| WHY HAVE A WEBSITE? |
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You should be clear on "why" you want a website. Over-expectations can lead to disappointment. But there are many good reasons why you might want a website . . . |
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| Contemporary Image |
| Having a website address in your advertising and on your stationery communicates a contemporary image of your club. |
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| Reach Young People |
| Many lawn bowls clubs are seeking younger members. A website is a good way of reaching young people. |
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| Up-to-date Information |
| News and schedule revisions can be added to your website very quickly for all (with computer access) to see. |
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| Economics |
| A website can reduce printing and postage costs, and save time delays in the distribution of material. Also, an attractive website will probably bring in new members. |
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| Focal Point |
| A website can serve as a focal point to keep members in touch with the latest news, tournament revisions, social events, and much more. |
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WHAT ARE THE COSTS INVOLVED? |
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Website costs generally fall into 3 areas: |
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| 1. Design and Construction Costs |
| 2. Maintenance Charges |
| 3. Hosting Fees |
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Sometimes there are no Maintenance and Hosting costs. Let's take a closer look at each of these areas. |
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| Design and Construction Costs |
| The cost for designing and building a website can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousands. This is a one-time cost – unless your website continues to grow in page number and size. |
| Many of our webTurf™ websites are small, deluxe sites costing between $500 and $1000. We've done smaller sites and we do sites costing several thousands of dollars. |
| webTurf™ offers a deluxe lawn bowls website package for $500, but we can work to any budget. Even a small club with a limited budget can have an attractive online presence. |
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| Maintenance Charges |
| Maintenance charges are the costs associated with keeping your website current. These include additions, deletions, revisions and updates. If your website remains unchanged there are no maintenance costs. Usually there are revisions, but the charges are nominal. |
| webTurf™ can handle your website maintenance. There's a minimum revision/uploading charge of $15, which will cover a simple revision – sometimes 2 or 3 simple revisions if done at the same time. You simply email us the material and we do the rest – usually within 24 hours! |
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| Hosting Fees |
| A website needs to be stored on a host computer - called a "server" - for which a monthly hosting fee is usually charged. |
| Some internet service providers offer free website space to their clients. And there are other companies that offer free space. But often there are restrictions or conditions associated with free web space . . . |
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Personal use only |
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You must display third-party ads |
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Complicated web address |
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Limited space |
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Restricted uploading privileges |
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| webTurf™ offers a website hosting service starting at $20 per month – if you don't have your own domain name. You're certainly not obligated to use our service, but please choose a host server unencumbered with the above noted restrictions and conditions if you wish webTurf™ to be involved in the construction and maintenance of your website. |
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WHAT'S A DOMAIN NAME? |
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A domain name is a website address that's been registered and recognized as unique. All websites are associated with a domain name. Some sites have their own domain name while others simply share someone else's name. |
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When it comes to your web address you have a choice: |
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| 1. Share a domain name |
| 2. Have your own domain name |
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Let's take a closer look at both and discuss the pros and cons of each. |
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| Share a Domain Name |
| It's certainly not necessary to register your website address to obtain your own domain name. For most lawn bowling clubs it would probably be a needless expense. It's less expensive to share someone else's address. |
| For example, if your club - say the West Side Lawn Bowling Club (WSLBC) - was hosted by webTurf™, your web address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) would look like this: |
| www.webturf.com/bowls/wslbc/ |
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| or if you wished |
| www.webturf.com/bowls/westside/ |
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| This is the equivalent of leasing office space within the webTurf™ building and sharing webTurf™'s front door address. |
| This is the most inexpensive type of website address because no domain name searches, registration fee, renewal fees, or administration costs are involved. |
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| Have Your Own Domain Name |
| If you register your name it's recognized as unique and gives you an exclusive address, or domain. A domain name is followed by a suffix such as ".com" or ".ca" |
| For example, if you registered your club - the West Side Lawn Bowling Club - as say, "westside," then "westside" would be your domain name and your address would look like this: |
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| or possibly |
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| This is the equivalent of leasing your own building as opposed to leasing office space within someone else's building. |
| This is a prestigious but more expensive type of website. There are costs involved in registering a unique name and setting up a website with an exclusive address. There's a domain name registration fee ($30-$50), annual renewal fees, and usually higher monthly hosting fees. Sometimes there's a one-time administration fee charged by your server. |
| And be cautioned – there's the very real possibility that you'll be unable to secure the domain name you want because someone else has already registered it, or has it on hold. |
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| Domain Name Search |
| If you wish to register a domain name, you'll first need to do a search to see if the name is available. |
| In addition to the common domain extensions such as .com, .org, .net, and the Canadian .ca, there are now several new extensions being offered – .biz, .info, .name, .pro, .aero, .coop, and .museum. |
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HINT: If the domain name you want is already taken, try a search with another extension!
