Challenge

The Tribe needed an official, trusted digital identity and a modern website that could serve two audiences at once:

1. the public, with clear, authoritative information about government, services, and news; and
2. members and contractors, with secure tools for forms, onboarding, and document exchange.

Without a .gov domain and a purpose-built platform, the Tribe risked diluted credibility, fragmented communications, and manual back-office work that slowed service delivery. Leadership asked DeSoto to establish a sovereign, high-trust web presence that the community could rely on and the administration could operate confidently.

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Approach

DeSoto worked hand-in-hand with Council leadership, legal counsel, and Tribal IT to deliver an end-to-end solution:

1) Domain strategy & acquisition

• Guided the Council through .gov eligibility and authorization requirements for tribal governments and the nsn.gov naming convention used by many tribes (e.g., sanjuanpaiute-nsn.gov).    
• Completed registrar steps, DNS provisioning, and records hardening (A/AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT).
• Implemented SPF, DKIM, DMARC and DNSSEC/HSTS baselines to strengthen identity and prevent spoofing.

2) Official website & information architecture

• Designed a public-facing site to present Council, departments, services, news, and events with clear navigation and authoritative tone.
• Implemented structured sections for Tribal Council, Departments, and Contact to simplify discovery and trust.  

3) Member & contractor tools

• Built secure workflows for member forms, enrollment information, updates, and contractor opportunities (e.g., RFP/RFQ interest, vendor intake).  
• Added role-aware access and content governance so internal teams can safely publish and update materials.

4) Compliance, accessibility & operations

• Aligned with .gov program expectations and federal good-practice guidance; incorporated Section 508-minded patterns and editorial standards.  
• Trained Tribal staff; documented content workflows; established uptime monitoring and analytics dashboards owned by Tribal IT.

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Results

• Official & trusted identity: The Tribe now communicates from a recognized .gov domain, signaling authenticity to members, partners, and agencies.  
• Authoritative web presence: The site presents Council, departments, and services in one reliable place, reducing inquiry friction and phone traffic.  
• Operational efficiency: Secure, role-based tools streamline member communications and contractor engagement—less email back-and-forth, more tracked outcomes.  
• Security posture uplift: DNS hardening, email authentication, and .gov controls reduce impersonation and phishing risk; ownership remains with the Tribe.  
• High utilization: The site has become a daily destination for the community (thousands of visits per day per Tribal analytics), validating the information architecture and content strategy.

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