CowToes Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) Unlike all the other areas, we don't have a website. We have a Facebook page...that hasn't been posted to since 2012. I think a basic website is a requirement if we expect to attract new shooters to our sport, specifically younger shooters who are apt to dismiss the sport entirely if information isn't easily found. I am attempting to create a small website for practical shooting in the greater Cincinnati area, but I have little experience with HTML5 so it is very slow going and very basic at this point, and not posted yet. And I am writing all the code in notepad as I havent been able to find a gui editor that will create a page in html5 that is also easy enough for my Barney level skills to use. This will not alleviate the need for a central place for area 5 to look for info. Edited February 7, 2014 by CowToes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeMartens Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) Area Directors have a budget for these things, we used to have a website previously Edited February 7, 2014 by JakeMartens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowToes Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 You can get a domain hosted for free, and we are an organization run mostly by volunteers. Surely some one/smallgroup in area 5 can volunteer some time to create a simple page. secondly, I feel that if other areas can afford it then why are we not able to? Is it a lack of shooters in our area or just a lack of participation on the part of the ones we do have? Because with out proper representation I feel we will not increase our numbers at all, but instead we will dwindle. We have been firmly in the Internet era for some time now. Absolutely no business will survive without a web presence, and you cant expect a small sport to do so either. Or is the budget for an area decided by the uspsa mothership? If that's the case do we have such a small budget that something that is considered as basic as electricity to the business world must be cut? Why is our budget so small? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnr88 Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) Please take a look at online squadding for Area 5. The match is filling up quickly and is very healthy. All major matches are listed on the USPSA website and all Area competitors are USPSA members. When a new shooter registers with USPSA they have immediate access to all sorts of information. Look under the "FIND MATCHES" tab and the Area 5 match and the website are listed. http://area5.org/ Edited February 7, 2014 by jnr88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Big difference between an A5 web page and an A5 match web page. I looked into creating a web page for SW Ohio practical shooters but was steered towards Facebook by those much more in the know than me. That reminds me, I need to get back to work on that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowToes Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) Please take a look online squadding for Area 5. The match is filling up quickly and is very healthy. All major matches are listed on the USPSA website and all Area competitors are USPSA members. When a new shooter registers with USPSA they have immediate access to all sorts of information. Look under the "FIND MATCHES" tab and the Area 5 match and the website are listed. http://area5.org/ As Sarge said, there is a "Big difference between an A5 web page and an A5 match web page." The area 5 match website does not contain information such as a the area directors info, a list of clubs in the area and contact information, a schedule of club level matches (because no one new to the sport is going to pay $100 to go to a sectional as their first match), a list of sections within the area and section coordinators. It could contain maybe a maps with all the USPSA clubs on it so you can see which are closest to you to try out the sport. And the USPSA website is also not a suitable replacement for an A5 web page. Sure you can go to "find a match" but guess what there are no club level matches listed there. You can go to "find a club" but the information there is so spotty on some of the local clubs to me it's next to useless. And USPSA webpage is specifically setup to link to and Area website. When you click "find a club" you get a red, yellow, and blue map of the US if you click any area you will get the area website. They are nothing fancy, but it doesn't have to be. Take the two I just brought up: Area 6, doesn't have much information but it is very professional looking, and at the very least there are links to each section and the contact for that section if you want information. Some of the sections even have a basic schedule or club list, looks like the area left it up to the section to fill it out. Area 8, is very brightly colored but it looks to have about every piece of information you could possibly want. A schedule of every level match, a getting started section, information about a junior camp they have. It even has links to information about multi-gun and Steel challenge. I am a motivated person so I was able to piece information together when I was getting ready, found this website and Sarge was able to give me some information, and contacts to get some more. Heck, one of the local matches closest to me doesn't even have a website for the club, and the info in the USPSA club finder had no information about them either. I had to use Sarges info, and then find a webpage that the clubs IDPA shooters created in order to get a contact for USPSA and all information from that match is done through email. My point is that most young shooters my age are not going to go through that much effort. We are a generation of instant gratification, and if we can't get the information quickly we will move on to something else. I myself tried IDPA before USPSA only because it was easier to find local match information. This is a lesson that business had to learn, and it is one that we should pay attention to also. Edited February 7, 2014 by CowToes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowToes Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) Big difference between an A5 web page and an A5 match web page. I looked into creating a web page for SW Ohio practical shooters but was steered towards Facebook by those much more in the know than me. That reminds me, I need to get back to work on that Is the Area5 Facebook active and I just can't find it, or is it the one I mentioned? Edited February 7, 2014 by CowToes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reshoot Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I too, would like to see an area 5 web site. Although I don't know squat about building a web site, an even less about writing code, I would be willing to help out in some way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Cost of hosting the site or maintaining the uspsa5.org domain is