I figured I might as well chime in now cause this thread is labeled "Website" after so what better place...
I think the website needs content to be relevant in any way... People dont want to log in to a site that has nothing interesting for them to view. With that being said these are my suggestions, and of course you can add/remove any part of any of my ideas cause it usually only makes them better.
1. The site needs to have it's own buy/sell area within the forums for local deals only. We can make rules as well to the requirements before you can post something up for sale if needed or possibly use a ranking/reputation system so that if you buy or sell to someone you can give them a +1 for their rep so it will make it easier to keep track of who has been good in their dealings and who hasnt.
2. The forum needs to have an Off Topic thread or better yet and Off Topic section with Threads about all kinds of things, for example I recently started my own forum because my buddies and I were disatisfied with the forum we were visiting at the time and made plenty of sections that have nothing to do with how we met(videogames). Sections like Music, Movies, tv shows, Tech, etc. The main reason we go is to talk about videogames but I have made it to where even if you dont play video games you can still go and check out the other sections and talk with people that share some other interest that you do as well.
Yes Saltwater fish tanks is our hobby but I bet there are plenty of other things we might have in common with each other and maybe with unexpected people. Make it more like a community gathering area and not just a bulletin board to see what's coming up next.
3. I have mentioned this a couple of times and I feel like I am bugging on this one but I think we should do a Tank of the quarter and have it posted on the main page when people access the site. From the Club logo thread that was made I see that we have people that have experince and equipment to take good reef pics so we can use this to our advantage. We can do it by nomination and even have the BOD be the panel that decides who wins the quarter, you know something simple and fun.
We can take pics, do interviews and some background info on these people that you see at meetings but might be too shy to talk to and learn something about them you never even knew.
4. Have a "DIY" section but instead of having walls of text we can record and upload a video to youtube then embed the video to the site for playback.
It will be a visual demostration on how to do things by someone who knows their stuff and we can include someone in the video that doesnt know how to do it so the "noob-ish" questions can be asked.
It can be reviews about products you currently own or explanation on how things work or proper ways to clean/set up a product... We can even start by making some videos showing how to use the club equiptment properly to get the desired results and to avoid damaging it as well.
The best thing out of all of this is the cost.... It's free!!!.... None of the 4 things I have mentioned here cost money to do, just time that I'm sure some of you would be willing to donate.
And yes even though I currently dont have a tank I am willing to donate my time to help get any of this done.
For now that is the only thing that I can come up with but I hope my ideas will motivate other people chime in as well.
There is no point in having a website if we get no traffic on there.. Plain and simple and this is a point that I am more than willing to argue about with anyone about because if we dont get visitors then we might as well just exclusively use RC and call it a day. No need in having a website just so we can say we have one like the other clubs do.
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