For many in our community the website is one of the very first points of contact with the community.
Yes, some will be involved and see the club at projects, but a reality is that this is fleeting … here one short period of time, gone (and forgotten) the next.
A reality is that those who may wish to engage with Rotary will do this online before they ever chance upon a project out in the neighbourhood.
You have to make it easy for your community and others in Rotary to connect with your club. So briefly, here are some “must do” actions clubs must do if they wish to be visible and for that visibility to be effective:
Have a club website
In today’s digital world failing to have a website equates to not existing at all. A website may be your most important engagement point short of a face-to-face conversation and for that to even occur people will have wanted to check you out online first. So, no website, no conversation.
Many clubs have Facebook, but Facebook is not a website and any information on there is fleeting if seen as all. Facebook controls how much of what you place onto your website is seen by even your ‘Friends’ (about 17% for any one post).
With websites you are in complete control and with Facebook, no control.
Make it easy for people to connect with your club
The easier the better = a vibrant club with successful projects and Events.
People coming to your website want to know:
- Who you are
- What you do
- How to get in contact with you – the most important point
This must be easy, and it must be contact with a real person. Direct contact via email and / or phone will produce the best results. Contact forms can be used but are less effective and whether contact forms or emails these must be responded to very promptly.
Like all club information, website must be up to date
The credibility of you club and its project rests on this point. Out of date online content and other information is unprofessional, sloppy and implies you are not reliable. There are several techniques that helps ensure websites and associated information does not date or at least appears that way requiring no to minimum maintenance.
What is your target
Decide who you want to know of your club and what you want them to know. That’s it!
You may segment the website so information for the community is concise and club members have access to more in-depth information such as behind a login. Links to other sources can be used for those wanting more depth of information.
How information is presented is vitally important with an attention attracting layout, use of pictures and graphic, succinct text and critically use simple language (no acronyms – or at least explain these).
Make your website mobile friendly
Just as people are ditching their landlines for mobile phones, many are “ditching” their PCs for mobile devices (using these by preference). It is said that over a half of websites are viewed from mobile devices so if your website is not mobile-friendly you are missing most of this audience.
So, the contact and layout of websites needs to take this into account. The easiest way is to view your website on a mobile device and adjust the website accordingly.
For some cost is an issue, or is it, perceived benefit versus cost and that aspect is not looked at here. Websites need cost very little if anything in both dollars and time. There are numerous ways to get a website for nothing other than some time in setting up. Even the setting up process is easy enough and done right the content requires very little looking after. Cost-wise the only necessary cost is a decent Domain Name that can be as little as $30 pa.
So look at what you are doing and explore what you could do. Improvements need not happen overnight ... just get going and maintain consistent progress. Remember that District website and PR committees are there to help.
The above is also relevant for your business and you can even create a personal website (the concept of personal branding) by substituting the Rotary references. Last but not least, working on websites can be hugely enjoyable as you can have an very worthy outlet for your creative side as trying new concepts will not "break" the site and you keep if you like and remove if you do not and try something else.