So you think you want a website?
Procedures and pitfalls
John Kirriemuir
www.silversprite.com
Presented at the Website workshop
Lochboisdale, South Uist, March 29th 2006

Pitfalls
P
There are many. But … communities can learn from the
bad experiences of other community websites.
There are also … no rules.
You can do what other communities have done, or you can do your own thing.

Popularity and curiosity
Number of hits in the first 10 months (May 2005 to February 2006):
413,972
Hits are page downloads. “Cached” downloads are not included, so the true
number of visitors is impossible to work out.
Top-level domains (mainly different countries): 109
Most popular non-UK countries: Canada, Australia, US, New Zealand
Most popular sections:
– gallery of pictures
– wallpapers (large pictures)
– businesses
– minutes of Berneray Community Council

Why the Berneray website was set up
1. Our (myself and Ruth) voluntary contribution to the Berneray community.
3. There was very little information about Berneray on the Internet…and what there
was usually was in the context of Prince Charles visiting.
5. A place for groups, clubs and societies to publicise themselves, and archive
information e.g. minutes of meetings.
7. A place for businesses, especially self-employed, to advertise their wares.
9. Very few community websites in the Outer Hebrides, compared to the rest of
Scotland: other Scottish islands have far more per population.
11. Mainstream media image of the Outer Hebrides misleading and often downright
wrong/negative. Community website should give an accurate portrayal of the
community.
13. A way for Berneray to get more “friends”, which could be useful in the future.
15. A 2 year experiment to see if it can sustain itself in terms of
– financing itself
– getting content from Berneray residents

How the Berneray website was set up
• Both of us had developed several websites before, including helping previous
Scottish Community of the Year award-winning website.
Wanted to:
•
– avoid making the same mistakes
– ending up with a low-maintenance website
– …but still an attractive one
– …that is quick to download on dial-up (most residents on this)
Low-tech approach:
•
– no technical layers; all HTML
– templates for each section designed, then stripped down (all fluff removed)
– online HTML validation and accessibility tools used
– all pages small, and all images except wallpapers under 100Kb. Thus, all pages
quick to download, even on dial-up
– tested across a range of browsers
– time spent working out consistent navigation system that is still okay when the
website grows

Emails and contacts
• An additional service is Berneray e-news.
• We get information on news and events on Berneray for the website. But
not everyone checks the website on a frequent basis.
• Thus, we roll these news snippets into an email. When there are enough
news snippets, the email is despatched off to those Berneray residents
with an email address (currently 43).
• Contacts (will talk about this more in the workshop). A community website
will generate input (emails, letters phone calls). Nearly all of ours comes
by email.

Where the website sits politically
It doesn’t.
The website is run independently of any group, club, society or organisation on
•
Berneray.
• Advantages:
– No bias towards or against any group on Berneray
– Residents are more willing to provide content, as there are no politics involved –
a shared sense of ownership
– Transparent process and content; anyone can comment, provide content and
corrections at any time
– No bureaucracy - time is spent on maintaining and updating the website. Thus…
– Updates and new content are done “there and then” – no wait until the next
website group meeting
– In fact, no meetings!
Disadvantages:
•
– Not an “official” website
– Opportunities for gaining support funding limited

Why are you doing this?
• Three highly related questions: P If you can’t answer these questions,
then your website design will be at
1. What is your target audience?
best vague, and at worst, a waste of
2. Who do you want to visit your
time.
website?
3. Why do you want them to visit it?
P Most communities underestimate the
• Do you have the resource?
amount of time that goes into
developing and maintaining a website.
P A cursory search of the web will reveal
Do you have the resource, and the
•
many community websites that have
willpower, for the long term?
been abandoned – some after only a
few months, or less, of activity. You
will need to plan for the long term
(years ahead).

Things you may want to include
P The best way of working out what you
Groups, clubs and society
•
want on your website isn’t to
• Businesses and shops
brainstorm.
• Scenery and nature
News
•
It is to look at lots of other websites,
• Events and not all of them community
• Accommodation websites.
Transport links, timetables and how to
•
get here
P Some people in the community will be
• Moving and living here (property?) unhappy at what you include – and
Setting up a business locally
• what you don’t include.
Links to related websites
•
• Facilities for different types of tourists Either:
(hikers, cyclists, caravaners) 1. Invite them to contribute
Paths, tracks and rights of way
• …or, if they won’t…
• Sites of historical interest 2. Point out that a community can
• Places to eat and/or drink have many websites and they or
anyone else can do their own.
Beaches, parks and other places to
•
“chill out”

User interaction
P Such systems only work on more
• Some more technical websites allow
technical websites.
the user to create or submit “content”.
This includes:
– entries on a guest book P Quality control is a major issue. There
– entries on a forum is an overhead in terms of monitoring
incoming content, be it photographs
– photographs submitted to a
(what is legal, local, appropriate) or
gallery
guest book and forum comments
(what is slanderous, illegal,
irrelevant).
The advantage of allowing people to
•
submit content is that (sections of) the
P Forums in particular are notorious for
website will gradually “grow” over
being problematic. People comment
time, without the website maintainers
(post) anonymously; it is difficult to
needing to create or obtain content.
control “flaming”, or stopping
malicious people creating “multiple
personalities” to swamp forums.
Effectively policing a forum is often a
full-time occupation.

