Andre didn't win nearly as often when he was overly concerned with looking good.A month into our site overhaul, we haven't even started talking about the graphic design yet -- and that's a good thing. As Andre Agassi learned, image isn't everything; flash without substance doesn't win you 8 Grand Slam titles (and we're all about the big tournaments here at NTEN).

We're going to make sure our site architecture is sound before we worry about making it purty.

The story so far:

Flickr Photo: zakleeOur web site is over two years old, and the botox just isn't hiding the cracks anymore. Fortunately, the good folks at Beaconfire are helping us out with a professional grade User Interfacelift, er, site redesign. We're going to do our best to document the process over the next few months.

We're starting with an Open Card Sort. And, just because you're a blog reader, you get the chance to experiment with one of the tools the big orgs use, while helping us out at the same time.

> Give Us Your Feedback!

If you're not familiar with Card Sorting, it's not at all like that time you lost all your money on a street corner in New York City, trying to follow the Queen. No, a Card Sort is a way of determining how users think about your content. In our case, you'll be presented with titles for about 50 of the pages that best represent NTEN.org. You get to drag and drop these pages/cards on the screen, organizing them into groups that make the most sense to you. You even get to name the groups!

I started this week by chauffeuring my mom and her dog to and from various medical appointments for the both of them -- in the 110 degree heat of Phoenix. Just getting from the car to the front door of any building made me feel like something was sucking out my brains. I'm still recovering, so I haven't had the time to read and think as much as I might like to, and that makes blogging hard!

Several interesting things did show up in my inbox/reader this week, though, and I want to share them with you:

The Autism Society of America is the oldest, largest membership organization dedicated to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). With 190,000 members and supporters, ASA has 182 chapters around the USA and 29 international affiliated parent organizations.

Before 2007, ASA was consistently ranked first or second on Google searches for the keyword "autism". Its fundraising initiatives were paper driven, and it had launched a toll-free help line (1-800-3Autism). Chapters were launching their own Web sites at a rapid pace, and ASA was the only national group dedicated to ASD.

In 2007, major changes took place: The Centers for Disease Control announced that there was a 1 in 150 prevalence of ASD. Major media coverage in January, February and April 2007 quadrupled Web traffic, yet there was little conversion and ASA's rankings on Google's search engine had dropped to 3rd or 4th.

ASA's Director of Communications Marguerite Kirst-Colston took notice and determined the organization’s battle plan would be "Search – Convert – and Conquer."