The Chicago Herpetological Society has been a cornerstone of the reptile and amphibian community for decades. With 58 volumes of published bulletins, a robust species database, an active adoptions program, and a membership base that once numbered over 2,200, the society has built something genuinely valuable.
But the current website doesn't reflect that. Post-COVID, membership has contracted to around 250, and the digital presence has not kept pace with the organization's ambitions. This proposal outlines a new website that gives CHS the professional digital foundation it needs to attract new members, showcase its programs, and establish forward momentum.
Every page on the site is missing the short summary that tells prospective visitors what it's about. This is missed opportunity.
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Working events on the calendar
The event calendar shows dates from 2019-2021. Future dates return "Not Found." Events have been abandoned on the site entirely.
135
Words on the homepage
Most pages are under 250 words. The site reads as a skeleton rather than the home of an active organization.
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Separate websites to manage
Adoptions live on Wix with Google Forms. It's disconnected from the main site, the main brand, and any centralized management.
The Hidden Gem
Your Herps of Illinois section contains over 100 individual species pages. It's the largest content area on the site and a genuinely valuable educational resource. On the current site, it seems almost buried, and is not attractively presented. On the new site, it deserves to be showcased.
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What We'll Build
A Website that Speaks to Members and the Public
A modern, professionally designed website built on Sanity — a content management system that's fast, flexible, and easy to use.
Membership-First Architecture
The new site will lead with a clear articulation of what membership means, why it matters, and how to join. A streamlined join flow replaces the current standalone PayPal form.
Well-organized Events
A dedicated events section that's easy to update, so members and prospective members have a single place to see what's happening. No more relying on email and social media.
Adoptions Back in the Fold
The Wix adoptions site and its five Google Forms get folded back into the main website — properly designed, properly branded, and managed in one place.
Bulletin Archive
58 volumes of published bulletins represent a significant piece of organizational heritage. We'll migrate the archive into the new site and establish a simple workflow for publishing new issues.
Herps of Illinois Showcase
Over 100 species pages, surfaced as a featured educational resource and presented in the context of a more suitable aesthetic.
Performance & SEO Foundation
Meta descriptions for every page, structured data, fast load times, and a clean URL structure. The new site will be highly visible to and indexable by search engines at launch.
Contact Form
A straightforward way for visitors to reach the society — integrated directly into the site.
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How We'll Build It
The Process
Four phases, each building on the last.
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Discovery & Creative Direction
A focused conversation about design aesthetics, brand direction, and content priorities. We'll align on a visual direction and agree on exactly what the site will include — so the build moves quickly and decisively.
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Design & Build
We design and develop the site in Sanity and an appropriate modern javascript framework (e.g., Astro, or SvelteKit), building out each content area — membership, events, adoptions, bulletins, species pages — with real content wherever possible.
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Content Migration & Launch
We migrate existing content from the current site, set up redirects from old URLs, and launch. The old site is retired, and the Wix adoptions site is decommissioned.
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Post-Launch Support
Dedicated support hours in the months following launch to address anything that comes up — content adjustments, training, fine-tuning — while the site is fresh and the team is getting comfortable.
Our Approach
How We Keep This Affordable
This engagement delivers a professional-grade website at a price point designed for a community organization.
We rely on a streamlined working relationship. That means agreeing on scope and design direction up front, designating one decision-maker on your side who can make final calls quickly, and trusting us to bring a point of view rather than presenting endless options for deliberation.
Efficiency at this level is a product of discipline, not compromise. When decisions are made with clarity and confidence, every hour is productive, and the final product reflects a level of quality well beyond what the budget might suggest.
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Investment
What It Costs
Website Build
New Website
$5,000
~45 hours of design, development & migration
IncludesEverything described in "What We'll Build"
PlatformSanity CMS, hosted on Cloudflare
SEOMeta descriptions, structured data, clean URLs
MigrationContent from current site + Wix adoptions
Recommended
Post-Launch Support
$1,350
10 hours at $135/hr over 4 months
Month 14 hours
Month 23 hours
Month 32 hours
Month 41 hour
What this covers: Content adjustments, training, fine-tuning, and anything that comes up while the site is fresh and the team is getting comfortable.
Ongoing Costs
Platform Management — $50/month
Covers Cloudflare (hosting & CDN), Sanity (content management), and any form or integrated services required to keep the site running.
Ad Hoc Support — $150/hour
Any additional support beyond the post-launch block is available at our standard hourly rate. Discounted hour packages are also available.
Looking Ahead
Room to Grow
The website we build will be designed to stand on its own — but it will also be ready to grow with the organization. Digett builds and maintains Seva, a platform purpose-built for community organizations like CHS, handling member management, event registration with ticketing, integrated payments, and more.
When the society is ready — whether that's six months from now or two years — the new website can integrate directly with Seva without a rebuild. We're simply building the foundation with that future in mind, so you never have to start over.
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A Thought
Sponsorships
One option worth considering: a sponsors section on the new website. Organizations like CHS often have supporters — businesses, breeders, suppliers — who would welcome the visibility. A modest sponsorship program could help offset the cost of the website itself, or fund future enhancements.
This is entirely optional and easy to add at any point. We mention it here only because it's a natural fit for the kind of community the society has built.
Next Steps
Getting Started
Review this proposal and let me know your questions or anything you'd like adjusted before it goes to the board.
Once approved, we'll schedule a creative direction conversation to align on design aesthetics, branding, and content priorities.
We begin building.
About Digett
Who We Are
Digett is a web design and development studio that works primarily with nonprofits and community organizations. We build websites that are fast, accessible, and easy to manage — and we stick around to help them grow.
You found us through our work on VPI.com, and that's exactly the kind of relationship we value: one where the work speaks for itself. We're looking for a long-term partnership, not a one-and-done transaction.