Involving the community
• There are a number of ways in which P Do not automatically assume that
members of the community can everyone in your community will
become involved in the website. These welcome the website. Reasons why
include: some people won’t like it include:
– taking and providing pictures – because they think they can do
better
– providing details of their business
– it may attract more tourists and
– designing or maintaining the
visitors
website
– they are not in “control” of it
– providing local historical content
– offering support services such as
proofreading or copychecking
– donating towards the website
hosting costs
– providing Gaelic versions of text
– providing minutes and other
information from groups, societies
and clubs
– checking the website for out of
date or incorrect material

Financial costs
Costs tend to fall across 5 categories P When choosing a website designer,
cost is not the key issue. Above all,
see their portfolio of previous
3. Initial design of the website
websites. Do you like them? Give the
owners of these websites a call – were
5. Software packages (for hosting and/or they satisfied? What happens with
website design) long-term support and maintenance?
7. Website hosting
P If you find a cheap website hoster,
check that you are getting enough
9. Domain name services and data upload allowance.
Check also that it is easy to edit your
website at the host (assume that your
11. Publicity materials
website designer disappears and you
are left “holding the baby”).
13. Long term maintenance of the website
P Pick a domain name that is relevant,
easy to remember, and above all can
be repeated verbally without danger of
mis-spelling.

Applying standards
P Don’t ignore standards, even if they do
Standards are good.
not appear to make a visual
difference.
Standards mean that:
P You do not have to pay anyone
amounts of money to check that your
Your website can be viewed on a wide
• website complies with many
number of web browsers (there isn’t standards. There are a large number
just Internet Explorer) of free web-based services where you
• There is some consistency in design type in the web address of a particular
across your website page. The website then checks the
page against a standard, and tells you
Your website will be easier to index
•
of any problems.
across a range of Internet search
engines and tools
Your website will be easier to update
•
in the future
• It is easier to integrate other facilities
and services into your website

Getting your costs back
Methods include: P Many people hate adverts on websites,
especially ones that are not discrete.
3. advertising.
P Advertising can be more trouble than
5. fund it from local groups e.g.
community council, development its worth with small businesses, as the
group. hassle and bureaucracy involved is not
really worth it.
7. get a grant.
P Funding a website from a single local
9. donations from users and the public.
group can be problematic, as that
group may then feel that it is “their”
community website. This can cause
problems with other local groups.

The Gaelic issue
P You will need to have a consistent
• Three options:
policy, and be able to defend that
1. All Gaelic
policy. Whichever of the three options
2. Gaelic and English
you pick, you will get criticism.
3. All English
P Different people in the same
Who writes the Gaelic?
•
community may have strongly-held
views on particular spellings of Gaelic
words and phrases. This has been the
experience on Berneray. Again,
consistency (either the same expert,
speaker, or reference source) is the
key.

Groups, clubs and societies
P Do not assume that all groups and
• A community website is a logical “hub”
clubs will be willing to put their details
of introductory information for all local
on a local website. Internal politics,
groups, clubs and societies.
apathy, and a luddite attitude to the
Internet are the most common
reasons why groups do not take this
You could include items such as:
• opportunity.
meeting agendas and minutes
–
– contact details P Have a formal agreement about
– details of who is involved plus updates and regular materials from
pictures groups e.g. minutes of meetings. Try
and obtain these materials in their
– remit of the organisation
electronic source format.
– funding and financial reports
requests for volunteers, resources
–
P Don’t take on too much e.g. providing
and funding
a fully operational website with online
– achievements to date
bookings; a page of descriptive text is
usually enough for most groups, clubs
and societies. Any more, and they
should fund, design and maintain it
themselves.

Businesses
Different community websites have P You will need to determine what are
•
different policies on: appropriate businesses, and what is
not. Is a business based elsewhere,
– what is a business, and what is
but run by locals, appropriate? What
not
about a business that is run by a local
– how much information is put
who doesn’t live locally most of the
– whether businesses should
year?
contribute financially to the
website
P Do not assume that all businesses will
• Accommodation-based businesses are
often vital to a community website, be happy to go online, and never put
especially in a remote location. This is details of a business online without
because they provide a mechanism to asking first. Not every business is,
bring visitors into the area. Some shall we say, fully within the scope of
visitors will spend money; other the Inland Revenue!
visitors may decide to move into the
community.

