Technology & Your Chapter… Make it

work for you!

Tim VroomWebmaster Ypsilanti Area Jaycees

vroom@blockstackers.com

About Me• Creator of PerlMonks.org – Community

Website for Perl Developers• Software Engineer on Slashdot.org a

Popular Tech News Website• Webmaster for Ypsilanti Area Jaycees

ABOUT THIS PRESENTATI

ON• Presentation is mostly

non-technical, focuses on ideas & strategy for information on website

• Should contain plenty of info a non-technical person could take back to their chapter

• All slides and handouts will be made available online

• My contact info:Tim Vroomvroom@blockstackers.co

m

LET’S SHARE OUR BEST PRACTICES

• Want information exchange to be 2-way

• Want dialogue to continue past today• Handout will be provided to collect

your ideas & questions – Will share answers to questions & share all

tips in response to info turned in on handouts• Responses on Jaycee message board• E-mail to those attending

INFO TO BE COVERED

• GOVERNING PRINCIPLES FOR YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE

• COMPONENTS OF A GOOD CHAPTER WEBSITE

• HOW TO RECRUIT ONLINE

• HOW TO GET FOUND ONLINE

• TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL TO IMPROVE CHAPTER OPERATIONS

• RESOURCES & SERVICES ONLINE WORTH KNOWING ABOUT

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• IDEAS TO HELP YOU MEET AND EXCEED YOUR MEMBERSHIP GOALS

• HOW TO MAKE POTENTIAL RECRUITS SEEK YOU OUT

• HOW TO GET MORE SLEEP & DEVELOP FEWER ULCERS AS MEMBERSHIP VPS & PRESIDENTS

• WAYS TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION WITHIN YOUR CHAPTER

• WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR CAPABILITES ONLINE WITHOUT REQUIRING AN INCREASE IN YOUR TECHNICAL SKILLS

LET’S BEGIN!

GOVERNING PRINCIPLES FOR YOUR ONLINE

PRESENCE

FRESHNESS MATTERS

FRESHNESS AFFECTS

CHOICES

WEBSITE A

GROUP A

WEBSITE B

GROUP B

NEXT ACTIONS

WILL THEY TAKE A BITE?

MAINTENANCE MATTERS DOES THIS GROUP STILL

EXIST?

DOES THIS MAKE SOMEONE WANT TO FIND OUT MORE OR JOIN THIS GROUP?

WHAT’S THEIR FIRST IMPRESSION?

THE EASIEST RECRUITS TO MAKE ARE THE ONES

THAT CONTACT YOU

(WEB RECRUITS ALL FALL UNDER THIS CATEGORY)

EAGER RECRUITS BECOME ACTIVE MEMBERS

MAKE IT EASY

FOR EAGER

RECRUITS

TO FIND

AND CONTACT

YOU

THE QUALITY OF YOUR MESSAGE AFFECTS YOUR

RESULTS

FINDABILITY MATTERS

SUCCESS IS HARD TO ACHIEVE IF NO ONE KNOWS YOU EXIST

– OR –THEY CAN’T FIND YOU WHEN THEY’RE LOOKING

FOR YOU

COMPONENTS OF A GOOD CHAPTER

WEBSITE

• Good information and pitch for potential recruits

• Up to date list of upcoming events

• Good picture(s) on frontpage

• Photo Albums

• Easy way(s) to request more information from your chapter

• Comprehensive List of Past Projects Run

• Good Page Titles & Headers

COMPONENTS OF A GOOD CHAPTER WEBSITE

HOW TO RECRUIT ONLINE

• DEVELOP YOUR MESSAGE

• FIND PLACES TO PUT YOUR MESSAGE IN FRONT OF PEOPLE

• HELP PEOPLE FIND YOUR MESSAGE

• CLOSE THE DEAL

WRITE YOUR MESSAGE (WELL) ONCE

RECRUIT OVER AND OVER AGAIN

THIS IS THE MESSAGE YOU’RE GOING TO BE USING OVER AND

OVER AGAINLITERALLY 100’S AND 1000’s

OF TIMES

TAKE SOME TIME

TO

MAKE IT GOOD

AND

MAKE IT COUNT

DEVELOP YOUR PITCH UNTIL YOU

TRUST YOUR WEBSITE TO SELL YOUR GROUP

TO ANY POSSIBLE RECRUIT

• Good Group Picture (a variety of people having a good time)

THINK OF THE FRONT PAGE OF YOUR SITE AS A PERSONAL AD

FOR YOUR GROUP

YOU WANT TO PUT YOUR SALES PITCH IN FRONT OF AS MANY PEOPLE AS

POSSIBLE & IN FRONT OF YOUR MOST CASUAL USERS

MEMBERS CAN FOLLOW LINKS DEEPER INTO THE SITE TO GET THE INFO THEY

NEED

WHAT MAKES A

GOOD MESSAGE?

