Website Tools & Resources Navy League of the United States Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Building an Online Presence for Your Council What is an “online presence?” It is all identities you create for your council and the interactions therein. Your council can be represented on one or all of the following: ■ Website, the home base or hub for council information. ■ Facebook, where you can like and be liked, engage others. ■ Twitter, where you can follow, be followed and engage retweets, mentions. ■ LinkedIn, where you can interact via posts and acquire followers. ■ Instagram, where you share photos and videos with followers. ■ Blog, a web-based journal where you share information, thoughts and ideas.

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Building an Online Presence – Why? Before you begin, strategize! ■ What are your goals?: What is your objective or what do you want to achieve with your website, Facebook page or Twitter account? ■ Make a list: Write down those goals so that you can refer back to them as you go along to make sure you’re on track. ■ Commit to your platform: Don’t build an online presence because that is what you’re supposed to do. Your online presence introduces others to your council, your mission and your activities, and you want to look your best. If you can’t give your online presence time and attention, there’s no point in building it. You want to make a great first impression and keep people coming back for more.

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Building an Online Presence – Your Website You don’t need the skills of a webmaster to build a website. There are plenty of low-cost companies that offer domain name registration and website hosting services and plug-and-play templates that make design easy. Just remember the following: ■ & websites rule: For nonprofits, the most important communication tools are and websites, even though most are on Facebook as well. ■ What’s in a name?: The domain name you select and register should reflect the name of your council as closely as possible. Make it easy for people to find you. Don’t let that registration expire! ■ Know what’s important: Just as newspapers put the top stories “above the fold,” visitors to your website should be able to see who, what, where and contact information without having to scroll, scroll, scroll.

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Building Your Council Website You don’t need to know computer code to build a website. Webhostingfreereviews.com, an online resource for people just like you, recommends: ■ Find a web hosting package that offers a free site builder. You receive hosting services as well as great tools to help you build a great website. ■ Consider the type of website you want to build, but also pay attention to your own level of internet experience so you do not find yourself in over your head. ■ No matter what type of site builder you choose, it is always handy to know that you can have access to online or telephone customer support.

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Building Your Council Website Browse before you buy! There are plenty of web hosts and builders to choose from. Here are just a few top-rated choices: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Do your research!

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Building Your Council Website You’ve found your website host and builder. Now what? ■ Identify your audience. Know the purpose of your site. ■ Plan your website. Sketch out a site map that shows you how many pages you will make and how they link to one another. ■ Use images wisely. A site overloaded with large, high-resolution images will make it slower to open, less responsive to the visitor. ■ Make it user friendly. Don’t bury information or make navigating to that information complicated or counterintuitive. ■ Fun with fonts and colors. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Make your site easy on the eyes.

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Building Your Council Website Your council website is your No. 1 communication and marketing tool. Content is king, but not just any content. The information on your website MUST be current, relevant to your mission and the Navy League brand, and encourage engagement. Most importantly, the content must be YOURS! Make sure you are not using copyrighted material – including text and photos – that are copied from another site or source. Original content is key.

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Building Your Council Website The 2015 Mackie Award winning council websites are: Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Offers local content, relevant sea service and HQ links, easy-to-find contact information and an opportunity to engage. Sarasota-Manatee Offers local content, calendar of events, relevant links and links to other social media platforms. Corona Riverside Simple, easy to navigate, relevant links and contact information, nice photo galleries.

Citizens in Support of the Sea Services Website Tools & Resources Growing Your Online Presence If your council now has a website, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc., make sure there are links to all your platforms on all your platforms. That is how you build and grow your online presence! Remember, no website or online page is ever finished. It’s an organic thing that needs to be revisited, reviewed and refreshed. There is always room for improvement.