Club Website Management

Furface

Moderator
Supporter
Does anyone use outside agents for building and managing their club websites? (Yes, I know it is simplicity itself, and you would be paying money for the oldest of rope, but giving someone the keys to our club website seems to be the kiss of death to their participation).
Can you recommend any? What sort of fee do you pay?
Can it handle: Course booking; tournament booking; membership enquiries; renewals; news; calendar; social media?
Any elephant traps waiting?
 

ben tarrow

Well-known member
Does anyone use outside agents for building and managing their club websites? (Yes, I know it is simplicity itself, and you would be paying money for the oldest of rope, but giving someone the keys to our club website seems to be the kiss of death to their participation).
Can you recommend any? What sort of fee do you pay?
Can it handle: Course booking; tournament booking; membership enquiries; renewals; news; calendar; social media?
Any elephant traps waiting?
As a professional website builder, my honest opinion is DONT.

Outside agents dont have the personal drive and motivation to update your website unless you're paying a fortune.

My recommendation, have your website as a "store front" and use facebook, so that ALL your members can contribute in whatever way they wish.

Facebook is a recent revelation at my club with everything from agm notices, to "the suns shining and I feel like going shooting. Anyone coming?"

Your online presence should belong to your members, just the same as your club
 

TJ Mason

Soaring
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
American Shoot
It'd be a fairly expensive option, as you say. An alternative would be to use one of the many companies who offer free hosting to clubs, and access to content management tools which allow them to maintain their own sites without getting into the scripting. Clubbz is one such. Our host rugby club uses Pitchero (Club Website - Pitchero) which seems pretty good, and has most of the features you mention.
 

Asinine

New member
My recommendation, have your website as a "store front" and use facebook, so that ALL your members can contribute in whatever way they wish.
I'd second this, ran a large gaming group for many years. Getting people to use and check the website was a nightmare. Ended up just being a place for people to find basic information before joining us. As soon as we got a facebook page running everyone was checking and being caught up on announcements and getting along better. They basically run themselves once they are set up. Quick, easy to use and free.
 

dvd8n

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
I know that's percieved as the modern way to do things but I'm quite hostile to it. I won't join Facebook on principle and I know of a lot of other people who think the same, either refusing to get into it for privacy issues or abandoning it as a massive time sink.

Any business or organisation who uses it as their web presence basically loses access to me and to an awful lot of people that I know.
 

ben tarrow

Well-known member
You might not choose to use fb but a lot of people do. Whilst it has its faults fb has a lot of functionality which allows the common member to contribute.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
Setting up an FB page sounds like an excellent idea, our website doesn't get updated as often as it could be but FB means we can all contribute and reach a wider audience too - thanks for that



Karl
 

redpanda

New member
I would recommend setting up a website using a CMS like wordpress and giving several members of the committee access so that keeping it up to date and relevant isn't just left to one person

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 

ben tarrow

Well-known member
WP is ok but first you've got to train your chosen few to use it, second rely on your chosen few to keep it updated. Social media opens contribution to many more of your membership hence making it aliving mirror of what is happening at your club.
There's nothing worse than a club website where the last posting is years old.
 
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