Finding Great Content for Your Website
January 2007 (More monthly articles)
If your organization has a web site, you have probably come to the conclusion that one of the keys to getting your members to return to it on a regular basis lies in keeping the content fresh, unique and compelling.
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A good source of data may be sitting in your current and prospective member database. Have you ever considered how much of the information on your web site is also duplicated in that repository? How much is manually re-entered in order to get it there? As a result of such duplicative efforts, web sites can quickly become out-of-sync with the authoritative back office system. Instead of double-data entry, consider linking your web site to your member/customer database so the content on your web pages stays current with data changes made by staff. This way, the data is entered only once. Doing so is relatively easy, assuming you have what is called an ODBC-compliant system. ODBC is an acronym that stands for Open Database Connectivity. It simply means data can be extracted from it using common, third party software tools, unlike the old days when everything was proprietary. Today, most databases are ODBC-compliant, so you stand a good chance of being able to have a web site that displays live data from your data repository. Think of all the staff time you could save if you implemented this strategy, allowing staff to spend more time on other tasks.
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The advantage in creating a link between your web site and your member/customer database goes beyond eliminating double work. Consider all the valuable information you maintain in your data store that is not currently found on your web site but for which members routinely contact you. You could make this information available to your constituents quickly and efficiently through your web site. For instance, you could list upcoming events, staff names and contact information, links to member web sites, volunteer leaders, membership rosters, and member demographics. The information could be further sub-divided to make finding it easier. For example, you may want to display all of your events in one master calendar or subdivide them into groups, such as committee meetings, board meetings, conferences, and even webinars. Offering access to this type of routine information via your web site empowers your members to obtain answers 24 hours a day without staff involvement, freeing them to concentrate on other tasks and initiatives.
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The information you display can be password-protected so only authorized individuals can access it. For example, a common practice is to create a public membership directory that allows consumers to locate goods and services your members provide. Similarly, you may want a members only directory to use for networking and building relationships.
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News feeds are another good source of subject material. If you are a state or local chapter of a national group, the national entity may provide daily or weekly news items that you can copy to your own web site. For a fee, a number of news organizations will monitor online and print media on a daily basis, providing you with a plethora of news articles related to your industry, trade or special interest group. You can find dozens of these types of services by going to www.google.com and entering “News Clipping Service” as your search string.
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Finally, your members can be an excellent source of web site content. An association blog could also provide a steady stream of up-to-date information about the association’s positions and activities. However, both of these topics are worthy of their own discussion, perhaps in a future newsletter.
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