External website

This page examines some of the issues associated with setting up your own club website. The reasons as to why your club might like to have its own external website are listed on the main website page of this guide. Even some sporting clubs who have a website provided for them by their main sporting body choose to set up their own, separate website as they feel that it looks better or provides more functionality. The following options have been typically used by sporting clubs to set up their own website. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages.

• Use a 'free+' service to create your website. Examples of such services are: WordPress; Wix and Google Sites, but it is relatively easy to find others via an online search. Google Sites was used to create this website. With these services it is usually quite easy to set up a good looking site using pre-designed 'templates' that they provide. However, depending upon the service, you may need to subscribe or pay a fee to provide extra functionality, remove advertisements, have your own domain name (web address) or have extra space to host the website. Some extra features also require technical skills to set them up.

• Some clubs engage a consultant to assist them with developing their websites. Again, these can be sourced via word-of-mouth or via a web search. Some consultants will create a website from 'scratch', whilst others will use services with predetermined templates (eg WordPress), but do all the hard work for you. It is very important to know what you are paying for and to ensure that your club retains the ability to update the website content yourself. You do not want to be in a situation where you have to pay a consultant every time you want to add content to the website. It is worth reviewing the page of this guide devoted to Selecting Internet Tools when considering engaging a consultant.

• Even if your club does not have an Internet connection itself, usually someone in the the club (perhaps on the committee) will subscribe to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that provides some website space as part of their service. Usually they provide minimal technical assistance to set up the website, so you will likely need to rely on someone in the club having technical and design skills to set up the website. However, some of these providers do have 'template' type services that the club might be able to use to set up a website. It is important to be aware that the domain name that is allocated for this website look be a bit clumsy, looking something like this:

www.isp_name.com/yourclubname

If you wish to head down this path then the ISP will usually provide a service for you to have your own domain name (for a fee).

• Another option for clubs is to not actually have a website as such, but to use an accumulator service, such as Team App, to take the place of a club's website.

Concerns or reasons for not having an external website

These are also listed on the main website page of this guide.However, there are some specific concerns that clubs have about setting up external websites:

• It can be expensive to set up a new website, especially if you want to have a customised design (as opposed to using a service with pre-designed templates). Also, there is a need to be very wary of ongoing costs.

• As mentioned above, such websites (even the ones based on templates) usually require some technical skills when more than basic functionality is needed.

• Be aware of the time involved in setting up an external website.