TOPIC:

Please take a look at our web site (newalbanycommunicators.toastmastersclubs.org) and let me know what you think. It was just plain vanilla when I took over as webmaster... I guess it was about two years ago. I like to do HTML coding and so have added some custom pages. I do love the newest tweak in that method - being able to move entries within the page when editing it using the FTH editing feature. Anyway, I try to keep adding (or deleting if appropriate) things to keep it current, as a page that doesn't show recent club activities is not a good advertisement for potential new members. I have heard from new members say that the web page was what attracted them to our club).

I think you have done a good job of customizing the FTH site so it doesn't look quite as generic as the "out-of-the-box" sites do. On the positive side . . .

+
Photograph of your meeting place is nice and helpful to visitors.

Video on homepage; like the testimonials.

Homepage is organized. Often with that many images on a page, the reader is inundated. It is easy to understand each.

Meet Our Members page is full of photographs and introductions. Nice job.

I like the list of Toastmaster blogs.

Club Help Videos
Love this idea! First video I clicked on was set to private. That does not make a good impression. If these are only for members, perhaps place them in the member section. Again, I would like them embedded in the page so I don't travel off the site. Otherwise, I think you have done a great job of helping members and displaying how Toastmasters can actually be applied.

I like that you disabled the Club Calendar. Unless there are other Toastmaster events than the two monthly meetings, I find that superfluous.

Things that I think could be improved . . .

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Homepage video links to YouTube. As a visitor I would like it embedded in the page. It keeps the visitor on your site nd more likely to visit other pages. Once at YT, I may go in another direction.

Officer photograph on homepage should include office title (Jonathan, President; Christine, VPE; etc.)

Public Downloads
Lots of helpful forms. Perhaps a little too Toastmaster-y for the public. Most of these I think would work better in the Member Download section.

Unlike others here, I am not a fan of hit counters being displayed. They remind me of the web circa 1995. Using Google Analytics provides far better data about who is visiting the site, where they are going, etc. and doesn't publically display.

Link to Facebook page shows the last updates to be 3 Feb., three updates in Oct., and then an Aug. update. If one is going to advertise FB, it should have fresh content.

The link to the Meetup returns a message "The Meetup Group you're looking for doesn't exist." That does not make a good impression.

Overall a good job. The few "issues" are easily remedied.

sguenthe wrote:

Please take a look at our web site (newalbanycommunicators.toastmastersclubs.org) and let me know what you think. It was just plain vanilla when I took over as webmaster... I guess it was about two years ago. I like to do HTML coding and so have added some custom pages. I do love the newest tweak in that method - being able to move entries within the page when editing it using the FTH editing feature. Anyway, I try to keep adding (or deleting if appropriate) things to keep it current, as a page that doesn't show recent club activities is not a good advertisement for potential new members. I have heard from new members say that the web page was what attracted them to our club).

Sguenthe, there are several things on your site that I'd love to incorporate into our own club website, which I hadn't thought of before.

I love the Toastmasters Web Links, the Complete Member profiles (especially the Club Officer profiles), and the club Speech videos.

As a matter of fact, I will use those videos to practice, drill, and rehearse for the evaluations contest we're holding next Friday.

Areas for improvement:

Consider condensing or integrating some of the Free tools/resources you offer on the main menu. Upon first view, it's hard to choose which would be right for me (an outsider and potential guest). If you find that having the Web Links, Blog Links, and third party links are too much for one section, consider eliminating a few, so they can remain centralized in one location.

Overall, I like the clean lines, the great use of pics and multimedia you use on your site. I will certainly borrow a few ideas from you, and favorite this thread as one to keep an eye on, as you continue to make updates to an already solid site!

Best,

Giovanni Lizama, CC, ALB
Club #2945

Hi Steve! Thank you for your service, by the way.

Coding? You're Waaaaay ahead of me! The first thing that struck me as I saw your venue photo, and this comes from 15 years in real estate marketing, was I thought the first picture was a bit... too busy. It's good to have a photo, but I would tone it down and incorporate it in the meeting page.

I like that you kept with the colors of your banner throughout the entire website. It looks clean and uniformed.
Kudos on getting so many of your members to go "public" with their profiles!

Your intro video was GREAT! In fact, you have a lot of videos... as we all should. This is the stuff to which I aspire!

Obviously, you have a lot of original content, do you really NEED the "flying" accordion panels at the bottom? No, get rid of them. You say it much better than any stock content.

I suggest adding a LIGHT background color. This would not effect the content panels. In fact, it would better direct the eyes to them. A REALLY light gray would still keep with your banner colors, and yet not look so sparse.

It looks like your facebook is pretty new, but I saw some good posts in there. Keep it up. You probably suffer from the same challenge as I, getting members to use it and post. But it can also be a great tool to promote your FTH site.

