I am not a website guru and barely know how to do much more on computers than surf, email, and use MS Office applications, but I do know I've been in numerous discussions here and in person about creating and maintaining CAP squadron homepages.
I recently moved and wanted to visit the local squadron. I Google searched the squadron and found the website easy enough. I had to look into the events calendar to find out when they met, but a key piece of info was missing; the "WHERE".
Due to the nature of volunteers, individual obligations outside of CAP and your typical attention span of cadets, I believe squadron homepages should be timeless. Meaning, they should not require updating unless something changes such as meeting location, time/day, or contact information.
I have yet to find a squadron homepage that was updated regularly or maintained for longer than a few months before it fell by the wayside. Elaborate sites are cool, but they're no good if they aren't maintained and are even less useful if you can't easily view them on a smartphone.
+100
Many businesses don't update their websites often enough either. It really takes the right person dedicated to the job to keep a site fresh over the long haul.
Quote from: Stonewall on December 13, 2013, 12:02:03 PMDue to the nature of volunteers, individual obligations outside of CAP and your typical attention span of cadets, I believe squadron homepages should be timeless. Meaning, they should not require updating unless something changes such as meeting location, time/day, or contact information.
Agreed - personal contact information for the unit should also be avoided and all online assets owned by the unit, not an individual.
Get a free phone number such as GVoice and use that for the posted number of the unit, then distribute the voice mails to a number of people.
Same goes for contact emails, a generic "info@" address that goes to a list is much better then "janeycadetCAProcks84@juno.com", etc.
Then if and when someone leaves, nothing on the web should change.
FYI, for those scoring at home, Facebook and Twitter are >not< web pages, and should not be used as the default contact page for a unit.
Use them if you feel you must, but the main web presence should be a web page. And if you have FB & Twit pages,
they should be created by email accounts that belong to the squadron, preferably indise a domain you control, but they should never be
owned by an email account you don't control, since if that "person" get's PO'ed, they can dump your FB without warning or any way to recover.
Yeah we're working on that. But in this day and age it is amazing that people setting up a web page don't seem to get the idea is to communicate not only to your membership but to the general public. A web page is a huge recruiting tool.
Prior to the Olympics this year, I want to go take a curling class. I've always wanted to learn how to curl since I was a kid. There is a curling club about 30 minutes south of me. They have a web page. They have a schedule. They have absolutely no contact information, or easy way to get ahold of someone, or an indication of what you should do if you want to learn how to curl. I mean come on, this is not hard. If you're wondering why your sport / organization / business is not getting any referrals from your website, make sure you actually have a way for people who don't know anything about you to get in touch.
Here's ours. http://www.ellingtoncap.org/ (http://www.ellingtoncap.org/)
The only things that change are the announcement section (when there's a new one) and things get added to the resources area from time to time. The web guy is also going to add a section for squadron pictures and the like.
Squadrons shouldn't even bother trying to post news stories and current events. Very, very few will continue to update them over time.
So, just put up a basic site with info on what CAP is, where you meet, when, etc in such a way that if no one touches the web site in a year, it won't look bad.
CAP, Ellington ..
Max Baer PSA / Civil Air Patrol (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFgd5CxaL68#)
Quote from: a2capt on December 13, 2013, 09:25:13 PM
CAP, Ellington ..
Max Baer PSA / Civil Air Patrol (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFgd5CxaL68#)
That's awesome :clap:
Quote from: BHartman007 on December 13, 2013, 08:30:04 PM
Here's ours. http://www.ellingtoncap.org/ (http://www.ellingtoncap.org/)
The only things that change are the announcement section (when there's a new one) and things get added to the resources area from time to time. The web guy is also going to add a section for squadron pictures and the like.
Nice page indeed, but I have to wonder about the "Ten Essentials of Survival" link in The Emergency Services Resources page, which brings you to the REI website. Is a CAP (a non-profit corporation supported with federal funding) webpage supposed to link directly to a commercial retailer? Despite the educational information available in that page, perhaps other firms (Cabelas, Campmor, Patagonia, ....) might have an issue with that. Might be a question best posed to the Squadron/Group/Wing Legal Officer(s).
Is there a disclaimer about "links not being endorsed?".
In either case it would be better to write your own.
Visiting squadron #2 this Thursday and was able to find all information about time and location. In fact, I just secured a place to live and it happens to be 1.5 miles from this squadron.
Quote from: Stonewall on December 14, 2013, 11:29:31 PM
Visiting squadron #2 this Thursday and was able to find all information about time and location. In fact, I just secured a place to live and it happens to be 1.5 miles from this squadron.
Where is it you are moving to again?
DC area.
Here's mine:
www.offuttcomposite.nebraskacivilairpatrol.org (http://www.offuttcomposite.nebraskacivilairpatrol.org)
You spelled "emergency" wrong.
No sir its not. It is spelled right.
MADE YOU LOOK!
8)Im going to get you one of these days. :)
Quote from: Eclipse on December 13, 2013, 03:48:49 PM
Use them if you feel you must, but the main web presence should be a web page. And if you have FB & Twit pages,
they should be created by email accounts that belong to the squadron, preferably indise a domain you control, but they should never be
owned by an email account you don't control, since if that "person" get's PO'ed, they can dump your FB without warning or any way to recover.
FB pages aren't owned by any one account, they're "owned" by the group of individuals assigned as admin, so using this approach you'd actually have to create a bogus FB profile then create the page and leave that bogus user as the only admin. At least the last time I looked. The rules change faster than my morning commute so who knows now.
Nothing more depressing than finding an awesome website and seeing the Squadron calendar that says "last updated Jan 1, 2007" at the bottom.
Working in MD and living in VA.