Five Features To Create Award-Winning Talent Attraction Websites

WonderFL, a new talent attraction website in Florida, won Platinum—the highest award—in the AVA Digital Awards this year. That’s big news for our friends at Florida Power & Light (FPL) —and for DCI, who built the site for them. We’re proud of the creative work our team did to produce FPL’s site, and part of our creative process was ensuring the site was functional in addition to being attractive. 

While we bask in the award’s platinum glow, we wanted to make this an opportunity for other organizations to learn what an award-winning talent attraction website looks like. And how to create your own. 

Let’s look at some of the features of this website that sparkle in our eyes, and that other EDOs and states may want to consider:

1. Location Map

First and foremost, we love the interactive state map and how it drives down to regional sites that also fit the brand. It instantly helps organize the visitor’s search by parceling the state of Florida into multiple regions, highlighting the main draws of each one. 

By clicking on each region, users are invited to learn more about the region, which connects them to specific regional EDOs located there. This sort of clear progression from state to regional nuances is an amazingly effective way for FPL to organize its talent attraction site.

2. Employers Map

A second reason to love this site is its visualization of major employers across the state. This allows visitors to understand where the hubs of certain industries are, whether it’s life sciences or aerospace and defense.

This sort of map is practical, first and foremost, helping visitors understand immediately which regions they should be targeting for their search. Plus, it just looks really attractive, which is always a plus when trying to sell a state or region!

3. Brand Implementation

The colors! The award-winning talent attraction website does a fantastic job of standing out from the crowd and embracing Florida’s brand. With a focus on the perks of living in the state alongside imagery that drives home the state’s resources, FPL’s site is unmistakably “Floridian.” The state’s key features remain part of its talent attraction strategy.

This implementation isn’t always easy to do, especially for states or regions with less obvious brand messaging or selling points. But remember, Virginia wasn’t always a state for lovers—until it was! A little creativity and brand research can go a long way to leveling up a talent attraction website.

4. User-Friendly

The WonderFL site wins big by being super sophisticated while offering user-friendly navigation. Oftentimes websites, especially talent websites, get too complicated as designers cram excessive amounts of information into it. FPL kept things simple and streamlined with its design, creating a site that is easy to use and that people want to use.

5. ADA Compliance

Additionally, the award-winning talent attraction website boasts a creative use of design elements to support ADA compliance. It’s not just a pretty, user-friendly website—it’s inclusive, too.

The use of white space, the contrast between text and background, the images separate from text, and a slew of other features help create a functional, inclusive experience. All the while the WonderFL site maintains an interesting and engaging aesthetic. Everyone wins.

To wrap up, this talent attraction site is a powerful example of what other states can do to help their individual regions attract talent. FPL wanted to be at the top of the funnel and be the first site people saw when researching moving to Florida. But they wanted visitors to go deeper into the state toward the regional sites when they were looking to move. Our team at DCI is proud to have helped them do just that—and in award-winning style, no less.

Hoping to build an award-winning economic development and talent attraction website in the future? We’d be happy to help. Get in touch with Susan Brake at [email protected] to learn more about how DCI’s Digital team can inspire you to execute your next big website glow-up.