I love the photo with the silhouette. Great recruitment idea. You've given me more ideas than I can give you! Keep at it.

Blaine Little, ACB
V.P. of PR, TM 1757

RD;

Thanks for your suggestions.

RE: Public Downloads - I also meant for other Toastmasters, not just club members. I like the way one can have folders here, but wish there could be subfolders as well. If that were the case, I could put the ones of interest to other TMs in a "Toastmasters Interest" folder and have general public intersest folders and such still listed as well. So... I think I'll keep it this way.

RE: the "Hit Counter" at the bottom of page - I like it. Someone looking at it would think (hopefully) "250 unique visitors? Hmmmm, might be interesting".

RE: First video clicked on was private. Which one was that? Maybe it's one that's on Dropbox? I thought that by providing the URL the video would be visible to all. However, if not (i.e. if one has to have a DB account to view these then I'll have to think of another way). Please let me know which one it was.

RE: Homepage video links to YouTube. Embed them in page? If I embed then page format needs to change some. It can be done, however, when I tried a test of it with Dropbox, the 'link' would not link. I saw the image, but it didn't have the executable icon when hovering on it. Again... might have to come up with something else.

RE: Link to Facebook needs fresh content - agreed... will have to work on that.

RE: Officer photograph on homepage should include office title - Done.

RE: Link to Meetup returns a message "The Meetup Group you're looking for doesn't exist." - Fixed.


Thanks again. Any idea(s) on the videos welcome.

sguenthe wrote:

RE: First video clicked on was private. Which one was that? Maybe it's one that's on Dropbox? I thought that by providing the URL the video would be visible to all. However, if not (i.e. if one has to have a DB account to view these then I'll have to think of another way). Please let me know which one it was.

Club Meeting Lecturn Agendas (lectern is misspelt)

RE: Homepage video links to YouTube. Embed them in page? If I embed then page format needs to change some. It can be done, however, when I tried a test of it with Dropbox, the 'link' would not link. I saw the image, but it didn't have the executable icon when hovering on it. Again... might have to come up with something else.

Place this code where you want the video. You can adjust the size to your liking.

Alright, Steve, as I was born and raised just a bit east of you off SR16 in Coshocton, I feel I should jump in here, also. (I escaped to a warmer climate about 15 years ago... How's the snow there? )

Likes:

1. Home Page - Like the lead picture. *Love* the video.

2. Google Map

3. Phone #s in Contact Us form

4. Great Bios and photos in Meet Our Members Page

5. Lots of good, well organized downloads in Public Downloads

6. Blogs page - Well organized, great content.

7. Toastmasters Web Links - Well organized, great selections

8. Club Help Videos - Excellent! Well organized, well done!

9. Club Speech Videos - Excellent Page, excellent content. Well organized, well done!

Possible Areas for Improvement:

10. Color. I personally would like to see more color. Most of the pages are plain white and could use a bit of color. Nothing extreme, just try some light, muted background colors, for example. Even Buckeyes Scarlet and Grey might work. (in a lighter shade)

11. It is great that you have an exterior photo of your meeting place, but I would recommend relocating it to your Meeting Info / Directions page and just putting a link to that page on your home page. (e.g. Click HERE for directions to our meeting. )

12. Some of your photos on your home page are outdated and could seem like you are just leaving them there to fill space. Ideally, your home page should not have outdated content. For example, the photo from 2011. It is fine if you want to keep those, but put them on another page, like a Photo Gallery page of old photos, and not on your Home Page. Keep your home page "fresh".

13. I would recommend making a Club Officers page, and moving the relevant photo and names from your Home Page to there. You could then just put a link on your home page to that page. (e.g. Click HERE to meet our Club Officers.) Having their own page will allow you to develop the content more. You could even do short explanation of the roles, if you wanted, for example.

14. Since you have a lot of photos, I would recommend implementing a slideshow widget in your website (could be on your home page). It allows you to show a lot of photos without taking up a lot of space. You just have to be selective about what photos you use--don't want outdated, poor quality, or duplicated photos.

15. Your home page could really use some brag text: Club / Member accomplishments, awards, District Officers from your club, Club DCP distinctions, etc. If your club has been around for a while, use that. If you are the only club serving New Albany, use that.

16. Your home page could really use an "elevator pitch" / value proposition text. For example, what is unique or special about your club that should make someone want to become a member of *your* club vs another one? You can work a mission statement into this, but the bottom line is that you want a website visitor to read this and say "Yeah, that is what I want, I need to find out more about this club and go to one of their meetings." Your *excellent* intro video does some of this indirectly (testimonials are kind of indirect), but not everyone will want to watch your video. You need some text to grab attention and make the website visitor want to explore your website more.

