How to create a club website

An as­so­ci­ation website helps to promote the club and its activ­it­ies, ensures that it stays in regular contact with its members and also attracts new ones at the same time. But what kind of content belongs on a club or society website and what should be the focus? What general con­di­tions must be observed when creating a club website? Our guide sum­mar­ises the most important in­form­a­tion when learning how to create a club website.

What is the best domain name for a club website?

A domain is the unique internet address that opens up a website when it’s typed or copied into the browser. The domain name should lead directly to the target and, if possible, refer to the content and/or regional focus of the as­so­ci­ation. The website will be found more easily if the terms people are most likely to search for to find your club are included in the domain name. It’s important to think about SEO when choosing your domain name. You should pay attention to:

• The type of activity that the society un­der­takes should be reflected in the domain name, for example ‘table-tennis-meetup…’, ‘singing-get-together…’ or ‘chess-friends…’.
• For geo­graph­ic­al ori­ent­a­tion, it makes sense to include the location or region. Short­en­ing place names are a good way to get them into the domain name. For example, ‘tap-dancing-manc’ (Manchester), ‘brass-band-shef” (Sheffield), or ‘arts-and-crafts-donny’ (Doncaster).
• With currently available domain ex­ten­sions, the domain name can also be adapted in terms of content or region. Not only is .london available, but also .football, .pet or .run. These are just a few examples out of more than 1,300 available domain endings.
• If several domain names are used, redirect all ad­di­tion­al domains to the main domain for the club website.

Once you’ve found the perfect domain name for your society website and also bought it, you should also set up club email addresses, so for example ‘board­mem­ber@ex­ample­club.tld’ or ‘post@ex­ample­club.tld’ for general inquiries or ‘run-coaching@ex­ample­club.tld’, depending on the different activ­it­ies offered.

Use a website builder to create the club website

Using a website builder is a good idea for creating an as­so­ci­ation or club website. The advantage here is that you can start straight away because you don’t need any pro­gram­ming knowledge and can plan the costs precisely. Think in advance about what you want to publish on your club website. Look at photos and texts that already exist and showcase the club well.

The ad­vant­ages of using a website builder for creating a club website is that you have peace of mind that your website will be displayed properly on mobile devices, and you don’t have to worry about mandatory content such as the imprint or data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tions thanks to pre-built templates. However, with a website builder you are limited when it comes to design and in­di­vidu­al­ity.

Ad­vant­ages of IONOS MyWebsite

The website builder, IONOS MyWebsite, makes it possible to create appealing websites without needing any web design knowledge. The intuitive and easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface helps you to build your club website according to in­di­vidu­al wishes and needs. If you do run out of in­spir­a­tion, that’s not a problem either. The builder contains numerous design templates tailored to clubs. In addition, you receive text creation support and an extensive photo library. Features like search engine op­tim­isa­tion, website security, your own domain and a pro­fes­sion­al email address are of course also available.

Have your club website created by a service provider

If you com­mis­sion a pro­fes­sion­al service provider to create the website for your as­so­ci­ation or club, you will end up with more design freedom, but the whole thing is usually pricier. In return, you don’t have to worry about (almost) anything, provided that you have thor­oughly briefed the service provider. At IONOS, you can also have your club website created by in-house pro­fes­sion­als, including com­pre­hens­ive con­sult­ing, SEO expertise and ongoing support.

Al­tern­at­ively, you can choose a content man­age­ment system for creating your club website and create a website with WordPress or an al­tern­at­ive CMS from our article on the best CMS platforms.

What kind of content belongs on a club website?

The content placed on a club or as­so­ci­ation’s website is as diverse as the different types of clubs out there. Those searching online for a par­tic­u­lar as­so­ci­ation or club are very likely to have a thematic interest. Therefore, the website’s image language and text design should match the purpose of the club or as­so­ci­ation. Look for suitable photos that radiate pos­it­iv­ity. This can really help when trying to acquire new members.

If your club website is in the process of being created or re­designed, you can let visitors know about it with a coming-soon site. Remember to use a good image that reflects the club and ensure you provide essential contact in­form­a­tion.