YOU TELL ME…Maybe thinking about some other places you try

to promote yourself will help

RESUME

PERSONAL AD

WHAT SORTS OF THINGS MIGHT YOU INCLUDE TO EFFECTIVELY SELL YOUR

GROUP?

Key Components of the Message

• Good Group Picture– Variety of people, having fun

• Good list of membership benefits• Links in text pointing to additional in-depth

info• Call to action at end of page

– Membership VP e-mail address and/or Request More Info link

• Good formatting – Include whitespace / blank lines / bulleted lists / bolded text & headings– Make the text easy to scan & recognize the main

points

Tips for describing Membership Benefits

• List main benefits (volunteer, social, networking, personal development)

• List example projects

• List benefits in personal terms

• Showcase the variety & number of projects as well as number of members

EXAMPLES OF MAKING

BENEFITS PERSONAL– “We help people looking to help the community find volunteer

opportunities, and provide members opportunities to put together projects helping causes they care about.”

– “Many members develop life-long friendships with other members”

– “For many the advertising and networking opportunities alone are worth the cost of their dues.”

HELP THEM IMAGINE HOW JOINING THE GROUP WILL

IMPACT THEIR LIFE

Supporting Content

• Project Photo Albums• List of Past Projects• Upcoming Events List• Member Testimonials• Organized Navigation

– Group member links– Group recruiting links

HOW TO GET FOUND ONLINE

HOW TO GET FOUND ONLINE

ADVERTISE IN APPROPRIATE PLACES

GET LINKS POINTING TOWARDS YOUR SITE

THINK ABOUT HOW PEOPLE SEARCH FOR YOUR SITE

CHOOSE TITLES AND HEADINGS WISELY

WRITE GOOD, INFORMATIVE TEXT

ADVERTISE IN APPROPRIATE PLACES

• Craigslist for Your City or Area (Group / Volunteer sections) – As time passes your ad descends out of view.

Update ad every 10-14 days to bring it to the top. (Automate reminders if necessary)

• VolunteerMatch• MySpace / Facebook• Others ?

FEATURED ADVERTISING EXAMPLE

craigslist.org• Craigslist is an online classifieds site with sub-sites for

given geographic areas• Craigslist is in the top 50 most-trafficked sites on the

internet• People on craigslist are actively looking for something• 2 categories are particularly well-suited for advertising

the Jaycees– Groups– Volunteers

• Our chapter recruited ~8 people from craigslist last year

• Your results may vary depending on the size of the area you’re in

SAMPLE CRAIGSLIST AD

CURRENT CRAIGSLIST GEOGRAPHIC AREAS FOR

MICHIGAN• ann arbor• central michigan• detroit metro• flint• grand rapids• jackson• kalamazoo• lansing• muskegon• northern michigan• port huron• saginaw-midland-baycity• south bend / michiana• upper peninsula

(pick the one most appropriate for your group)

CRAIGSLIST POSTING TIPS

• Include pictures to set you apart from other ads

• Include a good headline that lists as many of the benefits that may draw site visitors to click through to your ad

• Include your chapter’s name in the location field when posting ie. (Ypsilanti Area Jaycees) this will help differentiate groups posting in the same metro area

• Use a well-tuned message like we discussed earlier to sell your group. Including a call to action at the end

CRAIGLIST AD POSTING AND OPTIMIZATION PROCESS

As time passes your ad moves down and further out of view. You’ll be more successful if you repost often.

More tips on that to come…

Posting Process Tips

1. Create an account to use for posting your ads

2. Post your ads as designed in both the groups and volunteers section of your metro area. Your text will have to vary somewhat to avoid their duplicate ad detection

3. Set up a reminder to update the ads every 10-14 days. Most calendars can send periodic e-mail alerts. The service I use is hassleme.co.uk.

4. When you receive your reminder to update the ads….

continued…

Posting Process Tips

1. Login to your account

2. View your account page

3. Delete your active ads

4. View your ads, and use the repost option – to repost. This will bring the ad to the top of the page again. You can also make any edits for GMM time, or whatever else you’d like to change

5. Wait for web-based recruits and repeat

GET LINKS POINTING TOWARDS YOUR SITE

• Submit your site to search engines & appropriate online directories

• Get government & other organizations you work with to link to your site

THINK ABOUT HOW PEOPLE

SEARCH FOR YOUR SITE• What words or

phrases might people use to look for a group like yours ?

– Make sure you use these words in the text, headings and titles of your pages

Think about how people search for content today.

Particularly something like “volunteer opportunities in <city>”

POSITION YOURSELF AT THE END OF THAT SEARCH

?? => !!

