TOPIC:

Please evaluate our website.

sbcc.toastmastersclubs.org

If you would like to evaluate as a member please let me know and I will create an account for you.

Thanks!

Daniel Rippe
SBCC Toastmasters Club President
Club# 1270302
Fort McMurray, Alberta

Daniel,

Let me first evaluate your site as a visitor.

I like the content of the home page, as I am not a grammarian, I am not sure about your punctuation in the 2nd sentence.

I like the email links to the VPM, as well as the club and the mailing list. You may want to make the phrase CONTACT OUR CLUB or even INFORMATION as the email link to the club. It is also great the the JOIN OUR MAILING LIST opens the form.

I was never a color fan until I started really looking at other club websites, but a little color will really enhance your site.

A club photo would be a great enhancement.

Your meeting directions/information page map shows coordinates, I don't know if that is intentional or not. You have the email address there, you should make that a link as well.

Your Meet Our Members page contains some member pictures and bios, which helps us understand some of your members a bit. You may want to update your bio.

I appreciate that your calendar is set so far in advance. It shows planning, especially since you don't always meet on the same day of the week. Check the time on the meeting for July 24.

I like your video and Word of the Day pages, and can't wait to see your Member Recognition page.

From the Ambassador view:

You have a lot of information available to members in the Members Only area.

Home Page:
you should enable the Hit counter to show visitors and club members how many people visit your site.
If you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media, add the links under the Social Links area.


Agendas:
you should modify the recurring roles so the member only needs to sign up one time. This document will help you, scroll down to Repeated and group roles support.toastmastersclubs.org/doc/item/editing-an-agenda

Membership Management:
You have entered some information into your new member welcome that will not auto update if changes are made.

I ran brokenlinkcheck.com on your site and the LinkedIn link for Tyran is not valid.

Overall, a good website that could use some tweaking.

bumped to get more replies

By Way of Background
When evaluating a site, I look at it with one major question in mind: Will the home page grab the attention of potential guests and get them to a meeting? With the assumption that potential guests came to your site interested in learning more about Toastmasters and seeing if your club is one they would want to visit, I would expect that the content of your home page* (which does not include the Main Menu) would:
A. Make it exceedingly clear that guests are welcome to visit the club and that it will cost them nothing to do so.
B. Provide the address to your meeting and give (or link to) explicit directions for how to get to your meeting room.
C. Say something that distinguishes the club from other clubs in your area.
D. Demonstrate that your club is energetic, active, and vibrant.
E. Reinforce that your club will help them be better speakers and leaders.
F. Briefly describe what Toastmasters is all about.
G. Have embedded links to additional information about both the club and Toastmasters.

Aesthetically, I believe the home page should be professional-looking and appealing. With that, I expect the content portion of the home page would:
H. Use headers that clearly delineate the topics being covered and make it easy on the eyes.
I. Not use any clip art, stock photos, or bad animations.
J. Not look like a ransom note (i.e., the page should not have a lot of different fonts or different-sized fonts, lots of different colors, lots of centered text, that sort of thing).

*As our club’s webmaster for the last three years, I have found that having more information on the home page keeps people on the site longer, and then leads them to click more links. Using information from Google Analytics, I found that when our site had less information on the home page potential guests spent less time on the site and clicked fewer links. As a result, I believe it’s important to have more information, not less, on the home page itself. While it’s okay (and encouraged) to link to even more information in the menu, I believe the content of the home page itself should address each of the items mentioned above.

My Evaluation of Your Site
With all of that in mind and focusing exclusively on your home page (since others here will likely provide a more comprehensive review of the subpages), here’s my evaluation:
A. It is clear that guests are welcome — great! — but you don’t say that it is free to attend as a guest.
B. You do not list the address for your meetings on the home page. Is it common knowledge to people in your area where the Suncor Business Center is located? I suggest that you don’t rely on site visitors knowing this information. Instead, list your address here and embed a link to your Meeting Directions page.
C. I am not sure you have said anything that distinguishes your club from any other Toastmasters club; the things you mention about the club can be said about all Toastmasters clubs. I recommend saying something, anything, to distinguish your club. Weekly meetings? Convenient location? Enthused members? Already-great speakers who are really willing to mentor newcomers? The first club in the area? The most recently-chartered?
D. Your picture breathes a little life into the page, as does your mention of the next meeting date, but there’s little else to demonstrate an energetic, active, and vibrant club. Listing meeting themes for upcoming meetings could help here, as can more pictures of the members speaking.
E. You do reinforce that your club will help potential guests become better speakers and leaders.
F. Though you don’t really describe what Toastmasters is all about (if you want to do this, the TI values, vision, and club mission can help), it is implied by what you did in E.
G. You have embedded links, though I recommend that you make the links blue/underlined, as these are more conventional for the web. I also suggested adding even more embedded links to additional information that might be of interest to potential guests.
H. No headers. Not sure they are needed, though, unless you add more content to the page.
I. I am very, very happy you don’t use clip art, stock photos, or bad/any animations. Very happy.
J. Your home page does not look like a ransom note, though the use of all-caps — which is considered SCREAMING on the Internet unless used in headers— actually makes your last paragraph harder to read.

Some Additional Thoughts

• In the first sentence, change “ran” to “run.”
• The photo is too big and not particularly captivating; it’s just folks posting for a picture with no context for who the people are, why they are posing, and why you show it on the page. I suggest replacing it with a smaller picture of an “action” shot — one of a member speaking —and enhancing the content around it.

Overall Thoughts
I believe you have a good jump-start on your home page, though I also believe there are some areas you can greatly enhance to make the page more appealing to, and useful for, potential guests. Good luck!

Hi Daniel!

You have some good ideas. I like your word of the day, but if you just provide a LINK, you might not have to change the word each day.

I agree with Roger, a little more color. It looks pretty bare right now.

Where's the social media?

You should probably zoom out on the map to give a better representation of where the Suncor building is.

Are there any conferences, TLI's or contests you can put on your calendar?

Joining a mailing list is fine as an option, but a lot of people do not want to be on one. Can you post a link to your latest news letter?

Email link for the VPM is a good idea, but you can also include that officers phone number at the top of the "Contact us" panel.

You're on your way, just do a little bit at a time, you'll get there.

Blaine