The Five Essentials of Successful Community Arts Websites www.squareoneinternet.com

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The Five Essentials of Successful Community Arts
Websiteswww.squareoneinternet.com
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INDUSTRY SECRET

• What we mean when we say
• That cant be done
• I dont know how to do it
• or It will be too expensive.
• or Its too hard.

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You dont need to settle
Everything is within your grasp. There are high
and low-end solutions to meet your needs. Define
your needs and search for a solution. You can
(and often should) start small and grow.
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YOU ARE THE EXPERTS!
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Then why am I here?
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MY BACKGROUND

• PAST Paramount Studios, eBay, Standard Poor's,
  Universal Studios, Time Warner - Turner, etc.
• PRESENT Maine Crafts Association, Five Rivers
  Arts Alliance, TheresaRebeck, Suzanne Braun
  Levine, Maine Parkinson Society, etc.

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Process

• The process is not linear
• The process is iterative
• The process DOES NOT END
• Each element effects the others

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• The Five Essentials are
• Design
• Content
• Communication
• Commerce
• Promotions

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DESIGN
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DESIGN definition

• Design is what makes your site visible.
• Web Design has two parts
• Graphic design
• Information design

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DESIGN process
A crucial step for most organizations. It often
takes as much time as actually building the site.
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DESIGN The Two Questions
Everything in your design process should be built
around these two questions

• What do you want your stake holders to do at your
  site?
• What do your stakeholders want to do at your site?

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DESIGN graphic
Graphic design defines the way the stakeholders
FEEL about you. Online this is the first way
people make a decision about your
organization. People usually make this decision
in seconds.
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DESIGN before
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Web Design Before
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DESIGN after
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Web Design After
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Web Design Before
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Web Design After
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DESIGN Look and Feel Tips

• Design upfront. Unfortunately, design is one of
  those few things that can not be done cheaply.
  But design done upfront will last a long time and
  is worth the investment.
• Less is more. If you are stuck without the
  resources for a professionally designed site,
  keep the layout clean and present information as
  clearly as possible. (Works for Google, Flickr,
  and other major sites. This is a Web 2.0 mantra.)

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DESIGN information

• Information design defines the way people
  INTERACT with your content.
• Design with expansion in mind.
• Design to highlight your action goals.
• Make sure your site is easy to use.
• Test your design!
• Know where you are going

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DESIGN accessibility

• Design your site with accessibility in mind.
• Non-profit sites may have governmentally mandated
  standards in this area.
• Section 508 and WAI
• Test your site with automatic testing tools AND
  hands-on by a specialist.

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DESIGN plan

• Maintain your design during updates
• Plan design upkeep four times a year
• Redesign every two years or more
• Budget for ongoing maintenance (graphics, new
  menus, etc.)

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CONTENT
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CONTENT definition

• Content is what your site is MADE of.

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CONTENT process
Make plenty of time to get your content ready for
a new site. This is almost always the reason for
slow site development. Do not underestimate
how hard it will be to gather your content
together and get it ready for the web!
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CONTENT updating
Community sites have an unusual amount of
updating because of member news, events,
calendars, and fund-raising. Nothing makes a
site look as bad as stale content! This is the
biggest issue with most sites content.
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CONTENT updating methods

• There are three main methods of updating
• Professional
• Contribute Method
• Content Management (CMS)

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CONTENT plan
Small community sites can stay up to date with as
little as five to ten hours a month. Larger, or
more complicated sites may need weekly or even
daily updates. Reserve budget and time to train
staff on whatever system you decide to use.
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HALFWAY POINT
Now you have a well-designed, flexible, relevant
site that meets your shareholders needs. But
you are still talking AT your community. Time to
interact.
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COMMUNICATION
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COMMUNICATION basic

• Communication can be as simple as
• A responsive email address
• A web form
• Blog
• Mailing list
• All of these things can be created freely.

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COMMUNICATION advanced

• Communication can be as complicated as
• Message Boards
• Commenting Systems
• Member Pages
• RSS Feeds

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COMMUNICATION sources
You can use third party sources to augment the
interactive portions of your site. Such as this
blog from Googles BLOGGER. Its free and easy
to set up.
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COMMUNICATION sources
With a little work, it can even be integrated
seamlessly into an existing site.
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COMMUNICATION integration
Integration is the key difficulty in providing
quality interactivity. Some third party tools,
like YouTube integrate very well into all sites
allowing all sites to quickly share video.
However forum software may take more work. But
using third party tools can allow you to do
amazing things.
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COMMUNICATION examples

• Ning you can create your own MySpace community
  in a few clicks.
• YouTube Stream video from your site
• Odeo Stream audio from your site (including this
  lecture)
• Flickr Create slide presentations
• Google Create public calendars

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COMMERCE
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COMMERCE essential
Community Arts Organizations NEED commerce
systems. There are lots of stakeholders who
want to pay you online Members need to pay
membership fees. Donors want to donate. Workshop
participants want to register for classes. People
purchase arts and crafts online. When you look
at your design goals from the design portions,
you will see that ecommerce is essential. DONT
FORGET, it is the only addition that can actually
pay for itself!
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COMMERCE simple

• You can start today for free. In twenty minutes
  you can accept credit card donations.
• Google checkout
• Paypal

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COMMERCE third party
You can also sell arts and craft goods on third
party sites, or make your own store with

• Shopify.com
• Etsy.com

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COMMERCE advanced

• You will need some help with this.
• Here are the elements you need
• Merchant account
• Gateway service
• SSL Certificate
• Shopping Cart

Your bank can help you with the first two.
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PROMOTION
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PROMOTION definition

• Becoming a member of the INTERNET

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PROMOTION basics

• SEO (search engine optimization)
• Keywords
• Inbound Links
• Relevant Updated Content
• Sticky Features or Services
• Part of the community
• Reminders
• RSS
• Email

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PROMOTION mystery

• There is no mystery to promoting your site.
• Have relevant information.
• Talk about your subjects.
• Update often.
• Link with other organizations.
• Be relevant and definitive in your area.

Do not try to GAME the system. Companies have
spent millions of dollars trying to recognize
useful sites, so the best advice for promotion is
to BE USEFUL!
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PROMOTION stats

• You have excellent statistics on your site.
• View your stats often.
• Make changes based on them.
• Track your changes.

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DONE!
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No Not Really.
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REPEAT

• Review your site traffic and statistics
• Test your site
• Look at what people are using and how they are
  using them
• Look at what five elements are weak or missing.
• Poll your stakeholders and find out how they feel
  about your site.

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CONGRATULATIONS!
You are now involved in the process of updating
and maintaining a thriving, growing arm of your
organization. With the feedback of your
stakeholders and the vision of your company, your
site will grow organically and reward you by
bringing in new members, satisfying old members,
growing your community and loyalty, bringing in
new sources of revenue, helping reduce your staff
requirements, and exposing your mission to the
people you are setting out to reach. Whew! For
more information, talk to us at
www.squareoneinternet.com or info_at_squareoneintern
et.com