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| Click on any of the following links to search a domain name . . . |
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| http://www.NewExtensions.com |
| http://www.RegisterInCanada.net |
| http://www.SecureThisDomain.com |
| These are all domain name companies through which you can secure a name if it's available. You can do this yourself, or your server can administer the application for you. |
| A domain name must be renewed on an annual basis. |
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Once you have a web address, the next step is to promote it so people know where to reach you. In addition to printing it in your advertising and on your stationery, it should be registered with the major search engines. Your web designer may offer this service, but you can certainly do it yourself. |
WHAT ARE SEARCH ENGINES? |
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These are databases that locate websites. Registering your website with a search engine puts it into a search database. There are hundreds of such databases on the web, but only a popular few are used by most searchers. |
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But don't register your site with the seach engines until your web pages are properly prepared with metatags. |
WHAT ARE METATAGS? |
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A web page is comprised of two sections – the head and the body. |
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The "head" section contains "invisible" information that can't be seen by web visitors but can be read by search engines. This area contains important parcels of information about your website such as: |
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| 1. The Title of your website |
| 2. A Description of your website |
| 3. A listing of Key Words that might be used in searching for your website |
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Each of these parcels of information is referred to as a metatag. A properly prepared web page will contain these 3 metatags, but not all pages require them. Your home page should certainly contain these metatags. |
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Your web designer will install them, but you should be involved in the preparation of the material – the title, description and key words. |
HOW DO METATAGS WORK? |
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Let's say that a person in your area is interested in learning how to lawn bowl. This potential member, not sure what facilities are available or who to contact, could go to a search engine and type in key words such as "lawn bowls" and "west side" and perhaps "bowling lessons." |
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If you've anticipated these key words in your key word metatags, your website will be found and presented to the searching viewer as per your title and description metatags: |
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The West Side Lawn Bowling Club
Enjoy lawn bowling and year 'round social events in one of the city's most active clubs. Lessons available. New members always welcome!
http://www.webturf.com/bowls/westside/ |
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The search for your website, and its presentation to the searching viewer, is all based on metatags. |
WHAT SHOULD WE KNOW ABOUT WEBTURF? |
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Well, webTurf™ creates websites that are special. We take a great deal of pride in every website we build, large or small. The final touch on all our websites is the placement of one of our prestigious logos: |
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Our web clients continually receive comments like . . . |
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"Wow!...this is the best I've seen!"
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DOES WEBTURF MAKE WEBSITES FOR LAWN BOWLING CLUBS? |
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Yes. In fact the website we built for The Stanley Park Lawn Bowling Club in Vancouver has been honoured as a "hot site" by Canlinks Directories. |
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Your webTurf™ lawn bowls website will proudly display this prestigious logo: |
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The Stanley Park Lawn Bowling Club website offers their web visitors two webTurf™ showcase features: |
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| 1. A "Slide Show" Presentation of the Club |
| 2. Our acclaimed Animated Lawn Bowls Tutorial |
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Our online tutorial is not to be missed. When lawn bowlers discover it they say things like . . . |
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"This is really super !!!! well done!"
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"I really think it is outstanding . . ."
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You owe it to yourself to check it out – there's nothing like it on the web. |
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You can see the Tutorial at
www.webturf.com/lawnbowls/tutorial/ |
WHAT'S THE $500 WEBSITE PACKAGE YOU MENTIONED? |
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The webTurf™ deluxe 5-page lawn bowls website package includes: |
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| 1. An attractive Home Page |
2. A "Slide Show" Presentation of Your Club
. .with up to 6 photos in your slide show (Additional photos are $25 each) |
| 3. Our acclaimed Animated Lawn Bowls Tutorial |
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plus your choice of any 2 of the following pages . . . |
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| ( . ) About Us page |
| ( . ) Club History page |
| ( . ) Club News page |
| ( . ) Tournament Schedule page |
| ( . ) Social Calendar page |
| ( . ) Membership page |
| ( . ) Frequently Asked Questions page |
| ( . ) Other |
| Additional pages are $100 each, and can be added at any time |
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WHERE CAN WE SEE A $500 WEBSITE WITH THESE SHOWCASE FEATURES? |
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Check out the website we've just done for the Stanley Park Lawn Bowling Club. It features a "Slide Show" and the Tutorial. |
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www.webturf.com/lawnbowls/ |
CAN WEBTURF CREATE A LAWN BOWLS WEBSITE FOR LESS THAN $500? |
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Yes, but it won't include either of our 2 showcase features. We can create a 1, 2, or 3 page website that will give you an attractive online presence. |
HOW ORGANIZED SHOULD WE BE BEFORE CONTACTING WEBTURF? |
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It would be helpful if the following is organized: |
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| Your Material is Collected |
| This means that your material is written (complete with headings and photo captions) and any photographs or logos are on hand. |
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| Your Material is Organized |
| This means that the presentation of your material is decided upon. To help you with this, visualize your website as having a Home page that is linked to other pages. Decide what these "other" pages will be. |
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| Your Color Scheme is Decided |
| Even if you'd like your website to have a white background, we'll probably use some color somewhere. Perhaps the headings, or button panels . . . |
| Do you have club colors? |
To help you with this, visit webTurf™'s Color Chart.
www.webturf.com/colorchart/ |
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| Your Metatags are Written |
| We talked about this a little earlier. Preparing your metatags helps put your website into focus. |
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| But don't worry if this isn't resolved – webTurf™ can help with all this! |
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WE WANT A WEBSITE. HOW DO WE PROCEED? |
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Just contact us and tell us where your thoughts are. We'll take it from there! |
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Email: info@webturf.com |
