The overview
- New www.wilcotx.gov web address to improve the site’s security and searchability
- New content management to improve the site’s stability with fewer service interruptions
- New design to reflect the county’s new branding
Previously www.wilco.org, the county’s website address has been changed to www.wilcotx.gov with a .gov domain to increase its security.
The new wilcotx.gov address helps residents better identify trusted websites and avoid fraud as cybercriminals cannot purchase this type of domain to impersonate government websites.
“The website redesign was conducted primarily to increase stability and security of the website,” said Richard Semple, Williamson County chief information officer. “Only qualified U.S.-based government agencies are approved to use .gov addresses. Moving to a .gov address ensures our visitors that this is an official county government website.”
The county chose a .org domain when it first created its website in 1996 to limit the length of the site's address, said Connie Odom, the county's director of communications and media relations. Under the federal domain registrar’s requirements, Williamson County’s government address would be williamsoncountytx.gov.
In October, the Williamson County Commissioners Court approved requesting an exemption from the registrar for a shorter wilcotx.gov address, which the registrar granted.
“We demonstrated that people were already familiar with using WilCo for Williamson County and that we were referred to in the news as WilCo,” Odom said.
The new website also reflects the county’s new branding, which the Commissioners Court approved June 27. The city’s previous branding was implemented in 2005, Odom said.
“Williamson County has been one of the fastest growing counties in Texas and in the United States for more than two decades,” Odom said. "We felt that our brand needed to better reflect how Williamson County was viewed today. We wanted it to be friendly, approachable and easy to reproduce.”
What to expect
Those who visit the old website address will be redirected to the new website for several weeks, according to county officials. The county is asking that people update any online bookmarks for the county site to reflect the new address.
Officials said residents can continue to use wilco.org email addresses to reach county staff as the county will transition its email and other web addresses to the new address in the near future.