not an issue; both are paid for and hosted by USPSA. There just needs to be someone to step up and take on the task. Honestly, I don't know why the old site wouldn't still be up (I recall it was rather good), unless either the old AD or the new AD deliberately took it down. By the way uspsa6.org is only just very recently a complete rewrite. You've got all the section information you could possibly want, you can get all the rulebooks there are, every major match coming up anywhere in area 6 is listed, and there are an increasing number of interesting articles. We're adding more all the time, so there's actually much more than "not much information" to be found there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeMartens Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Cost of hosting the site or maintaining the uspsa5.org domain is not an issue; both are paid for and hosted by USPSA. There just needs to be someone to step up and take on the task. Honestly, I don't know why the old site wouldn't still be up (I recall it was rather good), unless either the old AD or the new AD deliberately took it down. By the way uspsa6.org is only just very recently a complete rewrite. You've got all the section information you could possibly want, you can get all the rulebooks there are, every major match coming up anywhere in area 6 is listed, and there are an increasing number of interesting articles. We're adding more all the time, so there's actually much more than "not much information" to be found there. We should ask the A5 director, wonder where we could find him......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 People still use websites? I maintain an internal website for a law enforcement agency, and it's gradually falling into disuse as people switch to Sharepoint. I also have helped in the past with a motorcycle club website, which is also being used less as the club switches to facebook to share with members. The problem with traditional websites is that usually only 1 or two people have access to post to them, and it requires some technical savvy, and as soon as those people lose interest or move somewhere else, the whole thing just sits. I personally don't really use facebook, but the fact that it's accessible and updatable by more people and requires no technical skill and is more conducive to communication in both directions may be more appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowToes Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 I did not mean to say Area6's website is bad at all. I just meant that it is evidence that a site doesn't need to be super complicated to serve the function. Area6's site looks very professional and If a person that lives in Georgia wanted info about USPSA in their area, they would easily be able to find info about clubs in the state, the section coordinator if they needed more info, etc. I would volunteer to do it in a heart beat if I had the skills. I work in IT but have no actual experience with html5. I am a network engineer and going to school for a BS in Network administration. I just finished a class with a small intro to html5 so I am attempting to create something for the Cincinnati area but it looks pretty rough right now and I am very slow at it. My reason for creating one for the Greater Cincinnati area is because living in Cincinnati we really are active in 3 states (Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana) so we have to comb through three states worth of information to get clubs, etc. that are local to us, and to weed through all the info for places very far off (like in the North east corner of Ohio or something like that). I have only been active in the sport for a year so I am not yet to the point where I feel I am good enough to travel that far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Stevens Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 When I was Area 5 Director I had a webpage hosted by a fellow shooter who was local to me. Unfortunately the webpage changed hands a couple of times due to work and family constraints. I never was able to have the webpage I wanted, but that is the problem when you are dealing with volunteers who have lives to live and other things to do. I suspect Kyle is having the same problem with having someone relatively local to run the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reshoot Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 People still use websites? I maintain an internal website for a law enforcement agency, and it's gradually falling into disuse as people switch to Sharepoint. I also have helped in the past with a motorcycle club website, which is also being used less as the club switches to facebook to share with members. The problem with traditional websites is that usually only 1 or two people have access to post to them, and it requires some technical savvy, and as soon as those people lose interest or move somewhere else, the whole thing just sits. I personally don't really use facebook, but the fact that it's accessible and updatable by more people and requires no technical skill and is more conducive to communication in both directions may be more appropriate. "Sharepoint"? What the hell is that? Web pages are how I navigate the www. I think it depends a lot on your age . . . or should I say, your generation. I have a Facebook page, but only because my daughter hounded me to no end. Turns out making a business Facebook page was quite fruitful. I have her to thank for that, however, I rarely post to my personal page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeMartens Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) The Indiana Section has a webpage, if you don't think it is important here are the hits on the page and menus http://www.uspsaindiana.org/ We are averaging 7K hits to the main page a year and from that: We are averaging 2800 hits on the clubs info page per year We are averaging 2000 hits on the FAQ page per year and since August of last year we have already had over 2600 hits just on the 2014 Indiana USPSA Championship Match info page Not having a website is a huge miss Edited February 7, 2014 by JakeMartens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iswope Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 If anyone wants to put up a real site I'd be happy to help set it up and provide the hosting. My company does web hosting and email marketing so it's no problem at all for me to host the site. Just let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeMartens Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 If anyone wants to put up a real site I'd be happy to help set it up and provide the hosting. My company does web hosting and email marketing so it's no problem at all for me to host the site. Just let me know. may want to offer that to the A5 director, he should be around here somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 If anyone wants to put up a real site I'd be happy to help set it up