Integral to any burgeoning or successful club is an accessible and easily understood website.
A website should be the central hub of a club’s media portfolio, allowing members, fans, and more to swiftly access key information in one place.
A well-made website can have a significant impact on your club’s stature in many ways by:
- Gaining more members
- Facilitating fundraising
- Attracting new sponsors
- Entrenching support
- Aiding volunteers
Building A Website
It may seem daunting to create a website, especially for those without experience, but it can be easier than expected.
Platforms such as website builders offer a simple solution to creating what your club may require.
These platforms make organising a website stress-free by providing a number of resources such as templates and checklists that are catered to beginners.
Templates can be used to rapidly set up a website design which can be effortlessly and endlessly customised to suit your club’s branding.
Furthermore, website builder checklists can streamline the creation phase, preventing confusion.
In addition to checklists, some website builders offer AI chatbots to help articulate how you want your club’s website to look.
To find the best website builder for your club, make sure to account for your level of technical expertise and the amount of money you are willing to spend on a website.
Acclaimed website builders Wix, WordPress, and GoDaddy offer free options alongside a range of premium plans. Alternatively, Clubforce is a premium website builder designed for sporting clubs.
However, to customise a domain name – the name of your club’s web address – you will more than likely need to purchase a name.
Website Pages
The low quality websites are those which are hard to navigate. Fortunately, most websites follow a common formula to aid web visitors by dividing content into pages.
The first page should be the homepage, where visitors are first introduced to your club. The homepage serves as a directory for your other pages and should be simple to follow.
However, it should also be visually interesting. Consider including a striking feature image to capture visitors’ attention.
The homepage should also include links to your club’s latest news posts, so visitors don’t get frustrated searching for them.
Pages your club’s website should include are as follows:
- Membership Page
- News Page
- Contact Page
- About Us Page
- Fundraising Page
- Sponsors Page
Additionally, depending on your club it could be beneficial to create pages for health and safety or legal material.
Across the bottom of each of your pages, make sure to include important contact information such as social media links, emails, phone numbers and your home ground location.
Furthermore, the bottom of a page is also an effective spot for sponsor logos and advertisements.
Web Content
The most important part of any website is the content, so it’s important to get it right.
Before deciding what content you want on your website, it’s important to ensure you can deliver it to a high quality consistently. Otherwise, visitors will lose interest.
There are a range of non-negotiable pieces of content that should be on any club website, such as the fixture, match results, price changes, membership dates and training days, but you are free to include more.
To garner different audiences, consider blogging on your website. You could blog detailed match reports, or write stories that cover the club’s history, key people, and events.
Additionally, a weekly newsletter can keep your members and fans up to date with what is happening all around the club. Or if you feel more ambitious, post photos, videos or even podcasts on your website to create more engaging content.
Design Tips
While it can be tempting to add more and more when designing your website, the best website designs are often simple. Here are a few tips to help you design:
- Match the website’s colour palette with your club’s.
- Include photos to give life to the site.
- Ensure there is contrast between text and background.
- Make sure image and graphic files are not too large.
- Keep it professional.
Market Your Website
Once you have created your website, you need to make sure as many people as possible are accessing it.
There are a range of ways to achieve this. One is to use your club’s social media presence to post links to the website, another is to email members.
An incredibly influential method to boost the amount of web traffic your website has, is to employ the practices of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). SEO uses a range of techniques such as hashtags, keywords, hyperlinks and more to highlight your website to a larger audience.
If you would like to know more, contact Football Pro Directory.
