As I was searching the net to have an idea of what to pitch in my email to my prospect clients, I came across this interesting post where the importance of specialized domain and website design is specified. It is written by Kevin Bondelli. Here it goes..

We have reached the point in the internet revolution where organizational websites are not only common but expected. If you don’t have a website, you don’t appear to exist. With more people using search engines to find information than ever before it is critical that your organization have a strong web presence. This post will cover the importance of chapter websites and ways to improve or start one.

Why You Need a Website

Like I said earlier, if you don’t have a website, you don’t appear to exist. Here are a few more reasons why it is important:

• Websites lower the barriers to participation and help you gain members and build chapters.
• They allow potential members from geographic areas outside of traditional population centers to find your organization and get involved.
• If you don’t have one you are missing out on a vital form of communication, making it much more difficult to spread your message.
• You can raise money online. Many people are less intimidated of contributing to a campaign or organization online than in person.
• Reporters are less likely to take your organization seriously if you do not have one.

Creating a Website

I strongly suggest that your organization’s website have its own domain name. Orgname.wordpress.com might work for a personal blog, but not really for an organization. This is a matter of being taken seriously by visitors, making your site easier to find on search engines, and the ability to have a memorable URL to put on all of your materials. The most popular domain registration service is GoDaddy.com (from right here in AZ).

There might be someone in your organization that already has experience making websites. (Check out my post on getting the most out of your members). If not, I suggest using Campaign Window. Campaign Window allows you to create professional quality sites quickly and easily. You could also hire someone to build a site for you, but this can be extremely expensive (for example, hiring me to do a basic site design costs a minimum of $1000). If your organization is going to build your own site, you need to get a domain name, select a hosting service, and decide on a platform. Platforms include TextPattern, WordPress (not wordpress.com), Drupal, etc. The technical aspects of building a website would take up this entire post, so I won’t go into it here. Some online research will go a long way in finding good resources and advice on this.

As implied byKevin’s blog, putting up a website is not as simple as by having a just website. Quality is also important in order to imply the message you want to send to your viewers. The more specialized it is, the more possibility for you be taken seriously by other media and your prospective clients.

To understand website designing and development better you may contact us at 516-01-13, 0927-248-72-15, or email us at em@open-axcss.com.