Links for Building Your Own Website
From The Presentation at the PWP International
Convention, July 2000
Updated October 2004
The idea is to have fun and make it fun. Update often to
encourage vistors to come back and let everyone know about it in every
meeting and newsletter. Once you have completed the site, send a
message via the Contact Form to get it
approved. Watch out for copyrighted material and if you get stuck, try
visiting the computer center at a local community college or
university. There are often times folks that will do some work on a non
profit site in exchange for an entry on their resume.
Creating a Page
Decorating It
Hosting It
Message Boards and Mailing Lists (2004)
You may also want to give your community a more
interactive feel. A message board gives your chapter a place where
people can read and reply to messages in an open forum. A mailing list
is something similar, but instead of needing to visit a web site to
read and reply, messages are emailed directly to everyone's inbox. Be
careful, though, some free message list servers have hidden options
(that can be turned off) that will increase the amount of unsolicited
email (Spam). Also, you should make it absolutely clear in description
of your mailing list that joining the list is not the same thing as
joining the chapter. Since most email list servers let just anyone
join, you probably should avoid that solution for that reason. A
message board where you can control the members is probably a much
better solution.
Blogs (2004)
Blogs (short for Web Logs) have been around for several
years, but in the last couple years, they have been gaining popularity.
They are being used for everything from individuals keeping daily
diaries to game software companies keeping fans informed of progress.
They are usually free to set up and extremely easy to keep updated. You
can set up calendars of events, information pages, and have a running
commentary of news from the chapter officers without having to worry
about the complicated issues of web site programming. Most of the time,
you only have to worry about the content.
- Blogger (Free with
Ads, Small Fee for Ad-Free)
- TypePad (Small Fee)
- Blog City (Free,
Small Fee for Additional Features)
Of course, you can always ask your friendly International webmaster any questions you may have in email.
