ClubRunner's BlogSpot

Best Practices for Club Websites

 

Did you know that you only have 5 seconds to capture the attention of your website visitor, before they leave? What's worse is that once they leave your website, the chances of re-engaging are very low. There's a lot you can do to make sure your website comes out on top. We get a lot of emails from clubs asking for tips on how to improve their websites and overall website experience, which is why we thought we'd share some best practices:

1.	Be Visual Capture the attention of your visitors with imagery, photos of your club activities, your members, projects, etc. After all, actions speak louder than words and showcasing your club from a visual standpoint not only promotes your club more effectively but also helps visitors get a better sense of what you’re all about, without having to skim through text! The built-in photo albums in ClubRunner are a great way to showcase your activities, and with our web editor, you can easily drop in images alongside your text anywhere.
2.	Content is King - Update it often! Content is King & Currency is Queen! The real factor that drives a website towards becoming popular and successful is freshly updated content throughout the site. If visitors are presented with outdated information, they have no reason to stay on your site to learn more, let alone return. Potential members may feel that your club is really not that active, even if that is far from the truth. Of course updating content on a regular basis is difficult if you have to rely on a webmaster. With no technical expertise required, updating your website on ClubRunner is hassle free!
3.	Make it easy to navigate Your website is the hub of information and the first place visitors come to learn more about your club. If they can't navigate from one page to another or find the information they are looking for easily, they'll associate their negative experience with your club and this impacts your bottom line of recruiting and retaining members. When creating website themes and templates, we always think about the user experience first, which is why all of our layouts, menu options and website templates allow you to build professional and beautiful websites that are easy to navigate through.
4.	Go Mobile Did you know that 17.4% of global web traffic comes through mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets?  The majority of people are online on their mobile devices and not optimizing your website for such devices means you aren't reaching your potential members. Today, mobile optimization for websites is not a 'nice to have', it is a demand that must be met and this is why all ClubRunner websites are optimized for whichever device a visitor may use. If you're using Version 3.0, you can control the mobile settings of your website.
5.	Be easy to find The "if you build it, they will come" mantra might have worked before but it no longer applies! To attract visitors, your website must rank high in search engines. Not only does ClubRunner automatically generate meaningful permalinks for each page on your website, but you can also define your meta tags to generate even more organic traffic. We dominate all major search engines, so having a ClubRunner hosted website means your club will always rank high and be visible in all search results.  Share your best practices with us! What does your club do to keep your website current and exciting? Need some inspiration for your website? VIsit our Live Sites page to see how other clubs have designed their sites. Want a completely new and unique theme? Connect with a ClubRunner Coach to give your website a fresh new look!