Websites on a Tight Budget

With the proliferation of the Internet into our daily lives, small associations are looking for ways to compete and level the playing field with their larger counterparts. Associations with small staffs and small budgets face numerous challenges in keeping their Web sites up-to-date and informative. Many smaller organizations may not have employees on staff who are skilled in Web site upkeep. To ensure their Web sites are as professional as possible, some associations may decide to outsource maintenance to a third party—but that decision involves many factors.

Having recently moved from a relatively large association with an annual budget of more than $11 million and more than 12,000 members to an association with a $1 million budget of just over 1,500 members has given me an entirely new perspective on how to address the daily maintenance of the association Web site. I’ve learned that several issues must be addressed when determining when and how to outsource:

• If you outsource, what can you do to avoid being held captive by the firm doing the work?
• How much could be handled in-house?
• What is the administrative functionality of the site?
• What funds are available?

Sharing lessons learned

My association learned an important lesson when it decided to overhaul its existing Web site to deliver the members a new and much more functional site. A third-party company that also hosted the domain had created the existing site a number of years earlier. What the association discovered was that the domain and the site were entirely under the control of the third party. With extremely limited administration rights, the site became virtually static and therefore was not delivering any level of service to the member. After lengthy discussions, our board of directors agreed on a new direction for the association Web site and began the process of designing a totally new site that would be the premier communication tool for the association.

We addressed each bulleted point above in our preliminary discussions to determine how to proceed and how to handle the site once completed. The major part of the design was outsourced to a company that specializes in Web design work. Our staff was responsible for gathering the data that would be used to fill the site.

Building from personal experience, here are some suggestions to consider when contemplating how you outsource, as they relate to the concerns noted above.

Outsourcing: If you do outsource, be sure the association continues to have total control over the site and complete access to all files in case a need arises to sever ties with the design company. Be sure the association itself is listed as owner on any documentation relating to the domain name and site; someone on your staff, preferably the CEO, should be listed as the administrative contact or billing contact for the domain name. If an association staff member is not listed as the contact and you encounter a problem with the third-party Web company, you may be held hostage until they choose to assist you.

In-house: With the availability of Web design products such as Macromedia Dreamweaver 2004, Hot Dog Professional, and others, it is now easy to make certain changes to text in your site with relatively little knowledge. However, be aware you will need a program such as WS FTP Pro, which will allow you to access to the file server where your Web site resides so you can upload and download the files you need to work on. A word of caution here: By accessing the live Web server, you are working with the live files that are being seen on the Web. If you accidentally delete a file and don’t have a top-notch backup system, that portion of the site becomes nonfunctional. You need to think this part of the equation through carefully before deciding to keep Web site updates in-house.

Administrative functionality: It might be wise to design many administrative features into your Web site so staff may be permitted to change text on any portions of the site assigned to their respective departments. This creates ownership of the site by the staff and allows the site administrator to focus on avoid some of the daily updates and focus on less mundane tasks.

Available funds: Determining a budget is the single most difficult issue when deciding how to handle the design and maintenance of your site. One way we addressed this issue was to place a higher emphasis on the staff ownership of the site, allowing our various departments to take responsibility for changes using a simple Word interface.

Perfecting the partnership

As the association’s chief information officer, I contribute the knowledge required to design pages and the functionality required to make them work. I also acknowledge my shortcomings, allowing for a productive working relationship with the third-party firm that designs our Web site. We work together: I make minor modifications to the site without having to send in a work-order request, which may delay critical information in being posted to the site. This relationship results in major cost savings over the long run.

Following are some final words of wisdom for the smaller associations that are considering new Web initiatives:

• Define the budget and then define the project.
• Determine if you have a staff person with the required knowledge to handle the project for you.
• Decide if it is worth sending a staff person for training to handle the day-to-day maintenance.
• Conduct your due diligence on companies being considered as outsourcing partners in your Web initiative.
• Make sure the partner you select has a thorough understanding of the nonprofit association industry.
• Instruct your design company to build in administrative features so the staff retains ownership of the site and the sections assigned to their departments. It becomes a livelier site when staff can make the changes without having to submit a work order and then wait for the change to occur.

Last but not least, if you do not feel comfortable handling the project, consider using a consultant who specializes in association Web design projects. Such a consultant can serve as an objective outside party. But remember, consultants (like design companies) need to be closely scrutinized before you enter into any type of contractual relationship. Make sure you do the due diligence necessary so you are comfortable with the consultant prior to signing on the dotted line.

Author/Contact Information

Author/Contact: Dennis: Gano
Source: TechnoScope (ASAE)

«BACK