TOPIC:

Although I've been a site admin a couple of times under various systems, this FTH 2.0 site is new to me, and I'm looking for evaluation that can help our club attract some new members, and help us better serve our current members.

Please evaluate our website - DTM Leaders club 692953
dtmleaders.toastmastersclubs.org/

Two features that set apart our DTM-only club are:
1) our mission is to serve the District (i.e., District 36), and
2) to provide educational modules as an added feature of our regular monthly meetings in which we include the speeches, evaluations and table topics included in typical club meetings.

Our VP-Ed has been unable to post meeting agendas on the site, and I have earlier today made elections under the Settings Acces area that, hopefully, will enable him to be able to access that function, although I'm still trying to understand this FTH 2.0 site. For instance, the distinction between templates and agendas seems to be a chicken and egg situation; how can I get started - by setting up an agenda first with without a template's assistance, or somehom using a template to set up the first agenda, or what?

Thank you for any and all suggestions

Jeff Miller, DTM, past president of DTM Leaders Toastmasters, and current site administrator, club 692953, Greenbelt, Maryland

Ok, I will address the agenda and templates thing.

The whole point of the templates is that most clubs have a few general agenda layouts that they use over and over again. (e.g., normal meeting and contest agendas) By either creating a template from scratch, from one of the provided "stock templates", or an existing dated agenda, you are essentially saving an agenda with an easy to remember name (but w/o the date) that you can pull up and use as a starting place in the future for dated agendas.

You can also use a past agenda as the implicit "template" for a new agenda. However, actually creating named agenda templates gives you some additional flexibility, such as being able to modify the role titles in the template (cannot do that in a dated agenda).

While it may seem like "chicken vs egg", it is really a case of what you are going to do to save yourself time and not have to create agendas from scratch every time. What will be your starting place for new agendas?

The templates are not "linked" to the agendas. When an agenda is created from a template, it is a static copy of agenda items. Thus, there is no ripple effect when you update a template--the changes to the template only affect future agendas created from it.

Jeff,

Let me start with a visitor viewpoint.

I like the information, but as an all DTM club, you should make the Note statement big and bold. You have the bragging rights, so brag a bit. I would replace the stock photo with a club photo.

Your meeting information/directions page shows a world map, Replace the iFrame with the street address and that should fix that. I would replace your contact information with a link to the contact form, in case you take a vacation or win the lottery.

I was hoping to see more members on the Meet Our Members page, but I do like what is there. Have Jeffrey check his LinkedIn link, it goes to the profile edit page of whoever clicks on it.

On the club calendar, I would make a recurring meeting for each month until the agenda has been set. I also would add area, division and district events to show the commitment to outside of the club support.

I would turn off the public downloads link, the Free Resources link and the Toastmasters Video link as what is there is something that can be found on almost every club or district site. Your target market already knows about them.

Until I started seeing color on club websites, I never thought about it. A little color goes a long way to enhance a website.


From this Ambassdor's viewpoint:

Turn on the hit counter so you can monitor visits to the site.

Your new member welcome letter has been modified with some information that probably makes it read a little bit oddly. That is an easy fix by restoring to the default.

If you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media, you should add those links in the Social Links tab.

Your contact form has you listed twice.

Your files in File Manager available to members are from December 2012.

Custom pages can be used to enhance the site as well.

That's great. It's just the kind of feedback I was looking for, and I greatly appreciate your taking the time to provide so much valuable input.

Based on the evaluation received, I spent about half a day today making some of the suggested changes. I was able to put more emphasis on the Note statement, and have requested member help on finding a suitable club photo.

I believe I have successfully fixed the meeting information/directions page by using the actual street address of our meeting location.
I need more specific guidance on how to "replace my contact information with a link to the contact form."

I do not know what to do about my LinkedIn link.

I need more specifics on how to modify the club calendar in light of the following; our VP-Education has now been able to set up the club agenda for the March meeting after I made access changes for the officers. Separately, before being able to set up agendas on our FTH2.0 page, our VP-Ed set up a spreadsheet that has meetings scheduled out for several months.

How do I "turn off the public downloads link, the Free resources link and the Toastmasters video link?" Actually, I have updated the member downloads and the public downloads so they both have included a current club flyer that summarizes club membership benefits. I deleted the outdated files in File Manager available to members (although it occurs to me it would be nice to have an archives area on our website for past membership agendas and other materials, but I am not aware of a way of doing this).

Where and how would I add color to the website?

I turned nn the hit counter.

I don't understand your reference to a "welcome letter." Where is this and how would I restore it to default, assuming that is the action I desire to take.

I need more guidance on your comment of "Your contact form has you listed twice." Where? How to fix?

Thanks for all you have suggested. I am confident the changes made based on your feedback will benefit our club.

Jeff Miller, DTM
Site Admin and Past President for DTM Leaders, club 692953

Jeff,

I will go down through your list and provide you with the instructions.

I made your Note Statement BOLD. I did that by highlighting it and clicking on the B in the editor screen.

For the contact, delete your information, then enter Click Here To Contact Us. Highlight it, click on the the picture of the icon of the chain link in the editor and enter dtmleaders.toastmastersclubs.org?contactus for the URL.

For your LinkedIn profile link, log in as a member to both the website and LinkedIn. At the bottom of your LinkedIn profile should be a link, which if I am correct will end with 9a0/en. Copy that link. In your club website, in the members only menu, click on Edit Your Profile, click on Social Links scroll down to LinkedIn and paste that URL.

For the club calendar, for now, click into any date you have a meeting, and add an event. We will help you get the agendas straightened out.

To turn off the links, log in as admin, launch admin console, click on the appearance tab, scroll down to the bottom, check the boxes of what you want to turn off and save.

We don't have a file archive where you can lock the files from public and members, but you can make a suggestion in the Improvement suggestions. We do have that in custom pages though.

To add color to your websites, launch admin console, click on appearance. This is where you will set the colors for you menus, as well as your menu style. Just keep scrolling. Click on the Home Page tab to set the color for that page, then the Meeting Info tab, scroll down to see the background setting there.

From the admin console, click on email & Contact forms. Click on the Contact Form and add a different member as a 2nd contact.

For the welcome letter, click on Membership management form the admin console, click on New Member Welcome letter. You can restore the default, but before you do that, copy and paste what you have to a notepad or word file so you can bring it back if you want to.

Best Wishes on your editing, because you don't need luck, just patience.

singingtm,

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.

Hi Jeff!

Hey, FTH is real new to me as well. I will encourage you to simply do a little bit at a time. You DO NOT have to have the finished product in two weeks. I've been working on ours for half a year, and have the basics of where I want it. Now, I just have to add a few bells and whistles.

The blue used in your background is really bright. In fact, people will probably leave after a minute or two because of it.

You have a really good map, for people to know exactly what side of town you're on.

You only have stock photos, and as you already mentioned, you are looking for some local pics. Just snap a few at your next meeting. They don't have to be perfect, just friendly, and show people in action.

The main page also includes a lot of text for just one photo. IN TIME, you will want to separate major concepts by different pages. You can add custom pages to help facilitate that.

While you are modifying a little at a time, you may also want to work on your social media. Probably Twitter or Facebook, at first. They will help you DRIVE visitors to your website!

Don't feel overwhelmed, it will come together. Best of luck.

Blaine Little