Search charities online presence
Kris Manning made a comment on my blog last week about the UKLSI’s website. He said;
They’d be better off removing the unfinished pages as it all looks a bit poor at the moment and doesnt show them in the best light. It’s been like that for a long time as well and these days the web is the first place that people look.
Now, I’m not about to comment on their website in particular but it did get me thinking about the importance of search charities having a good online presence. The question is what is a “good” online presence?
I teach web design to complete beginners and yet the tips I give them seem very appropriate to this debate. In order to have a good online presence search charities websites need;
- A consistant layout and easy navigation
- Appropriate style and tone
- Accurate and mistake free
- Good quality links
- Something useful on each page
- Updating regularly
And many ALSAR and LSDogs Units fall down on these, in particular the bottom ones.
Some may question why it is important, but in this day and age most people under 30 look first to the Internet for anything and everything. Someone on one of the UKLSI courses had joined Buckinghamshire Search and Rescue despite living in Berkshire because theirs was the first website she had come across.
It does mean finding a volunteer to maintain the website and online presence – a Facebook page is probably also a MUST – but in this day and age, when potential members, support personnel and donors are looking first online you NEED to sort out your Unit’s website.
I try to help – links to websites help when it comes to ranking in search engines – but if people don’t like your website, you’ve lost them. Your image these days, is as much about your online presence and website as it is what you do!
What SAR websites do you like? Which ones need work?
November 19, 2009
· 
Robert Bradley · 
5 Comments
Tags: ALSAR, BSAR, Buckinghamshire Search and Rescue, Facebook, LSDogs, Search and Rescue Charity, Search Charity, UKLSI · Posted in: Search Thoughts
5 Responses
Hi Rob,
Good blog post but I think there is more to add here.
It’s not enough to have empty pages that say “under construction” – It’s a pet bugbear of mine and the professional web design industry. If the page is under construction then remove it until its ready, you don’t win brownie points for extra pages, and the worst of the worst (the ultimate sin of the web world) is to have pages saying “Lorem Ipsum…”
If the whole website isn’t ready then just have a holding page with name, logo and contact details. Nice, clean and neat. It will be enough info so that people aren’t put off and it gives you some sort of web presence. The ISIS website http://www.isis-sar.org.uk/ is a perfect example of this.
I know that many websites are maintained by volunteers but they are the window to your world and your primary method of knowledge, publicity and promotion and if you are not careful some people wont look any further than your website.
Design your websites offline, only put them online when they are ready.
Perhaps this week spend a couple of hours on your website and fill in those missing pages or remove them. It will be worth it in the long run.
Kris,
Thanks, although we currently don’t have contact details up there and should. Our website is being constructed by one of our members, hopefully it shouldn’t be too long.
We had a long meeting about what kinds of look we wanted, how to navigate around the site, and the styles we want and don’t want!
I agree with both of you that it’s a very important part of a team’s publicity, to have a good website that looks professional and has relevent, clear information on it. Once ours is up and running we’d welcome any suggestions you may have.
Nothing is more frustrating than when you are trying to find something out and the relevent website is hard to navigate around and/or hasn’t been updated.
Hi Jennie,
Good point. Can you get the contact details on there double quick? You could be missing new members or sponsorship.
Kris
I maintain the ALSAR web site and apparently it was discussed at the conference in August. I am still waiting for any points raised there to filter their way down to me so I can implement them and welcome any comments.
Additionally the ALSAR committee have full access to manage the content of the website I have provided the framework so I suspect it is just a training issue.
I have also asked if the members area ‘add callout’ needs to be modified to fall more in to line with Rob’s stats collection.
Simon.
Hi Simon,
I manage a number of Joomla websites and as easy as they are it still needs a little training so I’d agree its more of a training issue than anything else. At least the ALSAR website is complete and ‘clean’ even if the content is light.
In terms of content i’d like to see full contact details and demographics for every ALSAR team. A news page which covers the teams and addresses national issues and also the ALSAR documentation, ACOP, training standards, policies etc should all be fully reproduced and on display to the public. The more open the info the better.
The sponsorship page needs a serious update if we are expecting people to part with their money.
The conference was a serious step forward for ALSAR (it was a distant distant dream when I was Chairman) yet there is still no info on the website about it. It seems that this is an opportunity lost as the momentum has now gone. How can we expect better numbers at the next conference if we havent capitalised on the last one?
Information on how to start a team would be good. I wrote a document on this a few years ago and it used to be on the old website. It could probably be updated and reposted.
Perhaps a map showing ALSAR coverage?
I’m in two minds about a discussion forum, it might be one forum too many but I guess it cant hurt as long as decent forum software is used (Invision Power Board IPB is the gold standard as you are probably aware)
Being a career volunteer myself I’m well aware of the issues surrounding time so I’m always happy to put my money where my mouth is and help out rather than just gob off, just let me know if you ever need anything.
Kris
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