and provide the hosting. My company does web hosting and email marketing so it's no problem at all for me to host the site. Just let me know. may want to offer that to the A5 director, he should be around here somewhere When I was Area 5 Director I had a webpage hosted by a fellow shooter who was local to me. Unfortunately the webpage changed hands a couple of times due to work and family constraints. I never was able to have the webpage I wanted, but that is the problem when you are dealing with volunteers who have lives to live and other things to do. I suspect Kyle is having the same problem with having someone relatively local to run the site. Need to think outside the box (webpage). There are ways to compensate a webmaster.... All the local MDs who have a stake in the website could offer free match fees for keeping the website current. BTW-Where is the current AD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowToes Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 People still use websites? I maintain an internal website for a law enforcement agency, and it's gradually falling into disuse as people switch to Sharepoint. I also have helped in the past with a motorcycle club website, which is also being used less as the club switches to facebook to share with members. The problem with traditional websites is that usually only 1 or two people have access to post to them, and it requires some technical savvy, and as soon as those people lose interest or move somewhere else, the whole thing just sits. I personally don't really use facebook, but the fact that it's accessible and updatable by more people and requires no technical skill and is more conducive to communication in both directions may be more appropriate. "Sharepoint"? What the hell is that? Web pages are how I navigate the www. I think it depends a lot on your age . . . or should I say, your generation. I have a Facebook page, but only because my daughter hounded me to no end. Turns out making a business Facebook page was quite fruitful. I have her to thank for that, however, I rarely post to my personal page. What do you mean, "People still use websites?" you're on a website right now aren't you SharePoint would be a good tool, if we were talking about an internal page for us to share information with each other. However, SharePoint is an account based software and optimized to be run on an intranet as a corroboration tool and not the best for an external customer facing webpage, in my experience. As far as Facebook goes I think it is a great tool as an addition to you web presence, however it is beginning to lose popularity with teens, and when it comes to internet tech they are the market keys to watch. Also in the past few years they have changed their algorithm so that your feed shows the most popular posts, not necessarily the most recent. So we might run a match in October 2013 that was very popular, but then our match 4 months later might not show up in your feed because it didn't get as many "likes." It is a very powerful tool, and can do wonders for a very little amount of work, but not by any means a stand alone solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iswope Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 If anyone wants to put up a real site I'd be happy to help set it up and provide the hosting. My company does web hosting and email marketing so it's no problem at all for me to host the site. Just let me know. may want to offer that to the A5 director, he should be around here somewhere When I was Area 5 Director I had a webpage hosted by a fellow shooter who was local to me. Unfortunately the webpage changed hands a couple of times due to work and family constraints. I never was able to have the webpage I wanted, but that is the problem when you are dealing with volunteers who have lives to live and other things to do. I suspect Kyle is having the same problem with having someone relatively local to run the site. Need to think outside the box (webpage). There are ways to compensate a webmaster.... All the local MDs who have a stake in the website could offer free match fees for keeping the website current. BTW-Where is the current AD? I'd be happy to maintain the site for match fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Create the site using Wordpress, there are a lot of extensions you can add to it and it's dead simple to use and customize (to an extent). If you have any questions let me know, I do a lil freelance web design by night and manage e-commerce stores in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowToes Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) BTW-Where is the current AD? This is a good point. I don't know who the AD is other than is name is Kyle thanks to Gary Stevens post earlier. I don't know how to easily find the information on USPSA.org. A website would include his name at atleast an email address for him. Create the site using Wordpress, there are a lot of extensions you can add to it and it's dead simple to use and customize (to an extent). If you have any questions let me know, I do a lil freelance web design by night and manage e-commerce stores in the day. Wordpress? The Blogging site? My main problem with a web based webpage editor is you actually don't own the code when you use one of those. I want a GUI page editor installed on my computer so that I have 100% control of the code in the HTML & CSS documents. That way I can manually edit the meta tags, keywords, etc. and I don't have to worry about the web editor entering code that I will never see to track my visitors, and run things in the background I don't know about. If the Web page editor provided me with the HTML file and CSS file each time I save them so that I can verify the code then I wouldn't have any problem with it. Now those constraints are ones I have placed on the site I am creating for my local "Cincinnati" area. They are not necessarily problems for Area 5, so a solution like WordPress might work well for that. Edited February 7, 2014 by CowToes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 lolol. "Kyle" is non other than Flexmoney here on the forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Create the site using Wordpress, there are a lot of extensions you can add to it and it's dead simple to use and customize (to an extent). If you have any questions let me know, I do a lil freelance web design by night and manage e-commerce stores in the day. Wordpress? The Blogging site? There is hosted (wordpress.com) and self hosted (wordpress.org) which you setup on your own server and you can do damn near anything with. http://wordpress.org/ For examples of how flexible it is, check out this gallery http://welovewp.com/ It's much more than a "blogging" platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Email addresses for all ADs are the same format. Area5@uspsa.org. For Area 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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