Increase Your Website's Power
By Frank Odlum
The following article was
published in Association Executive, March/April 2003.
When it comes to keeping members informed, facilitating
networking, and encouraging participation in association activities,
not all association websites are created equal. The most successful
sites focus on keeping their information fresh, consistent, and of high
quality.
The number one source of staleness for many
associations is personnel: only one or two staff members have the
technical ability to update a site. Different departments, each
wanting to update their information, compete for the busy webmaster's
attention. A bottleneck occurs, and by the time the webmaster
finishes posting the information, it's already old news.
Fortunately, a new type of software called content
management software offers non-technical staff the ability to update
and maintain their own sections of your website. Dozens of companies
offer software solutions that vary in functionality, complexity,
and cost. Common benefits of these software packages include:
- Simplified web page creation. This allows
you to copy information from other programs, such as Microsoft Word,
and paste it into a form in your web browser. The web page is then
created automatically. This makes posting information to the site
much faster, and frees technical staff from making routine changes,
enabling them to focus on improving the functionality of the site.
- A variety of design solutions. If you
want to update a site, changing the current design and navigation
elements, content management software offers an easy means of doing so.
Instead of re-working every single page on the website, the design
is changed in one place. Content management software then rolls out
the new look and feel to the entire site. Changes that previously
took weeks can be accomplished in minutes.
- Increased interaction with members.
In addition to staff, association members can add information to
the site: articles, press releases, product information, and white
papers. Members can also participate in discussion groups and online
forums. This makes your site a richer and more relevant source of
information, and creates a community feeling that enhances networking
and can increase site traffic.
- Different news for different users. Members
can be greeted by name and be presented with news that is relevant
to their interests when they visit your site. Information about member
type, committee participation, past event attendance, and previous
purchases can be pulled from your member database and used to
customize the details that are presented to them. This makes your
site more useful to members and further develops the relationship
between the member and the association.
Association executives have found that giving employees
the ability to easily update content improves the channels of
communication between the association and its members. Providing
more current, accurate, and relevant data helps members make better
business decisions. Associations can use information already available
in their member database to better serve their target audience,
increasing their organization's value to dues-paying members.
Frank Odlum is northeast regional manager,
ISG Solutions, 575 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022; 212-888-1622;
fodlum@isgsolutions.com.
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