TOPIC:

Hello my name is Eamon, and I am the VP of PR for Omaha 229. I just updated our website, and I would like some input if you would all be so kind. The website is

229.toastmastersclubs.org/

Thank you in advance for your help. I appreciate it! Take care.

I like the picture of your club.

The use of different colored fonts strikes me a little odd.. sticking to the branded colors might be better.

The facebook stuff at the bottom would be nicer up further on the page. It is more interesting than the verbage about how communicating is important and such.. the personal stuff is more enticing.

I am sure others will have other suggestions.. but those are my thoughts at this time.

Eamon,

As a visitor, I find the colored fonts too difficult to read. I would opt for a colored background, with a different font.

While the main page contains a lot of great information, I find it way too long. In addition, if you are going to have a "live feed" from the Facebook page, I would expect something more current than February 2014. You have had some great meetings since then, so showcase those as well.

On your Meeting Information/Directions, I appreciate the driving directions without having to click into the map. I think having the street address in the map is preferable to the GPS coordinates.

The Meet Our Members page is really sparse. If members have a hard time adding bios, ask their permission to post it for them.

I see that your calendar is completely blank. Even if you do not use the agenda tool to populate meetings, add the meetings so that visitors know the club is active. Add the area, division and district contests and conferences as well.

While you have the 2013-2014 meetings and 2014-2015 meetings, the page is out of date with noting noted since December 1, 2014.

The link to the DCP is broken, but a visitor wouldn't know what the Distinguished Club Program is, so I would drop the link.

For the district link, having all of the social media links is nice, I would just link directly to the district page instead of providing the extra links. Again, a visitor is not going to know what a district is. The link takes the visitor away from your website, when you should have it open on a separate page.

Great FAQ page, but I find the font difficult to read.

Enable the hit counter so you and visitors can see how popular the club website is.

Great start, just need some customization.

First Impression:
Nice photograph of the club prominently displayed.

Homepage:
I only know of where the club is from looking carefully at the club banner on the photograph. I do not know when the club meets without clicking. I would like to see both pieces of information prominently displayed on the homepage "above the fold".

I like that you have organized the text on the homepage. I am not a huge fan of the colored text, but it is not a big issue for me.

The wrap-up from the most recent meeting is nice. I would limit it to the most recent meeting, however. The wrap-up from the penultimate meeting I would remove from the homepage and archived in the 2014-15 Meetings area.

The Talk Like a Pirate Day stuff is nice, but dated. I too would move that to the archive section.

The Toastmaster-y stuff below reads like the fly-out text. I would customize this text to be more specific to the Omaha club; that will appeal to your prospective members better, I think. I like that you added a photograph of members to break up the text.

I'm torn on the FB feed. There are two posts from February. The next post is from August. Given you have a FB link in the social media area, I would remove this. If you are going to regularly post photographs of the club winners, the feed could be a nice addition, just keep FB updated with current content.

Menu
I am not a fan of the red text links.

Meeting Information/Directions
I like this page.

Meet Our Members
Obviously, more members need to be highlighted.

Club Calendar
There is nothing listed on the calendar. That does not make a good impression. I would remove the calendar as I find just listing club meetings is superfluous.

2013-14 Meetings/2014-15 Meetings
I like these pages. It appears the information on these pages is for special meetings, not all meetings. Perhaps linking it to 2013-14 Special Meetings might be more descriptive.

Also, I prefer the date format of 2013-14 to 2013-2014. I find it easier to read.

Distinguished Club Program
The link of this brings out an error.

District 24 Toastmasters
I would link this directly to the district page rather than the page you have on your site, which will just cause the user to need to click again to get to the district page.

FAQs
I like this page.

Social Media
FB: inconsistently updated
Twitter: no posts since November
LinkedIn: Private, which is fine. Given there is but one member for the group, perhaps this isn't being used.

You have good content on your site. I think a prospective member will find what he seeks.

In my Opinion

1 Home Page-

I like the group picture as it highlights an active club.

All the white backgrounds is hurtful to the eyes. I would add web page color first, then try different combinations of color for the sections.

It is quite lengthy. I would place photos in a section of its own and add all my pictures to it. I love your captions for the photos.

2 Meeting Information/Direction

Great map w/directional map locator option.

The "Open to all" could be reinforced by adding this information to your Home Page. I would then link my Home page, Open to All, to your Meeting Information/Direction page for reinforcement.

Good reinforcement of time and frequency with written directions.

3 Contact Us Page

Excellent with 3 members with phone numbers

4. Club Calendar

Club Calendar is bare. Create your meeting dates way into the future. Add TLI's and area and division contest, as well as, District Conference

5 Meet Our Members

The one picture with bio looks lonely. I would encourage other members to add their information for visitors to see.

This is another page that color can be added. I would add a cool color (light blue or light green) to the background for items to stand out.

6 2013-2014 Meeting and 2014-2015 Meeting

I would delete from Home Page to shorten length of Home Page, but add the pictures to photos

7 FAQ's

Is hard to read but informative.

8 DCP

Is a members only link. It also doesn't work correctly. Change the URL to the page where you actually are on your clubs DCP report.

9 D24

Takes you to a page with your description of D24, but not the actual D24 website. Link it to the actual website.

Social Media doesn't need to be repeated on another page. You already have a section thats links work properly.


It was a pleasure to evaluate through my eyes your website. Please feel free to evaluate my two websites listed below.

Hello Eaman;

Sticking to the home page... As a Graphic Artist... Stick to one to two colors, for the whole site and one font style.... It is alright to or italicize for clarification.... Watch the brightness of the colors that you may choose... If it hurts someone's eyes, they may not go back... Also you may want to put more detail about your club on home page, such as: where, when:

Club Number: 229, District 24, Area D33 Charter Date: May. 1, 1942
Phone: (402) 658-8122

Meeting Times: Monday 6:00 pm

Location: Dundee Presbyterian Church
Basement, Enter on East Side, Down Stairs, Go Left to End of Hall on Right
5312 Underwood Ave Omaha, NE 68132 United States

Membership Restriction: None; the club is open to all interested parties.
and who to contact... maybe even a link to the contact us page....

I hope this helps....

Linda

Eamon229,

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.