How about a better online presence?

We want to hear what your club is doing to bring in new members. Tell us what works, and give credit to those who are making the effort.

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higginsdj
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How about a better online presence?

#1 Postby higginsdj » Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:44 am

In this modern day and age, people are surfing the web and its in the web that one should be seeking to promote oneself!

There are a few good related web sites out there (mainly at club level or overseas interests) but there are a lot of shockers (from an enticing new membership perspective) Canberra comes to mind as the worst and it's closely followed by NQRA, SARA, TRA, NSW, VRA, QRA (the home page is shocking - someone needs to learn how to build a user friendly web site but at least it has a new shooters link smack in your face). In my opinion WARA is on the right track even though the new member's stuff is still under construction. Now this is not to say that these web sites are all poor from a current members perspective but you have to remember that your web site is not (or should not be) and online noticeboard.

Unless you are only looking for 'old farts' to join or just get interest by word of mouth, improve your image and get into the 21st Century. If you don't have expertise in building decent web sites I can guarantee your kids/grandkids do.

Improve the quality of your shop front and you will see some movement on the new members front!

Cheers

David

johnk
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#2 Postby johnk » Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:30 am

The new QRA website is soon to be launched.

Woody_rod
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#3 Postby Woody_rod » Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:52 am

I think that's a fair call David.

RAVEN
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#4 Postby RAVEN » Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:07 pm

You obviously havnt been to the SA F-Class Assoc site

http://www.safclass.com.au/index.html

I think your comment are very valid :idea:

Cheers
RB :)

higginsdj
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#5 Postby higginsdj » Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:02 pm

And how easy is it to find these/your web sites if the user doesn't know specifically what to look for?

Cheers

David

TTBS28
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Links to web-sites

#6 Postby TTBS28 » Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:12 pm

Hello David,

Just to help out a bit. You found the Ozclass.com site somehow so, by doing this, it gave you a great list of sites to look at in the "LINKS" section on the home page. One of the sites listed is the SA F-Class site.
Sorry mate but you need to do your homework and chase all of these links on the various sites and it will give you a lists of sites to watch a mile long.

Regards............Jeff

RAVEN
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#7 Postby RAVEN » Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:58 pm

Try googling F-Class see what it comes up with :idea:
Cheers
RB :)

higginsdj
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#8 Postby higginsdj » Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:28 am

And a new/prospective shooter knows the term 'F Class' how? Please remember that I am coming at this from a new shooters perspective.

What links are there to f class information/sites on the "main" 'rifle shooting' pages? How hard do you want new shooters to look for this information? Yes, they/we should do their/our homework but it took me 2 weeks to find what limited information there is out there. As existing/experienced shooters you are not in the best position to judge how hard or easy it is - you know what to look for, you know the terminology.

From a usability/accessibility standpoint - the more difficult something is to use/find, the less interest you will generate, ie it looks less inviting. Expecting people to come to a club meet cold is a big ask. They don't know what to expect, what they will be confronted by - think to yourself what the stereotypical view of a rifle shooter might be. I've seen prospective pistol shooters come down to their intro shoots in full combat gear, others dressed in full cowboy gear. We don't see them again because they were either totally embarrassed to be confronted by 'normal people' or we didn't live up to their expectations by being 'normal'.

The reason I found OzFClass was because I persisted. When I was looking to get into shooting several years ago, rifle was at the top of my list but the first thing I was confronted with was a web site that gave me little information and said they weren't interested in seeing new starters (literally) - so pistol got me instead.

People have only so much money and time to spend on such pursuits. If you want them, then you have to make it easier for them or those pursuits that do make it easy and inviting will get them instead.

Cheers

David

TTBS28
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Links to web-sites

#9 Postby TTBS28 » Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:29 am

Hello David,

For some reason you seem to be angry ( or perhaps just disappointed ) about lack of info on the internet - maybe I am reading it wrong ?? Whatever - to help out again when I first started looking at the internet ( say 18 months ago ) I was like you - I knew nothing about the game ( and probably still don't ) and was hungry for info. I don't have a great knowhow on using the internet but, to be honest, I did not find it at all difficult to find sites to look at. From memory I think I typed in "Rifle Shooting Australia" or something like that. It immediately gave me access to most of the State Association sites and from these I chased the LINKS that they offered and saved the string of sites that interested me in my "favourites". For example I just typed in "Rifle Shooting Australia" and found the Victorian Rifle Shooting Association site and from that it gave me the OZClass site plus a host of others to look at. Each of these in turn gave me others and away it wnet from there !! It is just too easy if you spend a few minutes researching it !!!! Hope this helps - Just another idea - If you need help with this perhaps you could ask the readers for a list of good sites to look at - I am sure they will dish up a heap that they keep for reference.

In the meantime hope you enjoy your shooting.

Regards.............Jeff

RAVEN
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#10 Postby RAVEN » Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:13 pm

David it is also dependant on the will of members to create a web site and maintain it both of these endeavours are large tasks and to be honest most are quite happy to sit back and let the few do all the work.
Cheers
RB :)

higginsdj
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#11 Postby higginsdj » Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:36 pm

Ok, I think some of you are missing my point. It's not about me or what I can or can't find, the topic category is about ways of helping fclass to grow. If you think that there are no problems with the web presence then thats fine. I'm not trying to justify my position, just expressing my recent experience and what I consider the pitfalls are.

Cheers

David

RAVEN
Posts: 1978
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2005 9:37 pm
Location: Adelaide South Australia (CTV)

#12 Postby RAVEN » Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:53 pm

David I'm taking on board what you are saying and I agree the more info on the web the easier it will be to find.
I remember I was at a state assoc council meeting and we had an offer to upgrade our web site by a professional it was not a cheap exercise and we decided against it.
So I agree with you that we need to get the message out but it’s allot harder than it may appear.
RB :)


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