The world of non-commercial film and A-V |
Events Diary | Search | |||
The Film and Video Institute | Join us on Facebook |
|
||
Well, there are some exceptions of course, but Im afraid that far
too many club websites look that way....!!
As the webmaster for the Finchley Film Makers, I occasionally look at other club websites shamelessly looking for ideas. As the IAC site has a handy list that is a relatively easy task there are something like 166 IAC associated clubs which have a dedicated website. Recently I had a look at quite a few of them. Incidentally it is also worth pointing out that there are around 40 clubs affiliated to the IAC which do not have a dedicated website (or at least it is not listed). |
Is this the dentist's queue or a bunch of friendy enthusiasts who will make you welcome? It is not easy to photograph a meeting and make it seem as upbeat and energetic as it feels when you are there. |
|
However having considered those with dedicated sites I must say that
I was pretty unimpressed. Before explaining why, its worth asking a
few fundamental questions:
As is the case for most things, it is all down to what are you trying to achieve - after all clubs survived quite happily for many years without websites. If your club is a close-knit group of friends without much formal structure and you dont want any new members then you dont really need a website, a few photocopies of the meeting dates will suffice, but otherwise... |
History has its place ... but preferably buried deep in the website. |
|
At the very least a website is useful way of talking to the
members - keeping them informed about the programme, the committee and
competitions past and future. You can post pictures of events and show whole
films from members or the club.
Of course the beauty of a website is that it can be kept up to date more efficiently and effectively than any other method. All you need to do is to ask members to check the programme listing on the site. If as sometimes happens you have to change the programme at short notice this weblisting can be bought up to date very quickly. |
||
Inviting or off-putting?I got the impression from my website visits that many clubs design their sites to deliver mainly to members and consequently do not pay much attention to what it looks like to non-members or what it contains beyond the basics. However if you regard the website like that you are really missing a trick. A website can help in bringing in new members by acting as a permanent advertisement for the club. So what are the implications of that statement? To get new members through your site you have to get them to visit the site and then it has to persuade them that your club is worth coming to. |
||
Making your site visibleI used a tool called Alexa (www.alexa.com) to analyse the visits which club sites get. It suggests indicates that very few get much traffic at all and that suggests they really dont extend outside internal usage at all. Note that Webmasters should always check the traffic (number of visitors) as it can be a very useful way of assessing how the site performs. In order to increase traffic you have to invite links to your site from other places. For example most towns and villages have a community / local authority / local newspapers website which lists local activities and organisations complete with links to their websites. Apart from bringing in visitors directly, these links also help you get better rankings with Google. Most important the site has to be searchable via Google and other search engines - all the time people are searching the web to find things they want. |
Stills from past productions are a good idea ... but does the mention of 1997 make you think this club is lively and active? |
|
So you need to regularly check how well your club site is ranked
try searching for your club with a few suitable terms such as:
|
Your aim should be that your club website appears on the first search
page if its on the third page or later, that does not count
no one will find it. The full picture on how to get your website highly
ranked by search engines like Google is a big subject beyond the scope of
this article. However I can give you a few pointers:
|
|
First Impressions |
||
Now what about the content of the site? To interest new members it must
make a positive impression and be interesting / appealing to anyone who knows
nothing about the club. Try the following check list - note that every single
suggestion is based both on good website practice and also some of the
crimes I noticed on my club site tour.
|
|
|
Style |
||
Every website should have some sort of style created by a
combination of colours, pictures, fonts, layout etc. Start by having a look
at websites that you know and like. Look at the fonts used, the colours,
the style, the use of logos and the navigation.
Now look for example at the Guardian or BBC websites as good examples and then consider your club site...
|
Reading from a screen is hard enough sometimes without red type |
|
An uninspiring tale of club history may be worse than none at all
...
|
||
What Next? |
||
So what did I find when I looked around I am afraid to say every
crime under the sun in terms of content and style.
Whilst there are some excellent websites that tick all the boxes the general standard is poor and it seemed pretty clear to me that most clubs either do not take websites seriously or do not have the ability or will or organisation to make a proper job of it. Now if it was 1998 when producing websites was difficult, website skills were rare and many potential or actual members did not have access to the web I could understand it but 12 years later many clubs do not seem to have moved on. Now I find this puzzling. The same skills that are required for digital movie making and club organising are those required for website design: planning, putting visual material in a logical fashion, using words and pictures to communicate. |
More readable than some, but hardly helpful indications of what is happening on those evenings. |
|
Name and Shame? |
||
I was prepared to name and shame some of the offending clubs by quoting
examples but I was talked out of it. Jan and Dave Watterson
came up with the more positive idea of an IAC competition with awards for
the top websites and one for the club whose website has most improved over
the year. The three of us roped in another former IAC webmaster, Atta
Chui to help. The good news is that we now understand from IAC chairman
Alan Atkinson that Council will hopefully agree to this very soon.
Meanwhile if this article has made you think about how you can make your website more effective and attractive to potential newcomers I hope we can help. In the near future Jan, Dave and I will be publishing on this website a series of articles and tutorials with practical tips on Website publishing and design etc.. If you have any comments on this article or wish to raise any points that we can address in these articles please get in touch either with me at Finchley.Film.Makers@googlemail.com or Dave at asstweb@theiac.org.uk In addition if the editor agrees, these articles will also be published in Film & Video Maker . - Peter Kidman |
WALLDO? |
|
Website Makeover Guides - Introduction
What Should the Content Be? |
Navigation |
Planning Navigation
| Anchors & Links |
Words |
Getting Pictures |
Getting & Using
Pictures A Beginner's Guide to Creating a Club Website with Weebly
Don't Panic! |
Signing up to Weebly |
Making your first (elegant) page
| Adding more pages and
navigation |