CWA's Guide to Establishing and Maintaining Local Websites
Maintaining Your Site
Writing for the Web: Adapting Print Materials
Once you've considered how your site will be structured and the content you will want to include, the next step is to format that content for the Web. A few words of caution with regard to text, however. Usually it's better to keep text on the Web as short as possible (with the exception of long documents that have been posted on the Web with the idea that they will be downloaded). There are several reasons for this. First, people usually have trouble reading lots of text-heavy material online; and second, Web surfers have short attention spans.
The other consideration when posting content on the Web is where and how often to link. The general guideline is to offer viewers as many opportunities as possible to reach additional materials; otherwise, they may get tired of scrolling and not reach important information. A good rule of thumb is to provide a link every third screen, if not more often, in sections with lots of scrolling text. (For details regarding HTML coding and other technical information, see Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty and the resources in the Appendix.)
Keep Your Site Updated
If you've ever gone to a Web site and found that the last issue of the site's newsletter or news release was uploaded six months ago, you probably exited that site with a feeling that you might not be back. That's why it's important to keep any news or other pertinent information up to date on your site. For example, you may want to consider incorporating a homepage item that changes weekly.
To keep your site updated, you may have to coordinate with your staff members or volunteers to make sure they are supplying your Webmaster with the latest publications or other materials to upload.
But the good news is that updating your site doesn't necessarily have to involve a lot of extra work, not if you coordinate and plan uploads properly. In fact, with some Web hosts that support extensions of programs such as Microsoft FrontPage, you can actually program your Web site changes to take place automatically at a future date in advance. So, with a little foresight and planning, your site can remain fresh to your viewers.
The Importance of Publicizing Your Site
Once you have your site established, the first thing to do is publicize it (and keep publicizing it) so that your members know about it. To do this, you can use newsletters, flyers, and other print materials, as well as bulletin boards and other physical locations.
Also, make sure your site address is included on the next print run of your local's letterhead and on your business cards. Try to use as many avenues as possible to get the word out about your site and its address. Notify the National of your site's address so that it will be listed on the National CWA Web site's District, Local and Affiliate's Site List (the CWA Web site notification form is located at www.cwa-union.org/resources/local-website-tools/list-your-site.html).
| Picking the Right Site Address |
When selecting a site address, try to make it as simple and logical as possible so that it will be easy for people to remember, e.g., cwalocal123.org. (You won't be able to do this if you are using a free hosting service such as AOL, but if having an easily identifiable address is important to you, you may want to consider using a paid hosting service for that reason.) Also, be sure to register and publicize the proper domain extension -- .org -- which is short for "organization." Although you may consider registering the .com and .net extensions (just so others do not have them), the only correct extension for your local is .org.
Before you launch your site, make sure it is has been registered with all the top Web search engines and Yahoo so that anyone searching for your site or items on it will find what they are looking for. (A professional hosting service will usually do this for you.) The top search engines are listed in the Appendix.
Where to Go For More Information...
Do you need additional information that has not been included in this guide? No problem. Just surf on over to our lists of recommended online resources and printed resources. Have fun and good luck!
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