Building an Effective Website

Your club website is often the first impression someone has of your club. It should showcase your community, provide useful information and make it easy for people to get involved.

What Should Your Website Achieve?

Before building or updating your website, brainstorm and consider what visitors need from it. If you were a visitor of a sailing club's website, what information would you be interested in finding? Your website should help your club:

Attract new members by showcasing your club and the opportunities available for both sailing participants and volunteers.
Inform your community with membership details, sailing schedules, events, news and resources where necessary.
Reduce volunteer workloads by making common enquiries, required forms and information easily accessible online.
Increase revenue through membership sales, course registrations, merchandise and sponsorship opportunities.

Create Clear and Useful Content

Organise your website so visitors can find important information quickly. Use clear navigation labels, concise text and headings that describe what each page contains.

Avoid sailing jargon and unexplained acronyms. Consider asking someone who isn't a sailor to review your website.
Keep your information current. Update event calendars, membership fees, contact details and news. Remove outdated content and broken links.
Use photos, news articles and genuine testimonials to demonstrate what makes your club special. Obtain permission before publishing photos or personal stories.
Use prominent calls to action such as Join the Club, Book a Course or Enter a Regatta to help visitors take action.

Answer Common Questions

An FAQ section can help visitors quickly find answers while reducing repetitive enquiries for volunteers.

Consider the questions your club receives most often, such as membership costs, course requirements, sailing schedules and how to get involved. Keep answers brief and link to relevant pages or forms for further information.

It can be useful to begin with important information and use that to create a Frequently Asked Question; work backwards to insure important information is easily accessible to users.

Website Self-Audit

Regularly review your website to identify areas for improvement. Ask yourself:

Can visitors find important information within a few clicks?
Do all links, buttons and forms work?
Are contact details, fees and event information up to date?
Is the website easy to read and navigate on a mobile phone?
Is the language clear to someone unfamiliar with sailing?
Are there clear next steps for joining, registering or making an enquiry?
Have outdated announcements and irrelevant content been removed?

Ask someone unfamiliar with your club to navigate your website and provide feedback. Their experience can highlight issues you may not notice.

If you need assistance with your club website, contact your Club Support Team.