The content mentioned below should be included on the website:

Home i.e. ‘the club’

A website’s homepage is the central point of contact. It explains the goal and purpose of the as­so­ci­ation. It’s a good idea to include a them­at­ic­ally ap­pro­pri­ate photo or il­lus­tra­tion here. First and foremost, the aim is to captivate website visitors so that they continue to engage with the content. Quotes from satisfied members, out­stand­ing com­pet­i­tion results or a prize that the club recently won is sure to draw attention. It is not so much about showing off, but about appealing to potential members. The article ‘How to create an ‘about me’ page’ contains lots of tips and tricks.

Trans­par­ency also includes providing in­form­a­tion about mem­ber­ship fees and what is expected of as­so­ci­ation members on the website. To do this, you could set up a separate subpage called ‘Mem­ber­ship’ where potential members can find the mem­ber­ship form, the club rules and other official documents to download.

Current topics

Under this menu item, you can describe what life in the club is like. How many members are in the club? Has a certain member achieved something special for the club? Where was the last com­pet­i­tion won? Has a new piece of equipment recently been purchased? This in­form­a­tion is usually arranged with the most recent at the top. Older news can be shown as a teaser or displayed in a sidebar on the homepage.

However, in­teg­rat­ing a news section like this into your club website does end up in­creas­ing the effort required to maintain the website. The saying ‘Nothing could be older than the daily news, nothing deader than yesterday’s newspaper’ is quite fitting here as it also applies to club websites. A News subpage whose most recent entries are from a year ago will make the reader doubt whether the club even exists anymore.

Event calendar

Clubs thrive on their members regularly meeting up. Whether fixed dates or special, one-time events, a well-filled events calendar on a club or society’s website is always an in­dic­a­tion of a lively club. To add a calendar in WordPress, there are various plugins available. The Google calendar can be adapted with a few clicks and placed as an iFrame on the website.

Our team

Providing short profiles of club members creates trust and trans­par­ency for the club website. The club’s board of directors, de­part­ment heads, trainers or pro­fes­sion­al su­per­visors should be included along with a photo of them. This lets potential members know early on who they can expect to see in the club. However, it’s important to first ask the team for consent before pub­lish­ing their photo.

Member ad­min­is­tra­tion

A separate area for member ad­min­is­tra­tion or for events that require re­gis­tra­tion or fees should also be included in a club or as­so­ci­ation’s website. Make sure that users first have to log in in order to access this area. To implement this, you’ll need a database. Since personal data is stored here, it’s paramount that security is top notch in order to prevent data leaks.

News­let­ter

Sending out news­let­ters is a good way to make sure that as­so­ci­ation members are regularly informed. It’s also a good op­por­tun­ity to recruit new members. News­let­ters need to be well designed and filled with in­ter­est­ing content to make sure they actually get read. There are numerous pro­fes­sion­al (fee-based) providers that can help you create news­let­ters.

Place a re­gis­tra­tion form on your as­so­ci­ation’s website to increase read­er­ship. To give readers (and yourself) peace of mind, it’s a good idea to implement the double opt-in procedure where a con­firm­a­tion email con­tain­ing a link is sent out. This is done so that users whose email addresses are in­vol­un­tar­ily entered into mailing lists are protected from spam. Remember to also integrate an un­sub­scribe option.

Legal re­quire­ments

The General Data Pro­tec­tion Reg­u­la­tion (GDPR) has raised reg­u­la­tions sur­round­ing the handling of data to a new level, which has also increased user con­fid­ence. There are many providers that offer free legal texts as well as website builders that integrate legal texts into the user’s website. These same strict guidelines also apply to a club or society website. The following legal in­form­a­tion must be provided in order to meet the re­quire­ments of the GDPR:

If you are col­lect­ing any personal in­form­a­tion from users, it is ab­so­lutely essential to have a privacy policy on your website. Personal in­form­a­tion usually includes name, email address, phone numbers, addresses and, in some cases, even IP addresses. Users have to be given the option to request a copy of their collected data or for it to be deleted if they wish. It makes sense to place a link to the privacy policy page in the footer of your club or society’s website. You must obtain the prior consent of the website visitor if you plan to use cookies. Our guide ‘What are cookies’ explains more about the topic.

Pros and cons of running a club website

Whether sports, music or a charity as­so­ci­ation, creating a website for your club makes it appear more serious. On the whole, it’s a good idea to run a website, but, depending on the chosen website type there can also be downsides.

