Club Highlight: Rotary Club of Poipu Beach

A good website is the result of a combination of things - from the page layout to the imagery, ease of use, and even fonts and colors. In an effort to bring you the very best, we recently released new Next-Gen website themes that give you a fresher and more modern canvas to work on. A number of clubs have already adopted these new themes and this month, we're featuring one such club: The Rotary Club of Poipu Beach, Hawaii.

Your website is a representation of your club and through it, you are able to illustrate what your club is about. Through the text, you share what you want the reader to learn; through images, you take the visitor on a visual journey, and through the color palette and overall design, you share the essence and attitude and nature that makes up your club. Colors elicit feelings and have a huge impact on your website visitors. A recent study found that 62-90% of the interaction the visitor has when on a website is determined by the colors and that is formed within the first 90 seconds itself.


Think Hawaii and you immediately begin to think of beaches and sun. The Rotary Club of Poipu Beach captures the essence of the island with the use of simple warm tones - yellow and blue. The colors themselves depict sand, water, sun - all things you relate Hawaii too. In turn the use of such colors elicit a sense of trust which entices the website visitor to read further.


The website also is a great example of one which has a good balance of being member focused and visitor focused. This club opted for a unique layout where the two column layout starts below the fold, which means, that the message they want to get across immediately does not get lost above the fold. The first block of text you see is a welcome message which encapsulates what the club is all about in a nutshell, and invites Rotarians to join them for a make-up session. The text is enticing enough for anyone that wishes to learn more to click on the links and find the information they're looking for. By opting for a wide band at the top, and having the two column layout start later, they ensure that visitors don't miss their mission statement, which is front and center.

As you begin to scroll further, one of things we really liked was the use of big buttons to draw attention to call to actions. The idea behind adding buttons is to get the reader to act on something you want them to do, in this case, it's either to purchase tickets for an upcoming event or learn more. This ensures that your "want" (purchase or learn more) is not lost in a sea of text. People tend to scan and these days, we often visit websites on our phones or tablets, which means, the brighter and more unique your call to action is, the higher the chances that the reader will see it and act on it.

Pictures can speak volumes and depict a message far more effectively than text. Another great element on this site is the use of the built-in photo carousel that was also released with the new ClubRunner themes. The Rotary Club of Poipu Beach is a very active club and it shows. They balance their stories detailing their activities with the use of pictures and slideshows. Real photos add a human touch and allow the visitor to relate to the club and grab their attention.

One of the most common website design mistakes is making pages difficult to reach. As an active Rotary club, we can tell that the Rotary Club of Poipu Beach has a lot of information to share with members and with the public. Clicking is expensive and having visitors click through a number of links is comparable to creating a digital obstacle course. If a visitor or even a member has to click through dozens of links, chances are that many will stop midway. Here, we see that the club combats this through their navigation menu. Important information is one click away, such as how to receive grants, what the club does, its history, and much more. Similarly, even for members, they've added a dropdown menu just for the secure internal pages which require members to log in. By exposing these built-in pages on the public website, they ensure that members have a captivating reason to login to the member area, while making these important resources just one click away.

Click the image below to visit the Rotary Club of Poipu Beach's website, and perhaps gain some inspiration for your own!