How to create a club website

An as­so­ci­a­tion website helps to promote the club and its ac­tiv­i­ties, ensures that it stays in regular contact with its members and also attracts new ones at the same time. But what kind of content belongs on a club or society website and what should be the focus? What general con­di­tions must be observed when creating a club website? Our guide sum­ma­rizes the most important in­for­ma­tion when learning how to create a club website.

What is the best domain name for a club website?

A domain is the unique internet address that opens up a website when it’s typed or copied into the browser. The domain name should lead directly to the target and, if possible, refer to the content and/or regional focus of the as­so­ci­a­tion. The website will be found more easily if the terms people are most likely to search for to find your club are included in the domain name. It’s important to think about SEO when choosing your domain name. You should pay attention to:

• The type of activity that the society un­der­takes should be reflected in the domain name, for example “table-tennis-meetup…”, “singing-get-together…” or “chess-friends…”.
• For ge­o­graph­i­cal ori­en­ta­tion, it makes sense to include the location or region. State ab­bre­vi­a­tions are a good idea as they’re so short and are easy to add to the name. For example, “Lacrosse-club-NY”, “Brass-band-MS”, or “Arts-and-crafts-TX”.
• With currently available domain ex­ten­sions, the domain name can also be adapted in terms of content or region. Not only is .miami or .boston available, but also .football, .pet or .run. These are just a few examples out of more than 1,300 available domain endings.
• If several domain names are used, redirect all ad­di­tion­al domains to the main domain for the club website.

Once you’ve found the perfect domain name for your society website and also bought it, you should also set up club email addresses, so for example “board­mem­ber@ex­am­ple­club.tld” or “mail@ex­am­ple­club.tld” for general inquiries or “run-coaching@ex­am­ple­club.tld”, depending on the different ac­tiv­i­ties offered.

Use a website builder to create the club website

Using a website builder is a good idea for creating an as­so­ci­a­tion or club website. The advantage here is that you can start straight away because you don’t need any pro­gram­ming knowledge and can plan the costs precisely. Think in advance about what you want to publish on your club website. Look at photos and texts that already exist and showcase the club well.

The ad­van­tages of using a website builder for creating a club website is that you have peace of mind that your website will be displayed properly on mobile devices, and you don’t have to worry about mandatory content such as the imprint or data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tions thanks to pre-built templates. However, with a website builder you are limited when it comes to design and in­di­vid­u­al­i­ty.

Ad­van­tages of IONOS MyWebsite

The website builder, IONOS MyWebsite, makes it possible to create appealing websites without needing any web design knowledge. The intuitive and easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface helps you to build your club website according to in­di­vid­ual wishes and needs. If you do run out of in­spi­ra­tion, that’s not a problem either. The builder contains numerous design templates tailored to clubs. In addition, you receive text creation support and an extensive photo library. Features like search engine op­ti­miza­tion, website security, your own domain and a pro­fes­sion­al email address are of course also available.

Have your club website created by a service provider

If you com­mis­sion a pro­fes­sion­al service provider to create the website for your as­so­ci­a­tion or club, you will end up with more design freedom, but the whole thing is usually pricier. In return, you don’t have to worry about (almost) anything, provided that you have thor­ough­ly briefed the service provider. At IONOS, you can also have your club website created by in-house pro­fes­sion­als, including com­pre­hen­sive con­sult­ing, SEO expertise and ongoing support.

Al­ter­na­tive­ly, you can choose a content man­age­ment system for creating your club website and create a website with WordPress or an al­ter­na­tive CMS from our article on the best CMS platforms.

What kind of content belongs on a club website?

The content placed on a club or as­so­ci­a­tion’s website is as diverse as the different types of clubs out there. Those searching online for a par­tic­u­lar as­so­ci­a­tion or club are very likely to have a thematic interest. Therefore, the website’s image language and text design should match the purpose of the club or as­so­ci­a­tion. Look for suitable photos that radiate pos­i­tiv­i­ty. This can really help when trying to acquire new members.

If your club website is in the process of being created or re­designed, you can let visitors know about it with a coming-soon site. Remember to use a good image that reflects the club and ensure you provide essential contact in­for­ma­tion.

