Tips & Tricks for Effective Rotary Club Websites

2.  Tips & Tricks for creating and
maintaining an effective club
website
 Integration of your website and
social media
 How to get club news published
by local media
Prepared by Rich Lalley, Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield,
District 6440 Club Service Advisor

3. The Most Visible Representation
of Your Club to the World.
What Does Your Site Say About Your
Club?
 Vibrant or Dull
 Up to Date or Outdate
 Interesting People or Faceless
 Inviting or For Insiders Only

4. Multiple Audiences
 Club Members
 Other Rotarians
 Prospective Members
 Speakers
 Community Groups & Partners

5. Content for all Audiences
 What’s Rotary?
 What’s your club about?
 Easy to contact
 Where & when do you meet?
 Interactive Map
 Upcoming Programs
 Recent and Current Projects
 Upcoming Events

6. Make Your Site Easy to Find
 A logical url (web address)
 e.g. wnrotary.org;
wilmetteharborrotary.org
 Register with GoDaddy.com or other
domain registration service
 Use “Domain Masking” option to always
display your domain vs. the Clubrunner
address
 Links to your site on partner sites;
links to partner sites on your site.
 Helps Google, Bing and Yahoo find you!

7. A Professional Look;
Easy to Read & Navigate Design
 Transition to Clubrunner v2.0
 Easy to upload Custom Banner Artwork
 Make sure you have club name in Banner!
 Choose from Multiple Templates
 Easy to create Menu Links for easy
navigation
 Move beyond the default menu links
 Use to make key pages easy to find

8. A Professional Look;
Easy to Read & Navigate Design
 Transition to Clubrunner v2.0
 Many “widgets” available, making key
content easy to add
• Basic Club information
• Events
• Speakers
• Club Officers (data pulled from
database)
• RI Links & RSS feed
• Sponsorship banners
• Facebook “Like Button”

9. A Professional Look;
Easy to Read & Navigate Design
 Consistent use of a limited number
of type fonts, sizes and styles
enhances professional look
 Incorporate Photos and Video
 Great RI video and Photos available
from Rotary.org, YouTube and Vimeo.
 Photos can be any size- not limited to
old systems thumbnails.
 Embed slide shows from Flickr or
Picasa

10. Keep Content Up to Date
 Involve multiple club members.
 Program Chair does Speakers
 Event Chairs post Events
 Bulletin Editor posts story on last meeting
 Periodicallyreview home page to see
what content is out of date; remove or
archive it.
 Question the relevance of all content
 Calendar widget- does it really add any value
not provided by menu link to calendar?
 Do you need two places to Login (menu bar
and in column?

11. Keep Content Up to Date
 Don’tforget to check for relevant content
from RI and District.
 Remember Multiple Audiences.

12. Take Advantage of all the
Features of Clubrunner
 WebsiteContent
 Event Management
 Publicity/ email invites, track RSVPs,
 Committee Management
 Weekly Duty Roster
 Weekly Bulletins
 Customized for each member

13. Take Advantage of all the
Features of Clubrunner
 Member Database and Email System
 Email members update requests
 Custom lists (e.g. Board, Committees)
 Integrated with District & RI (need to activate)
 Attendance Tracking and Reporting
 Billing
 Sponsorships
 Easily more than cover the annual cost of
Clubrunner
 Clubrunner Online Help and Webinars

14. Add Custom Content to Your Site
 Links to Social Networking sites (Club,
District, RI) and District eYellowPages
 Custom Polls via Zoomerang
 Create a poll at Zoomerang, copy html code
and paste into Custom Content html box on
Website Designer
 Banners linking to content
 Donate now
 Link to stories

15. Add Custom Content to Your Site
 RSS Feed widgets via WidgetBox.com
 Displays feeds from Twitter, Facebook, Blogs,
any RSS source
 Integrate a Payment System
 Dues & Meals
 Donations
 Fundraisers
 PayPal easy to set up and integrate, no
monthly fee, reasonable transaction rates

16. Final Website Thoughts
 Visiblelink for visitor sign up for Club
Bulletin
 Sign up speakers and guests
 Track your traffic with StatCounter.
 Get free code and copy into custom content
on home page
• Use white font color to make invisible
 Always check your links to make sure
they work.
 Links to outside pages should open a
new browser window.

17. Final Website Thoughts
 Review your site in multiple browsers,
not all display things the same way.
 IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome
 Make sure you have rights to publish
what you publish
 Use “Add This” to quickly post website
content to Facebook Page, Twitter,
LinkedIn

18. Final Website Thoughts
 Involve more than one member.
 It’s always a work in progress; your
site is never done.
 Look at other sites for ideas to put in
your site
 Remember, your website tells the
world what your club is all about.
 Seek help if you need it.
 Transition to v2.0 this week

19.  Identify your local publications and reporters
 TribLocal, Pioneer Press, Daily Herald,
The Patch (on-line only), What’s Happeing, Century
Media Papers
 Create an account on their website
 Do for club if allowed, otherwise do for yourself.
 Learn how to post stories, events, announcements
 Follow reporters on Twitter (from your club
account). Like the paper/site on Facebook.

20.  PayPal
 Charityauctionstoday.com
 Flickr or Picasa (slide shows)
 WidgetBox (for content feed widgets)
 Zoomerang (for poll widgets)
 SlideShare (to embed presentations)
 YouTube and Vimeo for videos
 RI Graphic Standards Guide
 Rotary.org for content and banners and photos
 Google Images for photos
 Developers.facebook.com
 Word or PowerPoint to format photos

21. Banner
960 Pixels
Side Column Center Column Side Column
185 pixels max 450 pixels max 185 pixels max

22. For Help,
Contact Rich Lalley
Rotary Club of
Winnetka-Northfield
www.wnrotary.org
rlalley@yahoo.com
webmaster@rotary6440.org