HOW DOES A WEBSITE BENEFIT YOUR COMPANY OR ASSOCIATION?

An association newsletter is a great way to regularly keep in touch with your members throughout the year. This information should be current and relevant within the time period of your newsletter’s schedule. This means you don’t want to include old information that happened two months ago or information your members won’t need for another three months from now. You want your members to look forward to reading fresh information in each issue. Remember, all links in your newsletter should direct members back to your website for more information. This will give both your newsletter and website optimum stats.

Social media is a great way to engage with your members and others in your industry. This is a place to have conversations and exchange ideas. Your association doesn’t need to be involved in all of the social media streams such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube or Snapchat. Pick a couple that your members use most and focus on those. You want your members to be able to relate to you on these platforms. Feel free to post on these daily to interact with your followers.

Being online is great but as an association, you want your members to connect on a personal level as well. Hosting events and training seminars throughout the year will generate real life connections.

When hosting large events, having an app is helpful to keep everything organized. Allow your members to access registration, floor plans, seminar details, surveys and interactive games to create foot traffic to booths during trade shows.

Function

It’s essential that your association’s website caters to the needs of your members so each page must have a clear purpose. To do this, organization is key. Try not to have too many tabs in your menu bar as this will only overwhelm your readers.

Less is more when it comes to good design so try keeping all of your events in one category, industry news in another and employment opportunities separated from one another. A good website should be easy for your members to navigate through so they can quickly find the information they need.

Visuals

First impressions matter so good design is important to entice your members into exploring your association’s website. Crisp images and plenty of white space will allow your association to look clean and professional. Avoid anything that blinks, flashes and uses harsh colours unless you want to throw your members back into
the 90’s.

Pick fonts that are in Sans Serif (contemporary fonts without the fancy finishes) since these are easier to read online. To keep your association’s website looking cohesive, stick to using only three different typefaces that are within three point sizes of one another.

Colour can drastically enhance your members experience on your website. To create balance, use complementary colours while vibrant colours should only be used sparingly to accent important areas that you want to draw your members attention to – such as call-to-action areas.

As mentioned above, white space is a fantastic way to give your website a modern and uncluttered design. And lastly, using dark text on a light background will make it easier on your member’s eyes while reading information.

Your website reflects your association

A website serves as your association’s virtual business card which is why it’s so important to have a good one. At DEL Communications Inc. we love helping associations put their best foot forward.

Tell us your association’s vision an we’ll create a mobile-friendly website that’ll wow your members. If you’re not sure what direction you want to go in, that’s okay too – We’ll give you our expert advice and create a spectacular online resource for your association.