The content mentioned below should be included on the website:

Home i.e. “the club”

A website’s homepage is the central point of contact. It explains the goal and purpose of the as­so­ci­a­tion. It’s a good idea to include a the­mat­i­cal­ly ap­pro­pri­ate photo or il­lus­tra­tion here. First and foremost, the aim is to captivate website visitors so that they continue to engage with the content. Quotes from satisfied members, out­stand­ing com­pe­ti­tion results or a prize that the club recently won is sure to draw attention. It is not so much about showing off, but about appealing to potential members. The article “How to create an “about me” page” contains lots of tips and tricks.

Trans­paren­cy also includes providing in­for­ma­tion about mem­ber­ship fees and what is expected of as­so­ci­a­tion members on the website. To do this, you could set up a separate subpage called “Mem­ber­ship” where potential members can find the mem­ber­ship form, the club rules and other official documents to download.

Current topics

Under this menu item, you can describe what life in the club is like. How many members are in the club? Has a certain member achieved something special for the club? Where was the last com­pe­ti­tion won? Has a new piece of equipment recently been purchased? This in­for­ma­tion is usually arranged with the most recent at the top. Older news can be shown as a teaser or displayed in a sidebar on the homepage.

However, in­te­grat­ing a news section like this into your club website does end up in­creas­ing the effort required to maintain the website. The saying “Nothing could be older than the daily news, nothing deader than yesterday’s newspaper” is quite fitting here as it also applies to club websites. A News subpage whose most recent entries are from a year ago will make the reader doubt whether the club even exists anymore.

Event calendar

Clubs thrive on their members regularly meeting up. Whether fixed dates or special, one-time events, a well-filled events calendar on a club or society’s website is always an in­di­ca­tion of a lively club. To add a calendar in WordPress, there are various plugins available. The Google calendar can be adapted with a few clicks and placed as an iFrame on the website.

Our team

Providing short profiles of club members creates trust and trans­paren­cy for the club website. The club’s board of directors, de­part­ment heads, trainers or pro­fes­sion­al su­per­vi­sors should be included along with a photo of them. This lets potential members know early on who they can expect to see in the club. However, it’s important to first ask the team for consent before pub­lish­ing their photo.

Member ad­min­is­tra­tion

A separate area for member ad­min­is­tra­tion or for events that require reg­is­tra­tion or fees should also be included in a club or as­so­ci­a­tion’s website. Make sure that users first have to log in in order to access this area. To implement this, you’ll need a database. Since personal data is stored here, it’s paramount that security is top notch in order to prevent data leaks.

Newslet­ter

Sending out newslet­ters is a good way to make sure that as­so­ci­a­tion members are regularly informed. It’s also a good op­por­tu­ni­ty to recruit new members. Newslet­ters need to be well designed and filled with in­ter­est­ing content to make sure they actually get read. There are numerous pro­fes­sion­al (fee-based) providers that can help you create newslet­ters.

Place a reg­is­tra­tion form on your as­so­ci­a­tion’s website to increase read­er­ship. To give readers (and yourself) peace of mind, it’s a good idea to implement the double opt-in procedure where a con­fir­ma­tion email con­tain­ing a link is sent out. This is done so that users whose email addresses are in­vol­un­tar­i­ly entered into mailing lists are protected from spam. Remember to also integrate an un­sub­scribe option.

Legal re­quire­ments

If you are col­lect­ing any personal in­for­ma­tion from users, it is ab­solute­ly essential to have a privacy policy on your website. Personal in­for­ma­tion usually includes name, email address, phone numbers, addresses and, in some cases, even IP addresses. Leg­is­la­tion like the GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in Cal­i­for­nia actually require more than a privacy policy. Users have to be given the option to request a copy of their collected data or for it to be deleted if they wish. It makes sense to place a link to the privacy policy page in the footer of your club or society’s website.

Pros and cons of running a club website

Whether sports, music or a charity as­so­ci­a­tion, creating a website for your club makes it appear more serious. On the whole, it’s a good idea to run a website, but, depending on the chosen website type there can also be downsides.

