2012 RI Convention workshop, Bangkok, Thailand, 6-9 May

1. RI Convention, Bangkok, Thailand
Best Practices for Club
Websites
9 May 2012
@rotary #ricon12
www.facebook.com/rotary
Presentation on
www.slideshare.net/Rotary_International

2. Moderator Per Hylander – D-1440
 Rotarian since 1991
 Rotary Coordinator 2010-13
 District trainer 2006-09 + 2012-
 Chair Rotary Denmark 2006-07
 District governor 2005-06
 Club president 1998-99
 Management consultant

3. Panelist John Borst
 Retired director of education, 1996
 Took blog “Tomorrows Trust” to top 1% of all
blogs, 2006-10.
 Took “Communities in Bloom-Dryden” blog to #3
CiB site in Canada, 2009-10
 Joined Rotary Club of Dryden in December 2009
– est. ClubRunner website Jan. 2010
 Communications director D5550 July 2011 – June
2014 – updated district ClubRunner site Nov.
2010

4. Panelist Brian Hall
 15 Years in high-tech (programmer)
 2011 RI Convention HOC Technical
Chair (HOC ticketing website)
 Multiple club and district websites
and Facebook pages
 D6840 District governor-designate

5. Panelist Philippe Lamoise
 Governor District 5340
in 2006-07
 Web developer and programmer
specialized in online registration and
payments, calendars, directories, etc.
 Creator of the Matching Grants website
 Webmaster of District 5340 since 2001

6. Rotary Showcase – A new way to
share projects online
http://map.rotary.org/en/project/pages/project_showcase.aspx

7. Rotary Showcase
Rotary Showcase has Facebook updates to show
that you have an active club.
See a demo in the Rotary Bookstore in the
HOF.

8. Panelist Brian Hall

9. Content – Understanding the
websites and social media connection
 Twitter – Short-lived, conversational
 Facebook – More durable,
conversational
 Website – Most durable, less
conversational (blogs blur this!)

10. Update news frequently. You can use
 RSS feeds: www.rotary.org/rss.xml
 Twitter feeds
 Newsletter content
 Announcements and news items

11. Club information may change less
frequently, such as
 Major projects
 Club history
 Club meeting place, time, state,
and country
 Club contact info, including for
membership

12. Accuracy
Keep your information –
including hyperlinks –
accurate!

13. Highlight your differences
What’s different about your
club? Highlight it!
 Envision your target audience
Build your site to create interest for that
audience
 Use social media to link people to your website

14. Best Practices for Club Websites
www.duluthsuperiorecorotary.org

15. OneRotary
 Integration between Rotary
International and your club/district
 Vendors currently integrating:
 ClubRunner (www.clubrunner.ca)
 DaCdb (www.dacdb.com)
 Svensk Rotary Service (webmaster.rotary.se)
 Additional info:
contact.center@rotary.org or
1-866-976-8279

16. Panelist Philippe Lamoise

17. District 5340 website stats
 Over 500 visits per day
 Over 2,500 pages per day
 Over 14,000 hits per day

18. Target audience
 Club members
 Rotary visitors
 Potential members
 Potential donors
 Cash for project, items for auctions
 Press

19. Development and maintenance
 Webmaster is a club member
 Pros: free, flexible
 Cons: you rely on a volunteer, level of expertise
 Off-the-shelf commercial system
 Pros: easy to use, moderate price
 Cons: limited features
 Custom developments
 Pros: very flexible, unique look
 Cons: expensive

20. You get what you pay for!

21. They spent more on their website

22. Minimum features
 Online calendar
 List display
 Grid display
 Categories of items
 Club programs
 Club events
 Fundraisers
 Social events
 Board meetings
 District/RI events
 Club programs on district website

29. Minimum features
 Meeting time and location
 Newsletters
 Links
 RI, district
 Other clubs nearby
 Social media pages

32. Useful features
 News center
 Fliers
 Press releases
 Leadership information
 Picture galleries
 Directory (password protected)
 Event registration
 Signup form