Pros of a club website

The as­so­ci­ation website provides vis­ib­il­ity and vis­ib­il­ity provides reach. In­form­a­tion about the club, its activ­it­ies as well as any upcoming events can easily be made available to a wide audience via the website.

Club members will also find it easier to com­mu­nic­ate with one another, which is es­pe­cially helpful if they don’t live near each another. In­form­a­tion about goals, projects, dates and contacts are trans­par­ent and publicly ac­cess­ible, as are the club rules and minutes of any recent meetings. This strengthens member loyalty and the interest of potential members.

A club or society website also provides a place to raise donations or to obtain sponsors, depending on the purpose of the as­so­ci­ation, of course.

Cons of a club website

Once created, a lot of time, effort and possibly money is required to keep it running. A club with limited funds and personnel can quickly reach its limits when at­tempt­ing to maintain a pro­fes­sion­al website.

A club or as­so­ci­ation website can also pose privacy and security risks. As the operator, you have to make sure that sensitive in­form­a­tion (member data) remains protected. A club website, like any other website, must be protected from malware and other threats and this can prove chal­len­ging.

In an age where prac­tic­ally everyone uses social media platforms, a website’s reach is limited since not everyone visits websites regularly. Some target groups, i.e., older and very young people could possibly be better reached via other channels.

Examples of appealing club websites

It has been estimated that if you add all the members of the top 100 clubs in the UK together, the figure would come to 42.7 million! (Source: The AMC, correct as of July 2023). The often-limited financial resources, es­pe­cially regarding small clubs, means that there are still quite a number of clubs that have no website or if they do, it’s not optimised for mobile. Below we present three examples of suc­cess­ful club websites, which also have good vis­ib­il­ity on mobile devices.

Factual, in­form­at­ive and ac­cess­ible

The Met­ro­po­l­i­an Museum of Art’s website offers all important in­form­a­tion at a glance. The ‘Plan your visit’ CTA button is the first thing the visitor sees. Clicking on it guides the visitor through a seamless process of pur­chas­ing tickets, finding dir­ec­tions, and becoming familiar with the current museum rules and guidelines. The video on the main page also gives the visitor a taster of what awaits them at the museum.

All in­form­a­tion included and yet ap­proach­able

The National Parks Con­ser­va­tion As­so­ci­ation (NCPA) has been con­serving the nation’s parks since it was founded in 1919. All essential in­form­a­tion is presently clearly on their website and sections can be accessed via the header menu. Visitors can access in­form­a­tion on numerous topics such as current en­vir­on­ment­al issues to park-specific in­form­a­tion­al pages while at the same time being awed by beautiful imagery.

Emotional and oriented to the fans

This website is sleek so as not to overwhelm the visitor, but still ensures it includes everything that could possibly be needed at first glance. Sheffield Wednesday’s website is packed full of in­form­a­tion about the club and its current activ­it­ies. Dropdown menus along the top make it easy for the visitor to find out more on certain topics such as info on the club itself as well as scheduled matches. News stories on the right also make it the perfect website for fans to keep up to date.

Social media for that extra reach

Depending on the kind of as­so­ci­ation and the target audience, activity on social media can be used to boost the website. In our guide ‘The most important social media platforms at a glance’ you can find out which platform is most suitable for your club or as­so­ci­ation. However, trends in social media use and user behaviour change quite rapidly so make sure to stay up to date.

How can a club use social media to increase awareness of its website? One trick is not to spread the news yourself, but to simply show a headline as a kind of teaser and then to link to the as­so­ci­ation’s website and let the reader find the rest of the in­form­a­tion them­selves. Hopefully the user will stumble across other in­form­a­tion about the as­so­ci­ation while they’re on the website and may even decide to sign up. Whether this works or not could depend on the clever use of popular or trendy hashtags. In addition, the channel should be regularly updated. This should happen at least once a month.

When to use which platform

• an Instagram account is perfect for sharing photos and short videos. You can also place links in your club’s Instagram stories.
• a Facebook account can be used as an event page for the club.
• a YouTube channel for the club works well if the activ­it­ies un­der­taken can be presented well in videos.
• TikTok has great potential for reaching a younger demo­graph­ic.
• WhatsApp groups allow you to reach members quickly and con­veni­ently.