Do I want to join them?

In my opinion, the primary objective of every Jaycee website should be the recruitment of new members. Your website should show off your chapter’s strengths, hide your weaknesses, and give the impression of an active and vibrant group.

What does it say about your chapter if the site hasn’t been updated in six months? If it’s a myspace page? If the design is poor?

Free time is at a premium these days. Make sure your chapter website creates the impression, “this Jaycees thing just might be worth my time.”

Serving your members

Once you recruit new members, it’s important to keep them. The secondary objective of every chapter site should be the service of its current members.

Communicating chapter news, promoting upcoming events, facilitating discussion between members, distributing forms – the website should help your membership make the most of their Jaycee experience.

Make a great impression on others

Having a great website will help your chapter in many not-so-obvious ways. Image is everything. If you appear to have your ducks in a row, you will have more credibility, and you may find doors opening that were once closed.

Image the following scenarios:

• Your chapter wants to run a fundraiser within the community.
• You want to highlight your Jaycee experience for a job interview.
• Your chapter is looking for a corporate sponsor for an upcoming event.

What would these third-parties would say when they look at your chapter’s website? Will they be impressed? With a solid chapter website, you just might start hearing “yes” instead of “no.” If you create the impression of credible organization, people will treat you like one.

Wrapping up

Once you have spent some time evaluating your needs and goals, it’s time to get some manpower together and execute. More to come…

“Captain Apathy”

These clients are experts at running their business, but they don’t know much beyond that. Getting them to care about their marketing efforts is difficult.

Sample quote: “I don’t know anything about web sites, everyone just tells me I have to have one. So let’s just build something and get it live.”

“Obsessed with Technology”

They have done a little homework, maybe heard something on the news, and they have picked up some technology buzzwords. The downside – they will only use these terms correctly about 60% of the time.

Sample quote: “We have to use Joomla, PHP, AJAX, MySQL and JQuery. We have to have a data-driven CMS, use style sheets, and optimize everything for SEO.”

“Fashion Show”

These clients – or rather, one person within this business – are terrifically focused on how the website looks. No matter how hard you try to get them to think “content”, they will always come back to the visual.

Sample quote: “We have to have something very dynamic, lots of animation, great colors, lots of really cool pictures. It has to be very engaging.”

“Keeping Up with the Joneses”

They have seen something their competitors have done, and therefore, they have to have it too – whether or not the feature is beneficial to them or anyone else.

Sample quote: “Acme Widgets just launched a new website that has Flash and a Customize Your Widget tool. We must have this on our site now too.”

Take a deep breath…

I don’t mean to criticize these four stereotypes. These are all very easy traps to fall into – we all do it to some degree. However, once I find myself in one of these situations, I always use the same response:

“That’s great. But let’s take a step back. Let me ask you this: what do you want your website to do?”

This almost always throw them for a loop; you’d surprised how infrequently they have an answer to this question.

What’s best for your chapter?

Every Jaycee chapter is different – each one will have their own needs. It’s important to take the time to really evaluate your needs before you get started with any web efforts.

The answers to “What do you want your website to do?” will determine the type of website you build. In Part 2 of this article, we’ll go over the types of questions to ask yourself, and how that will dictate your site design.

Welcome to this blog, I hope you enjoy your stay.

A bit about my background

I graduated from Michigan State University in 1996, and I started my career in the world of print – designing magazines, brochures, ads, business cards. But being a geek, I could see the world was headed online.

In 2002, I did something a little crazy. I quit a very secure job with an ad agency and started my own web gig: the very cleverly named Eric Schmidt Design.

I haven’t looked back.

I joined the Kalamazoo chapter of the Jaycees in 2005, and it was one of the best things I have ever done. It started as a way to make business contacts; it eventually became so much more.

Why did you create this site?

Being the guy behind the Kalamazoo Jaycees website, I always wanted to know how other chapters presented themselves online.

One afternoon, my curiosity got the better of me, and I started exploring Jaycee websites from all over the country. It was obvious fairly quickly – most Jaycee chapters are really struggling with their web presence.

Believe me, I know how hard it can be – there are many chapter needs, a lot of opinions, and if you aren’t a professional web developer, the technology can be overwhelming.

Here’s the kicker, though: for people under 25, a website is the first – and often only – place they will go to learn about your chapter. If your first impression fails to impress, they will quickly move on.

Personally and professionally, the Jaycees have given me a lot. It’s time I give back. If my knowledge and experience can help a chapter prosper even a little bit, I’m happy to do it.

Why do you call yourself “Web Nerd”?

I can’t stand the term “Webmaster,” so I started introducing myself as “Web Nerd.” It seemed to stick, so I’ll roll with it. Besides, there are much worse things to be called than “nerd.” Nerds rule!

How you can help

I’m going to work really hard to deliver some great content, based on my own web “adventures.” If you are involved with the Jaycees – board member, general member, webmaster – please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.

Leave comments. Send me e-mail. Tell your friends about this site, and bring them into the discussion. If we all put our heads together, we can accomplish great things.

Enjoy.