About Georgia: Filling a Need

I used to work for the Governor's Office, and I was shocked to learn that many calls to the main office and constituent services were not complaints or opinions about the issues of the day, but general questions about Georgia: What's the state bird? When did Georgia become a state? What's the General Assembly?

Most of the callers were students who needed help with homework. And today operators at the Governor's Office and 1-800 Georgia still get those same questions.

So we thought: Wouldn't it be a lot easier to have that information all in one place? That's how About Georgia was born.

It consists of only a few pages on the history, state government, and facts and figures about the state, as well as resources for elementary, middle school, and higher education. Our goal was not to recreate great websites like the New Georgia Encyclopedia, but to give our users access to the most commonly asked questions about our state.

You can do the same thing with your website. Talk to your telephone operators and constituent services staff and find out what the main questions your agency handles. The answers may surprise you — and help you improve your website.

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