Well not really much to tell. When it was brought up at a business meeting
that our club wanted to get a website up and running , I was asked if I
would look into it.
After a couple of phone calls I was put in touch with yourself, and during
that call you recommended an ISP called 1and1, their web site being at
www.1and1.co.uk .
Once you go to their web site, personally, I felt that it was very
straightforward (you even get to try building a web site on a demo basis
before signing up), it was also very good value for money.
For the basic website I built, which can be quite easily done during one
evening, it only costs £1.99 a month for the site and £1.99 a year for the
web address. You must bear in mind that you have to pay for the site for a
year up front and the address for 2 years in advance. All said that still
came to only £32.74. Not bad really when you consider that your club can
then be seen all over the world.
That was basically all there was to it. Obviously there are tweaks and
alterations that you need to do to refine your site but all in all a
relatively painless experience.
What IT skills and software did you use?
Very little skill initially. The site started as a single page and grew, skills were developed to solve requirements as they arose. All software used is free, I started with FrontPage Express but Microsoft no longer support this or include it in Windows, so beginners may find Serif's WebPlus 6 http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/serif/wp/wp6/index.asp or NVu http://www.nvu.com/ useful. Once you've got some experience there are lots more programs to try, everybody has a different favourite. I mostly use Arachnophilia http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/index.html as I can check pages in two or more different browsers.
What were your aims and objectives in establishing a website?
Local publicity. The site is aimed at local people so they know who we are when they meet us fund-raising. Graphics and sound are aimed at their kids, so they'll hopefully explore our pages together, and the parents will read the words. We're friendly Lions. We even use Comic Sans.
Have you achieved them?
We've had welfare and other contacts through the site. Two other clubs have copied our site format (they asked first).
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a website?
It's another PR approach that costs very little, and is always available. Unlike with the local press, you can get the words and pictures you want published. Disadvantages? You need to keep pages up-to-date. If you're advertising an event, once over you need to add a bit about the result, donations made, etc. and then perhaps move it to an archive section.
Philosophy behind the Mexborough site is covered at http://www.mexbro.dsl.pipex.com/clubsite.htm, along with other tips and links to skill and material resources.
A tips summary:
1. Rent a domain with web address and email fowarding. For about £5 a year you've a permanent address to put on the club notepaper, posters, etc, whoever hosts the site or is club webmaster. The webmaster can even divert email to another member when he goes on holiday.
2. Plan the site navigation system, with a central menu that's easy to get back to.
2. Learn enough CSS to create a simple style-sheet. It makes writing the pages so much quicker and gives them a consistent appearance.
3. Google is your friend.
This site was set up about a year ago after I read a piece in our local freeby paper about a company "Community Website Builder" who, in conjunction with BT, provided web space completley free of charge to local community organisations. www.communitykit.ik.com The partnership had been set up originally to provide space for schools
What IT skills and software you used?
Very little IT skills are required to build and maintain the site. For example anyone with basic MS Word and elementary computer knowledge would be able to put together a presentable site very quickly. The help desk is very good as are the downloadable training manuals.
Software is not required as all info is kept on the server. All that is required is to go to the communtity site and apply to set up your site.They do vet the organisation type but Lions do not have a problem.
Updating is obviously done on line. However chunky text can be done off line and copy/pasted.
I put the site together using Dial up and even this wasn't expensive. It probalby cost me £15 in calls to put the initial pages on. It wont be a problem for broadband users. I still maintain the site using Dial Up though I do jump at work from to time to make changes and updates.
This is one of the advantages in that the site can be updated by anyone with the password from anywhere. I do have another member who can now do additions and updates. I would recommend other clubs to have more than one member involved.
Aims and Objectives?
We did have a site prior to this one which was based on Dreamweaver and before that Frontpage. Unfortunately we were reliant on a webmaster with the software and good technical skills to match.This meant that the site easily got out of date. My aim therefore was to provide:-
An informative site which was simple to maintain on a regular basis by a number of people.
With the site I am trying first and foremost to provide info/flavour of who we are and what we do as a club , then the info on Lions organisation in general and thirdly as an info base for members.
I would like to develop a section on the social side of Lions. Whilst there is info on how to contact us there isn't on how to join which has been ommitted on purpose.
Have you achieved the objectives?
I think this format and method has allowed me to go a long way on the road.