17. You have great supporting content, but you have to make people want to explore that beyond your home page. It may seem redundant, but include some links to your supporting content pages on your home page. When you do that, you can work the links into longer sentences, so you are not left with just the titles that are in the menu.

18. Meeting info page - Your landscape view Google map is fine, but here is the catch: You do not have a link for directions, and you should not assume that someone will want to fiddle with going to Google Maps to get directions to your meeting. The whole point of having a Google Map on your website is to make it easy for a prospective member/visitor to find/get directions to your meeting. If you make people work to get directions, they may just move on from your website. Also, include the exterior photo of your meeting venue on this page.

19. Online Application form - I suggest you pre-load the club specific info (e.g., club info) in the form. Also, if you hand out a meeting guest/visitor packet at your meetings, you may want to put an electronic version of that in your downloads.

Overall, you have a lot of great content to work with, and you deserve a *lot* of kudos for the effort you have obviously put into developing that. Just a little more "spice" (color) and content freshening on your home page would help, I think. Best wishes!

Giovanni;

I like your suggestion to get rid of the 'accordion' info, but I like the idea of having it too. So.... what I'll do is use my earlier idea of a link just for Toasties and one for visitors. I could call one "Info for Toastmasters" and the other "Info for Visitors". The latter will show the information that those default TM pages would show, and any other general stuff. I can do that by capturing images (I use Snagit) and saving them online there. As Yoda would say "Great ideas you have given me".

Blaine;

OOPs! I attributed your suggestion to Giovanni... sorry. But as you can see, I like it and will make some changes based on it.

(Giovanni, hope I didn't confuse you. I'm the confused one )

RD;

1. Lectern error corrected... thanks. However, now that you mention it, I've got to 'get rid' of a few of those videos as they teach how to use the FTH Agenda functionality, which I no longer display as members just weren't using it.

2. I'll try using that code.

Steve;

Snow? What snow? (we gave it up for Lent ) OK, great ideas... much to think about and do. Some are probably a bit ambitious for time I'm able to devote to, but still... super. Here's what I'm thinking:

Background color - have started, must look further to apply to custom pages.

Meeting Info/directions - Have added directions to map page (don;t think I want to move functionality elsewhere).

Photos - Yes, think I'll get rid of photos older than 2 years, and figure out how to add a slide show, or 'gallery'.

Brag Text - Another great idea - love it, will do it.

Elevator Pitch - That was what I created the 'Intro Video' for, but still... can be done... must think some.

Online app form - Prefill it... OUTSTANDING idea. Will do.

Many thanks

Steve, you may find the following helpful: support.toastmastersclubs.org/6-tips-and...e-use-of-color#47205

In addition to the great appearance suggestions, here's a couple on content.

I really think complete meeting information (time, day, location) should be shown prominently on the home page, in addition to the Meeting/Directions page. Visitors will sometimes bounce out fast, rather than stay and poke around.

I also agree with other comments that there is not enough text, and too many photos on the home page. I'd suggest setting up a photo gallery page and moving all the older ones (older than 12 months) to that archive. Then add some more text, both to describe the club to potential visitors, and also to be sure that Google understands absolutely, positively, that the website is about Toastmasters in New Albany.

You are getting great coverage on a Google search, but it nevers hurts to improve it a bit more

George

Steve,

In order to continue to have this forum section be useful into the future, we need to request that everyone contribute to it.

Therefore, we are implementing "Get an evaluation, give an evaluation." . Basically, we are requesting those who have received a website evaluation give a Toastmasters style website evaluation for at least one other club that has requested an evaluation in this forum section. (You get to choose which club website to do the website evaluation for.) Just post your impressions: things you like about the website, and areas for improvement. Everyone has something to offer... just trust your instincts.

Steve;

I already have rated one other site, and glad I did too... got some great ideas for our own site, which I've already started to implement.

My thanks go out to all who commented on the site. I’ve made a few changes to it, based on recommendations from all of you and other sites I've looked at since then:

1. Made the Main Menu and Members Only pages show as tabs in the left-hand panel (instead of being one above the other).
2. Changed the size of the text and image on the Meeting Information/Directions page.
3. Split the cell showing the building image to add links on the right hand side for visitors considering Toastmasters to go look at. Previously, these existed as additional links on the bottom of the page (who ever went down THAT far, anyway?).
4. Pre-filled the stored membership application PDF with club information.

The only thing that bothers me here (and I will change it) is the size of the ‘tickler text’ I have on the building image. Since I had to shrink the image display to fit in the new links to the right of the picture, the text is a bit hard to read. I will make that bigger… soon.

Steve,

I love your new speech photos, that is something I am still trying to implement on our site. REALLY love all those archived speeches.

Looking good, my friend!

Blaine