Is your Samaj visible?
You need to be very effective – save time and effort!
A website, when kept up to date can save do that exactly, It is a central repository for information and members and well wishers help themselves with the information thus freeing your time dealing with crucial activities.
There is a lot of ways to interact with the membership, and a good website is possibly the most important. Research has time and again shown that the organisations which use a good website to interact creates a more cohesive and compassionate enviornment for the Samaj (Organisation). There is an imminent need for a good website.
Google recently announced it is making significant changes to its search algorithm for ranking the mobile search results. This is the perfect opportunity to create a mobile-friendly website (responsive site) which will also aid and help smart phone and tablet users to easily use information on the website.
Contents of a Good Website – Static Pages
Also known as Brochure Websites – where the content is not easily editable. Once the information is uploaded very little changes are made, hence there is hardly a need to re-visit the website. The information can easily be out of date and has very little purpose. A website must also collect information about members in order to effectively ‘market’ to them in the future. Below are some information you may choose to include in your website.
Typical contents for a Static Website
- Home Page
- About Us – Trustees, Office bearers, Committee Members, Administrators, Auditors etc.
- Regular Activity
- Forthcoming event notification pages
- History page(s) – can be comprehensive with photos.
- Photo Gallery Page(s) of events, historic moments.
- Visitors pages.
- Volunteer Appeal Pages.
- Key Project Pages and its development.
- Guides for deities (if a temple).
- Social information – eg a Mahila Mandal, Children’s group, language groups, other interest groups etc.,
- Information about Hinduism
- Information about Events being celebrated – Navratri, Janmasthami, Raam Navmi etc.,
- Contact Us Page.
Additional Dynamic Content
These websites are more likely to get visitors and more so, repeat visitors; as the visitors get a new experience of images and information each time. Also, provides an opportunity for the visitor to engage with the organisation. It is now becoming common practice for search robots to look new activities on websites as these creates a positive user experience, which Google reward by pushing the website up the ranks.
Apart from the static pages a good dynamic content website can also feature
- Blog Pages – A blog is a frequently place to express the opinions of your Samaj (organisation) in the form of an online personal journal or diary. A place which expresses the thoughts and passions and is usually kept updated regularly.
- Video Pages and even Live linkages, obviously a bit more involved in the setting up, but imagine someone, stuck at home or away being able to participate while being overseas.
- Membership Sites – Can create different tiers of membership to give additional privileges and information. This is totally personalised to each Samaj and its needs.
With all types of websites, there is a degree of skill required in loading the material and its very important to keep the information relevant and up to date. These technologies are relatively new, and therefore there is huge and continuous development, which must be kept up-to-date to maximise returns on investment.
At Evolution, we recognise that there are a few hurdles a Committee has to jump in order to create an internal team who can deal with Websites effectively. We want to work with every organisation keen to develop a strategy. Put simply, Samaj’s provide the information and we will maintain the technological aspects, at a very reasonable cost in order for the Samaj to have an effective Website presence without breaking the bank.