Quote:
Originally posted by Canadian AOII
Hey! If you ladies have any tips on what I should put on a website plz let me know! I'm making one for my chapter w/ little professional help and all this html stuff is confusing the crap outof me!
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Well, as a "web professional" (consultant) here's a few tips for your chapter site (or any site in general).
1) Keep things clean and clear. It's fun to add all sorts of scripts and images all over but they really just clutter your page.... having a page blink or adding sound slows the site down and causes users to leave.
2) Keep the look constant. If you have 1 page or 40 pages the basic layout (top and bottom) should remain about the same. What goes in the middle (content) will of course change but if you change the overall look of the site, people won't understand where they are.
3) Navigation is key. When someone goes to your site they are looking for something, let them find it! If your site has small (like most chapter sites are) have a link to every major section on
every page. This goes along with rule #2 (keep the look constant). People want to navigate all around form home to your photo gallery to your contact page and you never know when they want to leave the section they're in so navigation should be provided everywhere (even when viewing a few photos in your photo gallery). Larger sites may find they need a sitemap to provide an index (site maps list every link in a tree-like fashion) or you may just want to link to the major sections (i.e. "rush" or "history") which can then link to specific sub-sections.
4) Make the search engines like you. People often forget that a website has to be found! To make search engines "find you" do a few simple things. Add meta tags to your site like follows:
Code:
<meta name="description" content="Welcome to the XX chapter of YY at ZZ. Etc...">
<meta name="keywords" content="x chapter, y fraternity/sorority, go greek, rush, etc...">
If you are using an editor like frontpage it can add these for you otherwise put them before the </head> tag of your page (sorry if it sounds a bit technical).
5) Let people contact you. Your website is just about useless if people can't reach you for more information so be sure one of your main links (on every page) is to contact you via email, phone or whatever you prefer.
For Greek sites generally try and include the following:
1 - information on your specific GLO as a national and local
2 - information on joining, membership requirements and whatever else you think a potential member might care about
3 - information on your campus or school if it is relevant (this may be included with information on your local chapter)
4 - photos, stories, quotes and anything else that shows visitors what you are about
5 - a nice contact page with your rush/recruitment chair's information plus your president or other members information
Remember, your website is public and as such it should
never include anything that will make you or your group look bad. Don't put lots of photos of people drinking, don't only show photos of partying, don't put contact information for members without asking them first and as a general rule treat your website as an ad, ads are profesional and represent you well, keep things that you don't want the world to see behind closed doors (i.e. password protected).
Remember, with a website there is no limit. You can use a simple frontpage template or develop your own site with your own images, layout and more. There are many tools out there to help you learn and expand your site so look for them (or check out the few I've listed below to start).
www.macromedia.com - Macromedia dreamweaver is a simple to use editor that helps you design websites without having to "code"
www.w3schools.com - free information on how to code a website
http://gallery.sourceforge.net/ - a really, really cool (and free) script that lets you make an awesome picture gallery
Finally, if I can be of any (specific) help just send me a PM and let me know.
), eventhough GLO was founded in the states.
)
I'm still around, been busy ....
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