SOME SAMPLE SEARCH PHRASES

• <cityname> volunteering• <cityname> community service• <cityname> networking• <cityname> meet people• <cityname> socials• <cityname> <project/cause name>

Try to include things like this in your headings, page titles, and text. Think about different ways of searching for things

WRITE GOOD INFORMATIVE TEXT

• The more aspects of the Jaycees you describe the more likely someone will find you when they submit a search for something we do

• List as many past projects as possible on a page on your site. – Someone looking to get involved in a particular

activity or help a particular cause or charity might find your group through a search for that.

CHOOSE GOOD HEADINGS / TITLES

• In HTML – Title text & heading text are especially important for finding your site through search engines

• Include your city name in the titles of pages. – You likely aren’t going to have the

number one poker site on the internet but if you’re the number one result for your city that’s what counts

TITLE & HEADING EXAMPLES

• Examples: • <title>Ypsilanti Volunteer & Community

Service Opportunities</title>

• <title>Ypsilanti Texas Hold’Em Poker Tournaments</title>

• <h2>Social Opportunities</h2>

TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL TO IMPROVE

CHAPTER OPERATIONS

MAKE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMATIC

MAKE ONLINE INFO TRUSTWORTHY & DEPENDABLE

MAKE YOUR WEBSITE A ONE-STOP SOURCE OF INFORMATIOIN

MAKE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMATIC

• People are more likely to participate when they know what’s going on

• Make communication with members automatic

• Difficulties – Sending and composing a weekly email takes time, and often a lot of busy-work finding & formatting the info. Additionally someone needs to remember to send it consistently.

SOME IDEAS TO ACHIEVE SYSTEMATIC

COMMUNINCATION(good) Automate reminders for someone to compose

weekly event e-mail to membership(better) Automate generation of e-mail content from

events in online calendar in addition to reminder

(best) Send automatically generated event e-mail

weekly to President for tweaking and additions and have them resend it to membership

MAKE ONLINE INFO TRUSTWORTHY

& DEPENDABLE• KEEP EVENT LISTINGS ONLINE UP TO DATE & CORRECT

• EASY WAY FOR MEMBERS TO CHECK WHAT’S GOING ON OR WHEN AND WHERE A PARTICULAR PROJECT IS RUNNING

• NOTE – A USER WILL ONLY CONTINUE TO USE THE SITE AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION IF THE AREN’T DISAPPOINTED BY LACK OF INFORMATION OR INACCURACIES

BUILD YOUR SITE INTO A RESOURCE USERS TRUST AND

DEPEND ON• THIS TAKES SIGNIFICANT

WORK & MAINTENANCE

• THE WORK IS WORTH IT– A trusted resource for

your members is worth infinitely more than a half-maintained site none of them visit or trust

GROW YOUR SITE INTO A ONE-STOP SOURCE FOR INFO AND DOCUMENTS WITHIN YOUR CHAPTER

DEVELOP YOUR SITE INTO THE NO-BRAINER ANSWER TO

“WHERE DO I FIND <RANDOM DOCUMENT> OR <RANDOM PIECE OF INFORMATION>”

WHAT MIGHT BE ON YOUR SITE?

• Newsletters• Roster• CPG Archive• Chapter Plans &

Documents in Progress

• Document Templates

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE YOU NO LONGER NEED TO TRACK DOWN THE RIGHT PERSON WHO HAPPENS TO HAVE THE DOCUMENT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR.

INSTEAD YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS AND GETTING IT REQUIRES A MINUTE OR LESS OF YOUR TIME

THAT’S THE GOAL – MOST OF US HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO, BUT LET’S DARE TO DREAM.

RESOURCES & SERVICES ONLINE

WORTH KNOWING ABOUT

FORMS

Example Uses: - Request More Info

Form - Community or

Member Survey - Poker Mailing List

Signup - Online Parade

Registration

Services: http://jotform.com

SURVEYS

Example Uses Member Survey Community Survey Collect & Aggregate

Responses to Survey

Services:

http://surveymonkey.com

http://zoomerang.com

SHARED DOCUMENTS

Example Uses:Coordinate or share notes /

lists / documents with other people working on an event or committee

Services Google Docs –

docs.google.com

Writeboard – writeboard.com

CALENDARING

Example Uses:Example Uses:

Administer calendar of events

Embed Calendar on your website

Set alerts / reminders for repeated tasks

Services

Google Calendar – calendar.google.com

Yahoo Calendar – calendar.yahoo.com

30boxes – 30boxes.com

REMINDERS

Example Uses:Example Uses:

Reminder to update Craigslist Ad approximately every 14 days

Services:

HassleMe: http://hassleme.co.uk

Other calendaring services

Event Registration

Example Usage:Allow tickets to be

sold online for your event

ServicesEventBrite

(Make sure to check what their cut of the ticket price is)

EVENT INVITES

• Example Uses: Send invites to

members Track planned

attendees Services: http://evite.com

WEBSITE STATS

Features: Figure out how many

people are coming to your site

Figure out how people find your site & what pages they visit

Resources:

Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/

Contact Info:

Tim Vroom

vroom@blockstackers.com