Advantages and disadvantages?
The fact that a club has a well presented site at all says something to the public about the status of the organisation.
We have had members of the community contact us through the site looking for help.One local school is asking for help in running a race night and another orgainstation is seeking advice on spring fete.
A couple of Trade Stall holders at last years Gala made contact through the site and were able to download a booking form from that page.
Our Santa Street collection Route is published on the site.
Bonfire Details etc
Miniature Railway Info
It acts as a central repository for Contacts list which is being amended regularly.
We try to develop relationships with other local organisations through our links and are able to give the companies who help out a mention.
The main disadvantge of having a site is having to keep it up todate. If it's not maintained and gets out of date then you are better off not having a site. However this method has taken the hardship out of that. The disadvantage of using this communtiy site is the reliance on that company.
Comments
I would recommend that clubs use this method. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the sophisticated software but it does provide an excellent, simple vehicle to get our message across.
If anyone is interested I would be pleased to help out.
We in Knaresboro club use a commercial site for publicising our club and our annual 'Bed race'. It is under www.knaresborough.co.uk , we get it for free and is updated freely and willingly by the operator, Alyson Jackson. We do have professional IT anoraks in our club but we don't use them for this!
Aims are mainly to publicise our very successful bed race and secondly to promote the club and Lionism.
It is very useful to assist the bed race teams, but it appears that we have little success in gaining new members.
All in all, very worthwhile
What IT skills and software have you used?
A formally trained Systems Analyst with many years commercial experience using M/S Front Page
What were your aims and objectives in establishing a website?
To provide information about the Club and what we do and have done in the past so that people (mostly local) can find out more about what we do, show that we are not totally out of date and provide a link from other local information website. It also gives us a way of recording the Club's history.
Have you achieved them?
I think so, we have links from search engines and a modest visitor rate.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a website?
Pro - Publicise the Club and its activities and Lions in general. Provide information about the Club and its current and past officers for visitors and for other interested Lions. Show that we are progressive and prepared to embrace new technology and ideas. Give an email link to the Club.
Con - It needs regular maintenance - a badly maintained or out of date site is not very impressive and gives a poor impression. A private website has a financial cost and has an associated running cost. There needs to be someone who can do the work and is prepared to put in the effort.
Any other comments
I've probably said enough. I may be biased, since I set it up and have an interest in IT
When we established Wetherby Lions' websites we opted for three domain names; wetherbylions.com, .org and .net. The purposes of the three domain names are detailed below:
(1) .com - The club's own website displays information about the club, its officers, objects and ethics. It features articles about the club's activities, social events and beneficiaries. There are photo galleries of several regular events such as the Pram Race & Country Fair, Great Yorkshire Bike Ride, Fun Quizzes and Santa's sleigh.
The site has links to District 105C and MD105 sites, local newspapers and Leeds City Council's community site, as well as the club's two other sites.
(2) .org - This site is devoted to non-profit making local clubs, organisations and charities with either a brief description of their activities or a link to thier own site.
(3) .net - Perhaps our most ambitious site, it features an online guide to local businesses in Wetherby and surrounding villages within the club's catchment area. The site eventually listed more than 500 businesses and became too cumbersome to manage as a simple HTML site. The decision was made to switch to an online MySQL database and PHP scripting to significantly reduce the workload.
This site has also become a fundraiser when we offered local businesses the facility to include thier e-mail address and website link for an annual fee. We have also offered page banners.
We then decided to establish a community noticeboard site, wetherbycommunity.org plus sub-domains for local organisations. For a £10 annual fee we will author a website and provide a domain name. So far this offer has been taken up by WiSE, Wetherby Wine Circle, Wetherby Silver Band, Wetherby Tea Dances, Wetherby Speakers' Club, Wetherby Wheelers Cycling Club, Wetherby Retired Men's Forum and Deepdale Community Centre.
At present the sites are covering their costs and making a small profit for the club's charity account.
We receive a number of enquiries via the website, the most notable being an Italian Lion who wanted to put his student son in touch with a local club while studying in York, an Australian lawyer trying to contact a local family as executor of a deceased client's will as well as various welfare requests.
Obviously the online guide is only practical where a club covers a smaller town or rural area rather than for a city-based club but it shows that websites not only fulfil the club's community role but can be a revenue earner as well as a useful PR tool.