Great - and CHEAP - Ways to Give Your Web Site a Boost
By David P. Whelan
[This article appeared in
the American Bar Association's Bar Leader, October 2002]
There are many ways for a bar association to quickly and cheaply enhance its Web site. Some of these tools will make the site more interesting and some will make it easier for association staff and leadership to manage the site or generate revenue. The resources described below are available in a free version or they can be licensed in a premium version for some additional cost.
Web Portals
"Portal" is a buzzword we have all heard. The drive for portals is compelling, because they provide a way for the association to aggregate all of its information and tools in one place, improving the visitor's Web site experience. Commercial portal technology is a serious financial investment beyond the reach of many bar associations. A number of open source portal projects are gaining momentum on the Web. The upside is that they are free for the bar to use, and can include calendars, e-mail accounts, personalized content, photo directories, news content, and other resources. The downside is that the portal will still need to be customized for your association and "hooks" will need to be developed to talk to your membership and other databases, if that is a goal. The cost will likely be less than for many of the proprietary portal technologies.
Content Management
Zope is another portal technology, but it falls into a slightly different class because of its tremendous power. Zope is both a Web server and portal in one, also open source and free, and an association can download components to extend the power of Zope. There is a terrific book on Zope called Zope: Web Application and Content Management, that walks you through installing Zope and its components, creating threaded discussions, an online events calendar, and a members-only content zone.
Web Site Statistics
How do you know what is working on your Web site if you are not tracking your visitors' access? Most Internet service providers will provide either a free statistics services as part of your account or they will give you the data files so you can analyze them yourself. An excellent middle ground is the personal edition of the Webtrendslive service, which gives you a great deal of information but allows you to share it with your leadership and staff. The data are collected by Webtrendslive, which crunches the numbers for you. Upgrading to the e-business version may be worth considering, depending on how many visitors you receive.
News Feeds
Syndicated news is an easy way to add regularly updated content to your site. There used to be a number of providers, but the dot-com bubble has burst most of them. One of the few remaining is Moreover.com, which allows nonprofits to create and account and add a news feed to a Web site. The news feed pulls from a limited database - you can buy access to additional resources - and can be customized to include only legal topics.
Book Sales
Your association may already sell books and other information from your Web site. Another tool you can use, whether you sell your own products or not, is an affiliate or associate program. You identify books related to topics you want to share with your members, and then create links from your site to the bookseller of your choice. The affiliate program shows you how to code the link so that, if the book is purchased, your association receives a percentage of the sales proceeds. There is no charge to participate.
Search Tools
There is a common belief about Web activity that most visitors to your site will get there with a search engine rather than by typing in your Web site address. One features that is often missing from an association Web site is a good search engine of the association's Web content. Using Google (http://www.google.com) or Altavista (http://www.altavista.com) as your site search engine is a possible solution, but even better is to use Atomz or Master, both of which allow you to "brand" the search interface so your visitors will not feel like they are leaving your Web site. Both are free and easy to customize.
Discussion Tools
A slightly different take on the portal is the online community. These can be costly to build and difficult to manage. One free version is CommunityZero. [ Note: CommunityZero has ended its free product; it is still a good value for the $29.95 platinum membership.] Creating an online community gives you immediate access to online discussion boards and other collaboration tools that your leadership or members can use to communicate. These resources differ slightly from portals in that you do not host this yourself, but access the tools through CommunityZero's site. You can purchase a more advanced account and further brand the collaboration tools.
Survey Tools
Surveys are a frequently requested addition to a Web site. They provide an interesting resource and also can be a useful tool to find out what your visitors think or do. Both Survey Monkey and Zoomerang offer pop-up surveys for your site, with instant results, and support more extensive online surveys. They allow you to e-mail invitations to participants and, for a fee, can provide additional tools, including downloadable data and other resources.
For more information on bar association technology, visit the LTRC's bar association resources.
