So you think you want a web site?

 A case study based on a Quaker meeting site

 Why?

• What is your purpose?
• How about some measurable business (outcome) objectives, even?
• Who are your target audience?
• How will they find you?
• What message do you want them to take away?
• What action do you want them to take immediately?

In our case for the Reading UK Quaker meeting site a couple of years ago, www.reading-quakers.org.uk, we decided that the prime purpose was outreach. This has two faces:

1. Outgoing, to make Friend's existence and witness more widely known in the community.
2. Incoming, to generate enquiries by email or phone and give potential enquirers the confidence to contact us or visit the meeting house, including practical details like times, phone numbers, maps etc.

These are matters for Outreach Committee or overseers?

A secondary purpose or benefit of doing a meeting web site is that it can help the meeting know itself better, through the process of consultation and discussion over what content to include, i.e. what to say about yourselves. Who are these peculiar  people?

This is more for Elders?

Corollary: non-purposes

If you take the outreach approach then this implies several non-purposes, that you should not attempt to do on the same web site:

1. It is not a topical campaigning site, for peace or any other concern. One reason is that a campaigning site requires constant update with news and discussion and promotion. Do you have that kind of commitment? It can also dilute the outreach since not all potential enquirers will relate to all concerns or testimonies, even peace. But by all means encourage your local peace group or whatever to do their own site or site section.
2. It does not have the full diary of events, because we did not want all those addresses and Friend's home phone numbers on a public web site, and we did not want to have to update the public web site more than once a month (but our diary editor does have  access to add significant public discussion meetings, concerts etc).
3. It does not provide internal support for the meeting and its committees: we have a separate private site (on SmartGroups) for that. Any attender or member on the Monthly Meeting list can ask to be added. This site includes local meeting minutes, reports, photos, diary events, discussion etc.

Logistics

In our case the web site is funded and owned by Reading Local Meeting (now via Outreach Committee) but on behalf of the Monthly Meeting, so the other Local Meetings are looked after (though they could add their own specific pages). This works for Reading Monthly Meeting but will not work for many other meetings.

It helps to have a consistent graphical style, message etc across all media, including any advertisements and fliers as well as the web site.

John Wragg