Page 38 - 2016 December Voices
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PUBLIC RELATIONS
Is Your Website Naughty or Nice?
by Phyllis A. Harmon, DTM - Public Relations Manager
It’s that season again That all changed in 2011. Toastmasters
when lists are checked to see who’s been naughty International, under whose umbrella clubs exist
or nice this past year. Tradition has it that those (kind of like a franchise arrangement), refreshed
who didn’t behave received a lump of coal in the logo, message, and brand colors. There was a
their stockings hung by the fireside, while those huge communications campaign whch included
who did received all kinds of wonderful, useful a “how to” handbook, webinars, contests, and
gifts. brand ambassadors who were available to help
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time clubs update and refresh their club materials
checking lists of website links to see which and electronic resources.
clubs in District 7 are visitor friendly, follow the Today, five years later, there are clubs who
2011 branding guidelines, and contain current should receive coal in their holiday stocking
information. for not updating their web
Yikes! There are several who should receive presence to reflect current
the proverbial lump of coal for neglected, out branding. (Like Santa, I’ll
of date, broken links, and. . . (said in hushed protect your names,
tones) unbranded websites!! but. . .!)
Neglect is one of the challenges every club
website faces. It’s not nice to visit a website
where the last update was six years ago,
has the wrong meeting address, or
(worse yet) out-of-date or no
branding.
Websites, like children,
require constant attention. It’s
not nice to find that the last time someone Did you know that Toastmasters isn’t
updated the content was 2013. My first question particular about what type of website your club
when visiting one of these websites is, “does this chooses to use—as long as the club follows the
club even exist?” brand guidelines? You can find setup guides,
It really is annoying to spend time clicking mastheads, and other useful information for
on a club url only to find the links are broken. bringing your club website current under
Of course, unlike a potential visitor, I dig deeper, Resources on the Toastmasters International
much deeper. I’m finding websites have been website.
abandoned in favor of Facebook or a club Did you also know that there are members
management system, or vice versa. Well, ok. . . who can and will assist you to set up your site
but who’s responsibility is it to update the url or bring it into compliance? Contact me at
in Club Central? phyllis.harmon@d7toastmasters.org for more
There was a time when clubs were free to be information.
downright creative with what they displayed on You can get your website off Santa’s naughty
their websites. Some were darn cute with cartoon list, and avoid impending coal in your holiday
creatures cavorting across the page. Others stocking, with a periodic maintenance schedule.
were works of art using wood tones, trees, and Just like tuning up your car, maintenance keeps
beautiful fonts. Then there were those pages that your website humming along. It can also help
looked like they’d been created at the dawn of you identify and fix issues before they become
the computer age. a major problem.
38 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 6 DECEMBER, 2016