Avoiding controversy
Unless your website is boring and P Three rules:
•
lacking in content … you won’t.
1. Be consistent about policy
Different people and organisations
• 2. Be open about policy
may lobby you as to what goes on the
3. Ignore whiners; you’ll never shut
website. Examples:
them up
– “alien denominational”
businesses, content and details of
P You could consider the Berneray
services
model. We have a small group of
– local etiquette for Sundays
people – who we trust to be sensible.
– campervans / travellers and the
If we have any controversial content,
machair
we pass it onto them to get their
– Gaelic schools and language verdict.
– rights of way
There will be suspicion about who is
•
paying for the website, whether there
are large grants involved, whether
someone, somewhere is making a lot
more money out of it (than they are).

Tapping into local knowledge
P Do not assume that everyone with
The best source of knowledge about
•
the local community is … local people. local knowledge will want to put what
they know up on the community
website.
The process:
•
– identify who knows what
P Personal materials such as old pictures
– check that they really know their
of residents are particularly tricky.
subject matter, and are not
Especially in the Outer Hebrides, it is
talking guff or are a self-deluded
very likely that there will be living
expert
relatives of people in these pictures,
– either they type in the content (if
even if the pictures are very old.
text), or they talk and you type it
in
P Copyright and “fair use” issues may
– proofread the content
also need to be taken into account.
– check the finished page with the
Some people do “hype up” the
expert
copyright and permission issue (a
– check that the content is accurate
problem on Berneray). However, in
i.e. by checking a sample of facts
most cases it is usually a case of
– only then – make the content making sure that the person who owns
public the content is happy for it to go onto a
website.
• Above all – be open and honest about
what will be going on the website, and
why.

Feedback
Youwill get feedback from: P You will need to decide how to accept
•
feedback. With the Berneray
– local people
community website, we don’t accept
– salesmen
feedback by phone (too time
distant relatives of locals, and
–
consuming and disruptive); only by
emigrants
email (preferred) or letter.
– potential tourists
– historians
P A small number of potential tourists
will start to send you a lot of
• Most feedback will be by email. With questions. Don’t end up organising
the Berneray community website, we their entire holiday for them – that’s
get around 40 emails a month, most what the tourist office is paid to do.
from potential tourists. After providing the basics, point them
in that direction.
• You will often need to delegate or farm
out enquiries. Not everyone is a P Not all emails/letters will be genuine,
teccie, expert on local knowledge, especially if they are on a
business person and diplomat! controversial issue. Are you sure that
name on the email is real? If it isn’t
genuine, ask yourself why the author
is disguising his or her (it’s often a
her) identity – then ignore the
email/letter.

Publicity (1)
• When the website has been designed, P Do not start to publicise your website
created and tested, so the hard work until it is totally complete. An
begins! Think about what other media incomplete website will be incorrectly
or websites your target audience will indexed by a search engine. Also,
be using. there is nothing worse for many
people than finding a website “under
construction” – most people will not
Most people find websites through
•
return.
using search engines. The
predominant search engine is Google.
P Various companies will submit your
website to search engines for a fee.
Find relevant newsgroups and mailing
•
Ignore them all. This is a quite simple
lists to publicise your website on.
procedure that you can learn about,
and do without much Internet
Find lists of community websites, and
•
experience.
submit your website for inclusion on
each.
P Use a temporary email address when
submitting to lists, newsgroups,
Ask the council, and national and local
•
obscure websites. These will often
organisations of relevance to link to
generate “spam” email, so avoid using
your website.
your main email address.

Publicity (2)
Get other websites to link to your P Some sites will list your website “for a
•
website. These will provide more fee”. In most cases, this is not worth
“routes” for people to discover your it.
community, and will increase your
visibility on Google.
P Some websites offer “link exchanges”,
where they have a link to your website
• Ask everyone in your community to in exchange for a link to theirs. Often,
pass on details of the website to their this does not generate more “traffic”,
friends and relatives. This can be a and you end up providing distracting
very powerful method, as Outer routes “off” your community website.
Hebrides residents often have
substantial contact networks.
P A substantial increase in traffic to your
website can result in a slower website,
Use the local and national press.
•
and/or increased costs for website
hosting.
• Enter competitions for community and
other websites.
• Ask businesses and organisations to
put the website address on their
publicity materials.

Backup
P Do not assume that “it will never
• Ensure that, in your plan, your website
happen to me”, or that losing data is
is effectively backed up.
so unlikely as to be not worth
considering.
• Website content can be lost in a
variety of ways, including:
A previous winner of the Scottish
– hacker attack
Community of the Year best website
– web hosting company going
suffered a major problem. The website
bankrupt
was lost, and there was no backup. It
– technical fault took several months for a replacement
– human fault when editing / website to be created and made “live”.
updating the website
• Ensure that, if the web designer or
P Don’t forget to get documentation –
maintainer disappear, that you are
that you can understand. Have
able to:
documentation so that someone other
– access the website than the website maintainer can
– add, delete or edit the content access, add, edit and delete website
content if need be.
– deal with the website hosting
company, and the domain name
holding company