TOPIC:

Hello!

I've been working on my club's website for the last few months. I made some updates because my PRM training mentioned club website contests but I don't think my district runs a website contest.

I tried to keep all the content on brand and mobile friendly. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find interesting photos right now of club meetings but I did the best I could using a combo of stock photos and archive but they should all be responsive.

My vision for the site has been to provide an experience for both members and for guests to both attract and nurture new, prospective members and to provide members info needed to be successful in the club. I started by making all the content that was previously in "files" available without having to download them.

Thanks for any and all feedback! apl.toastmastersclubs.org/apl.toastmastersclubs.org

For starters, I think you should enlarge the font size on left hand side of web pages, to make it easier for people to read.

When you start having club meeting, I would post a group photo of the group on the home page. Changing up the home page is good and can get new people to check out the site more.

Linda Mann

You've put an impressive amount of material into your site, and did well with your desired balance of use between visitors and members. I could spend a lot of time listing the plusses, 'cuz there are many, but you're probably more interested in suggestions.

You'll want to presume that a large number of your visitors will be doing a quick browse, rather than studying your site in detail. That's how most of us search, and when my club has used Google Analytics to see how long various visitors stay, there were quite a few who were only there for seconds. Their very first glance has to grab their attention, and persuade then to switch from "fast browse" mode, to "slow interested" mode. We'll often make a mental note to return, but forget to do so. We've gotta get them interested enough to at least bookmark us.

Their first question will be, "What are you and how can you help me?" Many people don't know what Toastmasters is, or think we sit around proposing toasts.

Now, your "Guests and Prospective Members" page contains a bulleted list that I would move to the very top of your home page. This answers Question #1.

If they like your answer, they'll ask if you fit into their schedule.

You answer Question #2 quickly, but it's inside an animated image, and if they glance at the wrong time, they'll miss it. You'll want the day & time displayed more prominently.

After that, they'll wonder what the meetings are like. Many people are as nervous visiting strangers as they are facing an audience. You want to be very inviting, assuring them they'll be comfortable if they do visit. Leading early with a picture of people having fun is a good idea. Visitors are less likely to be impressed by pictures of people just standing around or handing pieces of paper to one another, so put them further inside the site, if you have them.

Follow that with the Upcoming Meetings material you have. Make it clear that you're listing the meetings' dates and themes. Many visitors won't understand what you're trying to show, but what you're doing is a really great idea. Laying it out in the grid format looks like a bunch of buttons though, and you don't want visitors clicking on "buttons" that don't do anything. Be very careful of putting text inside a box that isn't a button.

Some past themes from your "Meeting Themes" page might look nice right under that, showing visitors what they've already missed, and maybe adding urgency that they don't miss any future good stiff. (You've had some really interesting themes.) I would leave off the dates, as meeting from 2017 and 2014 might suggest that the really "good ones" are infrequent.

Your "Tips for Toastmasters" page is useful, BUT...
Because you've almost copied this verbatim from the TI site, you could catch some flak from this. You should still use it, but change it, adding more to make it your own. Besides paraphrasing and adding more to each suggestion, I'd suggest rearranging it into categories so you can break it down into lots of smaller lists.

See, lists are so popular that they comprise many of the very trendy blog posts, and many magazines use valuable cover space to tell you of an article giving the Top X Reasons to Accomplish Y. But only the more studious, high attention span mags feature long lists. The low-attention mags (and trending blog posts) feature shorter lists. So, Writer's Digest might feature the "Top 90 Ways To Impress Your Editor", but People might have the "Top 7 Ways To Impress a Celebrity".

So it's to your best interest to break up that list of 90. Most people won't read it through. Yes, TI did the same, but they can sometimes be a lot better at accumulating good info than presenting it. (Yes, I do get the irony...)

BTW.. You did well in attributing the TI site, but it's important to get the attribution absolutely right. Their page is "90 Tips FROM Toastmasters."

It's good you've linked your site to your Facebook page. You'd do well to make sure visitors to your Facebook page can easily find your site, as well. You might include links in some of your posts.

BTW, we found with Google Analytics that probably half of the visitors who stayed a bit on our page went to "Meet Our Members," less than a minute in. They seem to find it important. You might want to enable that; I think it's part of their wondering what the meetings are like.

Please don't think this is heavily critical of your site. You've done far better than most and it's really nice, but there are some specifics you may want to fix up, to reap the benefits you deserve after all that work. Keep it up; admins willing to put in as much time as you have are priceless...

Wow what a website! You've certainly been working for a while on this.

As a visitor to your website, I found the main menu difficult for two reasons: the font makes me squint my eyes to read it and it's an overwhelming number of options. Because many of these options (Meeting Themes, District 18, Tips for Toastmasters, etc) are more appropriate to Toastmasters, you might consider moving these to the Member's Menu to reduce the Public Menu.

I like the background image, it's interesting without being distracting. However, I don't think the blue is a Toastmasters brand color.

I view the homepage as prime real estate for grabbing the visitor and getting them into a meeting. Therefore, I rethink every word on the home page to meet that goal. Keeping that message clear would reconsider moving the meeting info to the top and removing your club number, area, division and district. I'd move the slide show from "Guests and Prospective Members" to the home page.

I'm sure your members appreciate having this information handy. I know that I would. You've done an admirable job as webmaster.