Page design

[Tom7227]

I belong to a club of fat old white guys.  The have a web page.  The page in the past only has copies of the monthly newsletter posted on it.  The guy who runs the page said that it is so filled with virus' that it can't be worked on any more.  I don't know beans about websites or infections so I don't know how or why this could be the case.  But assuming the guy in charge knows at least enough to realize there are problems does anyone know how to deal with it.

I am not sure that the club should even bother getting it fixed.  There is no way to know who if anyone looks at it - at least in it's current setup.  The club is a carving club and it is dying off because of no new members.  I am trying to convince the guys that something needs to be done but I don't know if the page is realistically anything to be concerned with or to do anything about.

There is a Facebook page for the club, again run by the guy in charge of the page.  The page is a subset of his account and he spelled the name of the club wrong.  Somehow he has gotten a lot of folks to look at the page.  Problem with it is that some really weird stuff gets posted that has nothing to do with carving.  I set up a group page on Facebook for the club but it is getting no traction because everyone looks at the other one.

So for  you guys that know about computers and don't have much gray hair - should we bother with a page?  If so should we can the one we have or is there a Lysol for websites that would clean it up?  For that matter do you have to pay money to maintain a page?

Thanks for your time.

Tom

Edited May 3, 2016 by Tom7227

[nofishfisherman]

It sounds like there are a lot of issues here.

1. Bad page - if its only got the newsletter I suspect its short on relevant content that might be valuable to a new or potential member. The functionality thing could be a lot of different things.  I don't work as much on the technical side of that sort of thing, my area is more on the marketing side which involves content and engaging users.

2. Bad Facebook page - facebook is easy to set up by difficult to build likes without promoting it.  Unless someone is out there searching for your exact group name its not likely to be found. Having 2 pages set up for the same group just makes it even more confusing

3. Bad management - it sounds like the guy managing the page and the facebook page has no business touching either one.  There are plenty of free web hosting options (check out wordpress) that can help you build a decent looking page that will function properly.  I haven no idea what could be wrong with the current page but I suspect its not a virus as just in the page. I suspect its probably more to do with a poor layout and framework behind the scenes. The more you pile up on a bad foundation the less its going to work.

When creating a page, facebook page, or anything meant to engage your members or potential new users should be done with a purpose and that purpose should be well defined.  There should be a plan for what info you'll share, how that info will be shared, and who you want to share it with.  To gain likes and members you'll also need to make people aware of your group.  Does your group attend shows or any sort of public gathering where you promote your group?  If so hand out business cards or some sort of info directing people to the page or FB page for more info or to stay in touch with what the group has going on.  But make sure to get the page and FB page in order first or you'll drive away new members with disorganized and confused content.

Feel free to PM me with specific questions, I'll do what I can to get you going in the right direction.

[Tom7227]

Thanks for your input.  We are having a meeting tonight and I may bring up your comments.  One problem is that I am fairly new and the guy that has been doing this has been there for 1,000 years. 

[Big Dave2]

I'm actually in the marketing side of digital too and Nofisherman's comment above is spot on.

The first question I have for you is: What is the goal of your webpage/social media pages? Gain new members? Educate the public? Keep members informed? Sell something? Other?