Getting Started
As a starting point for the redesign we had the content of the old site. That content was originally written by many club members since 2005, plus various resources from the Rotary International website. This new site with its completely revamped layout had 70+ pages of content pulled together by one non-professional volunteer with about one week's work. This was possible because the site uses an advanced content management system developed by our hosts Loca Lola Design Team Inc. After the initial push there has been some tweaking and a steady addition of new pages bringing the current total to well over 100 pages of content. At this point this site is actually one of the largest Rotary websites on the internet.

 

Content Management System
Loca Lola market their content management system as CustomBlox.com. It is ideal for a Rotary Club website because in essence it is a template-based system that allows anybody to generate a professional-quality website. As Rotarians with busy careers, developing the skills needed to produce a professional-quality site from scratch is well beyond what can be expected of amateur volunteers. If you are lucky enough to have someone with the skills it can still be a problem being so dependant on them alone or too demanding on their time. Relying on a paid web designer to make all changes can also be problematic. Many find making updates and changes so costly they end up resisting changes and the site soon gets stale.

 

In contrast, using Loca Lola's CustomBlox.com system is so straightforward that anyone, even with zero experience, can pull together and manage a quality site. The system has been designed to be very user friendly. It is all done online so there is no software to install and more than one person can work on the site from their own computers. Club committees could easily add & maintain their own pages without concern that the site formatting will get screwed up.

 

A Unique System
How the system works is a Loca Lola designer will work with you to develop a customized template to serve your needs. Your template can make your site unique. It establishes the way the pages are organized and their look. Unlike better known content management systems marketed to clubs, your template wouldn't be a cookie-cutter design used by hundreds of other club sites - or full of 'fluff' features you don't need. The emphasis at Loca Lola is on easy-to-navigate websites that avoid bombarding the visitor with 'information clutter'. Their approach to template design is to keep it simple for a more professional appearance. Simple also make it easier to update! The approach also means you can get started at your own pace. Your site can be just a few pages and grow with time. Unlike most other template-based design systems with their busy designs, with CustomBlox.com you aren't required to add to dozens of pre-established content areas just to get started and have your site make sense. You won't be confronted with dozens of sections requiring content and your visitors won't face the "Coming Soon" messages because you have more navigation than your limited content warrants. If you look around our website you'll see that the system is really quite flexible and suited to structuring a variety of content.

 

You Assemble Your Site
Using your custom template, you build your site's pages using a intuitive system Loca Lola call "Blox" that organize your content. As you build up your site from these "Blox" the site navigation system is built automatically. The content is also automatically formatted to the 'look' established for the site with the designer. To use the system you need zero knowledge of html or other web programming languages. As you build your site you can preview it in your web browser to confirm how it will look to others. With the simple click of one button your updates can be published to the server where Loca Lola Design Team Inc. host the site for you. If you have a domain name registered they will set things up for your site to use it.

 

Making Changes
The important thing is once hosted you can just as easily continue to edit, add, or delete pages. In fact anyone you give access (via passwords) can add or update the site from their own web browsers. It is easy to set it up so those other people have limited privileges. By doing that you can limited them, say, to just updating information and not able to accidentally delete pages. Another great feature is when you change or add content it remains as a draft until you choose to publish it. This 'draft' version of the site is still on-line but is only accessible to those assigned passwords. This feature offers the possibility of, say, having a committee review a major addition before it is published to the public site.

 

In Conclusion
So if you want a "clean" professional-quality site that allows you to simply manage your content we'd suggest contacting the internet company Loca Lola Design Team Inc. and see if they can set you up. Tell them you saw the Rotary Club of Charlottetown website!