public speakers and media experts.
Need a site that brings every member along?
Tell me about your organization"He was a pleasure to work with. Honest, responsible and responsive to needs."
"I can honestly say, without exaggeration, that Josh not only developed our web site but his work literally saved our organization.
We had worked with several web designers over the years and they either failed to see who we were as an organization or did not provide the support we needed to manage the site once launched.
We were bleeding members due to their frustration with the web site and poor communication regarding their membership.
Josh came on board to help repair the existing site so we did not continue losing members then designed our new site to better match what we needed. He was a pleasure to work with. Honest, responsible and responsive to needs. I cannot speak more highly of our experience with Josh."
"Josh is a rare find in the website world! He is dependable, hard-working, loyal, honest and of wonderful character. He is not only a pleasure to work with, he is like that friendly bartender that everyone comes to for advice!
He remained steady and calm even as things were falling apart all around us as we tried to fix a large professional website that had basically, imploded.
Had it not been for him, it is likely that the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, a very important organization to the welfare of animals, would no longer exist!
In fact, I bet he doesn't want you to know that he sat on the phone with me for hours, sometimes into the night, as we worked on the site together, only because he is so dedicated and thoughtful.
This work went on for months on end. He cared about our mission and he probably also took great pity on me for the mess we were in! I highly recommend Josh in every way.
He has proven himself over and over with the AVSAB website and then thank goodness!, he also built my own business website. I'll say it again, that Josh is a rare find.
We went through a number of website developers and designers before I found Josh. One after the other did a poor job or disappeared halfway through the work or just didn't know what they were doing.
We were blessed to find Josh and if you are lucky enough to work with him, you will be blessed too."
After launch
The site kept growing after launch.
After launch, I kept the site updated, helped members who couldn't get into their accounts, and added features as the society asked for them, including forum replies by email and a link from each directory listing to the consultant's own website. The society still uses the site I built.
Website Repair
The old site's email, renewals, and payments working again in 2016.
Nonprofit website design
A new site for members, pet owners, and the press, launched in 2018.
Memberships and payments
Membership levels, online payments, renewals, and reminder emails.
Member community
Profiles, groups, forums, and messages, with every old forum post moved over.
Public directory
Search by name or location, a map, and filters by specialty.
After launch
Updates, help for members, and new features.
Looking back
AVSAB came to me in a crisis. Its old website had all but stopped working, and the society's members, payments, and forums were caught in the middle. One of the board members had started a replacement herself, and before I could move anything over, I had to learn exactly how both sites were built, right down to the database tables.
Once the site was stable, we turned to the bigger job of actually making it good. I've always loved the homepage I designed, filled with animals to draw visitors in.
Behind the scenes, I built a full social network for members, with profiles, friendships, private messages, and forums. I've never been much of a social media user, but I've long been fascinated by how those sites work, and this project finally gave me the chance to build one. I also wrote members a complete guide to using it, with annotated screenshots and step-by-step instructions for every feature, so no one would get lost.
I've always cared about animals, and these behavior specialists do important work for them. It means a lot to me that I could help the society pull back from the brink.
Questions about this project
Still have a question?
Ask me directlyCan you build a membership website for a nonprofit or professional association?
Yes. AVSAB's site handled joining, payments, renewals, members-only pages, forums, and a public directory, all on one site. The work starts with who your members are, what they need from the site, and what the public comes to find.
Can members renew online without someone chasing them?
Yes. Memberships can renew on their own, and the site sends reminder emails before one runs out. A member who misses the date logs in, clicks renew, and finds their details already filled in.
Can you move our members and forum posts from an old site?
Yes. For AVSAB, I moved every member, with their renewal dates, and every old forum post. The newest sign-ups came over right before launch, so they arrived on the new site with everyone else.
Our website is failing right now. Can you fix it before we plan a new one?
Often, yes. In 2016, AVSAB's old site had stopped sending email and taking renewals. I got a working site in place that summer, and we planned the new one once members could renew again.
Can our website include a public directory with a map?
Yes. AVSAB's directory let pet owners search for a behavior consultant by name or location, see the results on a map, and filter by specialty. Each member kept their own listing up to date.
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Tell me what your members need.
Send a few lines about your organization, like who your members are, what the public comes to your site for, and what isn’t working now. Your request comes straight to me, and I’ll reply to set up a short call. Start with the form.