Every club needs a web site. Many think that a social media page, or group, is sufficient. Sadly it isn’t.
Social media presence
Social media pages and sites work in the moment. You post something, and your followers can see it and act upon it. However, if you’re prolific posters then what you posted a few days, or weeks ago, can be difficult to find. Social media sites are not very good for people who like to browse as many won’t read more than the last ten or fifteen posts that appeared on your page, or in your group.
That’s not to say that club’s should have a social media presence; far from it. We have a Facebook presence and a website and they both complement each other very well. However, almost all our new members come from having visited our website, rather than our Facebook page or group.
Why a web site too?
A website gives your club credibility and helps you to establish a more professional presence which will, hopefully, draw more visitors. Visitors to your web site can start reading something, go away, come back and carry on where they left off. Web sites enable you to add value to your visitors; you can run series’ of posts, courses, document what your club has done and is going to do. Furthermore, you can tell your visitors who you are and what you are about. These are all more difficult to accomplish on social media sites.
Furthermore, it can be easier for Googler’s to find a web site than a social media page, or group. We Googled for ‘amateur radio ormskirk’. ‘Amateur radio’ is one of the club’s main activities and ‘Ormskirk’ is where we are based. Top of the list was our website. Then came other amateur radio web sites, before our Facebook group appeared in the listing. Of the top five results, or website appeared twice, whereas our Facebook page appeared only once.
Read on and build your own web site
In this series of articles we will show you how we built the Quantum Technology Club website and how you can build an effective website for your club too. We make no charge for this guidance, but you can make a voluntary donation to help us fund the work we do with our members and in the wider community.