Pros of a club website

The as­so­ci­a­tion website provides vis­i­bil­i­ty and vis­i­bil­i­ty provides reach. In­for­ma­tion about the club, its ac­tiv­i­ties as well as any upcoming events can easily be made available to a wide audience via the website.

Club members will also find it easier to com­mu­ni­cate with one another, which is es­pe­cial­ly helpful if they don’t live near each another. In­for­ma­tion about goals, projects, dates and contacts are trans­par­ent and publicly ac­ces­si­ble, as are the club rules and minutes of any recent meetings. This strength­ens member loyalty and the interest of potential members.

A club or society website also provides a place to raise donations or to obtain sponsors, depending on the purpose of the as­so­ci­a­tion, of course.

Cons of a club website

Once created, a lot of time, effort and possibly money is required to keep it running. A club with limited funds and personnel can quickly reach its limits when at­tempt­ing to maintain a pro­fes­sion­al website.

A club or as­so­ci­a­tion website can also pose privacy and security risks. As the operator, you have to make sure that sensitive in­for­ma­tion (member data) remains protected. A club website, like any other website, must be protected from malware and other threats and this can prove chal­leng­ing.

In an age where prac­ti­cal­ly everyone uses social media platforms, a website’s reach is limited since not everyone visits websites regularly. Some target groups, i.e., older and very young people could possibly be better reached via other channels.

Examples of appealing club websites

The often-limited financial resources, es­pe­cial­ly regarding small clubs, means that there are still quite a number of clubs that have no website or if they do, it’s not optimized for mobile. Below we present three examples of suc­cess­ful club websites, which also have good vis­i­bil­i­ty on mobile devices.

Factual, in­for­ma­tive and ac­ces­si­ble

The Metropo­lian Museum of Art’s website offers all important in­for­ma­tion at a glance. The “Plan your visit” CTA button is the first thing the visitor sees. Clicking on it guides the visitor through a seamless process of pur­chas­ing tickets, finding di­rec­tions, and becoming familiar with the current museum rules and guide­lines. The video on the main page also gives the visitor a taster of what awaits them at the museum.

All in­for­ma­tion included and yet ap­proach­able

The National Parks Con­ser­va­tion As­so­ci­a­tion (NCPA) has been con­serv­ing the nation’s parks since it was founded in 1919. All essential in­for­ma­tion is presently clearly on their website and sections can be accessed via the header menu. Visitors can access in­for­ma­tion on numerous topics such as current en­vi­ron­men­tal issues to park-specific in­for­ma­tion­al pages while at the same time being awed by beautiful imagery.

Emotional and oriented to the fans

This American Football club’s website is very matter of fact. The website of the Arizona Cardinals is packed full of in­for­ma­tion that reflects the club’s activity. Straight­away visitors can see when the next game is scheduled and against whom as well as news teasers on the right-hand side. The option to buy tickets is right there in the middle so it cannot be over­looked.

Social media for that extra reach

Depending on the kind of as­so­ci­a­tion and the target audience, activity on social media can be used to boost the website. In our guide “The most important social media platforms at a glance” you can find out which platform is most suitable for your club or as­so­ci­a­tion. However, trends in social media use and user behavior change quite rapidly so make sure to stay up to date.

How can a club use social media to increase awareness of its website? One trick is not to spread the news yourself, but to simply show a headline as a kind of teaser and then to link to the as­so­ci­a­tion’s website and let the reader find the rest of the in­for­ma­tion them­selves. Hopefully the user will stumble across other in­for­ma­tion about the as­so­ci­a­tion while they’re on the website and may even decide to sign up. Whether this works or not could depend on the clever use of popular or trendy hashtags. In addition, the channel should be regularly updated. This should happen at least once a month.

When to use which platform

• an Instagram account is perfect for sharing photos and short videos. You can also place links in your club’s Instagram stories.
• a Facebook account can be used as an event page for the club.
• a YouTube channel for the club works well if the ac­tiv­i­ties un­der­tak­en can be presented well in videos.
• TikTok has great potential for reaching a younger de­mo­graph­ic.
• WhatsApp groups allow you to reach members quickly and con­ve­nient­ly.