37. Extra features
 List of new members
 Committees
 Videos

41. District websites
 Membership and attendance
reports
 Speakers bureau
 Yellow pages
 Club Locator
 Quickbits

48. Bonus Feature
 Free polio counter
 Philippe@Lamoise.net

49. Panelist John Borst

50. Website management
 Web editor responsible for choosing CMS, overall design,
monitoring , training assistants, SEO, and audience focus.
 Train other club members on a task
 Program, news, selling ads, stories, photo-journals, opinion
pieces, calendar, menu management, and so forth
 Gather content
 (1) weekly newsletter (2) RI newsletters (3) RI website (4) Google
Alerts (5) other clubs (6) create original material
 Study other club & newspaper websites for design ideas
 Think photos, choose wisely, all the time
 Plan for succession –
 (1) person(s) (2) to mobile (3) to upgrades

51. Website consistency
 Use one font, one size for stories.
 Use one font, size & color for title & subtitles.
 Think white space, monitor, observe.
 Assign one person to read after you post – for errors.
 Check photos do not move borders or columns.
 Know column widths.
 Ideally size photos before uploading.
 Keep site up to date, post weekly as minimum.
 Honor Rotary logo standards.
 Use club or RI photos – give credit.

52. Website design choices
 Use words or *buttons* for links?
 Use “Home page” for the story or *Home page as
draw* into “Story Page”
 Maximize use of pull-down menus
 Minimize duplication unless promoting a program
 Choose photos with emotion & engagement
 Increase white space in text – short paragraphs
 Design “site pages” as mini-websites
 If no picture, incorporate pull quotes
 Number of columns one, two, *three*

53. Text vs. buttons
CR custom design
CR default design From newspaper using buttons
using text

54. Study other club & newspaper websites
for design ideas
Toronto
Star
3 column

55. Study other club & newspaper websites for
design ideas
Dryden
Rotary
Club
in
ClubRunner
3 column

56. Study other club & newspaper websites
for design ideas
Dryden Rotary
Club in
ClubRunner
from iPad

57. Three columns are more
mobile friendly
You can now
pinch a column
into the mobile
screen at a
readable level
and scroll down
the entire
column.
From iPad

58. Archive design examples
Example of story archive. Here’s the default :
• Continues to
scroll to
bottom
• Not
necessarily in
order or
dated
• No categories
• Over time
just gets
longer

59. Archive design examples
Example of story archive. Here’s using a pull-down menu
• Organized by
year
• And category

60. Archive design examples
Issue of newsletter archive & record
•In this example
appears on
home page for
limited time
Other stuff
•
mixed in.

61. Archive design examples
Issue of newsletter archive & record
•
•In this
example,
appears on a
site page for an
archive
Not in order
•

62. Archive design examples
Issue of newsletter archive & record
•
•Using
pull-down
menu,
issues
ordered by
year &
month.
If hover
•
over
number,
date
appears.

63. Merge club, district & RI
 Conceptualize club site for community first, Rotarians
second.
 Conceptualize district site for Rotarians first,
community second.
 Use club website to drive traffic to the district & RI
sites.
 Use district site to drive traffic to club & RI sites.
 Create the district site as a “news” site about all clubs
in the district.

64. District to club site integration

65. Club to district integration

66. RI to district integration

67. More RI to district integration

68. Five things to ask about club website providers
 Are the CMS & ISP going to be around for the long
term?
 Does the CMS have the added value of both web
content management & enterprise content
management? Additional enterprise add-ons?
 Does your club CMS have data integration with the
district & RI?
 Does the CMS firm have good online & phone
training & trouble shooting support?
 Is your CMS moving toward implementing social
media and mobile design features?

69. Your website tells the Rotary story –
for everyone
Your website may be the first Rotary
website a visitor encounters.

70. Resources
 Convention presentations --
http://www.slideshare.net/Rotary_International
 www.rotary.org/newsletters
 Rotarians on Social Networks Fellowship -- http://rosnf.net
 RI’s official social networking sites -- www.rotary.org/socialnetworking
 Rotary Images – www.rotary.org/images
 Official Rotary graphics – www.rotary.org/graphics
 Rotary’s blog, Rotary Voices -- http://blog.rotary.org/
 Project Showcase --
http://map.rotary.org/en/project/pages/project_showcase.aspx
 RI webinars -- www.rotary.org/webinars
 RSS feeds -- www.rotary.org/rss.xml

71. Questions?