USA.gov Blog

Over the years, the structure and the volume of content on USA.gov has changed as the Internet has matured and user needs have evolved.

Earlier this year, we shared a blog post about our methods for surveying our bilingual email subscribers. We wanted to learn more about our users, their needs and preferences, to serve them better.

The USAGov team plays a challenging, but important role in times of national disaster in helping people across the country prepare for and recover from disasters. To do this, we use different tactics across our channels to ensure we are delivering accurate, helpful information to those who needed it most.

For nearly 50 years, USAGov has been working to serve every person and every government agency. Our history has been full of change, and never static as we improve people’s lives by connecting them with the government services and information they need.

One of the 2018 goals for our email outreach efforts was to learn more about our audience. Though in the past we had performed different exercises to do so -- email-level data analysis, content testing, and persona development to name a few -- we decided nothing beats being able to ask questions directly to our subscribers.

When it comes to email marketing, many communicators measure success by growing their number of unique subscribers. But the number of list subscribers isn’t the only metric to track. 

After 15 years, GobiernoUSA.gov, the trusted source of government information in Spanish, begins a new era. As part of our fifteen year celebration, we are announcing our new name: USAGov en Español.

The outreach team has been partnering with federal agencies for years to share government information with the public. Recently, we launched our partnership toolkit to demonstrate exactly what our team does, show which agencies we’ve teamed up with in the past, and initiate conversations with potential new partners.

The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) at GSA is a two-year Pathways program for recent graduates to transition from college to a career in government. Each participant rotates through up to seven different offices within the agency, working closely with team members and learning about the work before being permanently placed. The program offers networking opportunities, in-depth trainings on technical and leadership skills, and previews a variety of career tracks.

Here are some key things I've learned while leading the outreach team — from sprint lengths and editorial calendars, to meeting overload and how to learn to lead more effectively.