The Life Expectancy of Websites

[choward]

Did you realise that on average, websites only exist in the form that they are in for 18 months! It is a terrifying statistic if you are a webmaster, and especially so if you are charged with controlling the purse-strings for a website. It is simply not feasible to have to change the style, layout, colours, pictures and all the other aspects of a website every year and a half.

Why therefore do websites only last a short while? The reason is really very simple - people stop coming to visit them.

The key therefore is to keep the content as fresh and appealing as possible. As a Parish Council, you are duty bound to publish certain material such as meeting minutes, agendas and accounts, and having a website is a very efficient, cost-effective way to do this. However, the website should not be just a plain, boring tool to meet your Parish Council objectives or publish information in a more efficient way. It can and should be much more than that, and if it is, your website will continue to get visitors looking at it, and more importantly, returning to it.

There are many ways to keep websites fresh and appealing. You can keep changing the style, layout and appearance of the site, but this is a very expensive and time-consuming venture (trust me on this - I had to change most of our corporate website over the last couple of months!!). But if you look at the websites that are real success stories, such as the BBC (the most popular website in the United Kingdom) then you will see that they do not keep changing the style and layout, but they keep the content fresh and appealing to returning visitors. You therefore do not need to keep spending lots of time and money on new, flashy images, but keep the content new.

ParishCouncil.net websites do allow webmasters to update all the content on their sites, such as calendar events, news items, photo galleries or discussion forums. However, the ability to update the content is just half the battle, the rest, I am afraid, is up to you...

[compton]

Surely it also needs to have content that LOOKS different. It is not enough to just have a few words that are different, as people will not take the time to read them all. You need to have images and pictures on your home page that change with time.

[annie-jane]

I am not sure that this is entirely true. I come back to certain websites because of the content that is on them, and not just because they look different. The most important thing for me is that there is actually something new there. For example, I come back to this forum from time to time, and I cannot see much different in terms of the pictures that are on it. I come back because there is something new to read, and something new to say.

[compton]

I do take your point about Forums, but forums are not Parish Council websites. These need to have something more to keep people coming back to them, and I think that this needs to be a fresh, new look every couple of weeks or so.

It does not have to be anything complicated, just a new picture of the month / week, or something like that, or even something humourous like a caption competition. Something to get the local community more involved.

[cath_p]

i'm going to put a fun page on mine , something where people need to come to answer a question or somthing , will let you all have the link when ive done it should be launched within the next couple of weeks


hugs xxx

[angie456]

Cath,

What sorts of things would you put on a 'fun page'?

I did hear some time ago about games that Parish Councils can have on websites, but I have not seen any of them. This seems like a really good idea.

Angie x

[angie456]

Cath,

What sorts of things would you put on a 'fun page'?

I did hear some time ago about games that Parish Councils can have on websites, but I have not seen any of them. This seems like a really good idea.

Angie x

[cath_p]

[Sarah]

[ALFIE]

Web Sites

Good question is this one. One of the things I hate and it is only a personal opinion Is a web site that is forever changing it's layout, I dont mind it's colours changing but layout is a different thing. You get used to using it and woosh it changes.

Of course things like news needs to change but if you are getting people to use your site because of useful links layout etc no need to change it except for the colour now and again.

IMHO

Alfie

[choward]

Wow - great to see a reply to this item - seems like its been a long time since I put it up there!!

Alfie - I completely agree with you. I really don't see the point of changing just for the sake of it, but at the same time, design skills, technology and tastes change over time, and it is really good to be up with the cutting edge.

One really good example is the new BBC website, which has just changed its homepage (and I believe will be rolling out the new design to all its other pages). The reason that the www.bbc.co.uk website looked like it did for so long was because of the fact that it had to fit into a certain browser window size to allow all users (even those with really old, antiquated and obsolete computers) to be able to access and use it. But, they have found ways around that now, and so can redo it all and make it look great and have loads of really useful features.

I was actually around (and had to do most of the work!!) when Parishcouncil.net last re-did all the websites, including the Forum, Directory and the main corporate website. All I can say is that I am glad they were done to a sufficiently modern design, because I don't fancy the task of doing that again!!

Once again, good to see you back on the Forum!

Charlie

[cath_p]

Well this is so true, our website has been up and running since november 2007 and now is badly in need of a revamp!!

only problem is , is that the original company who designed it are now out of business so i have to look for a new one!! i populated it and keep it up to date but cant do the design.

so this is on my service plan for this year.

[ParishCouncil.net]

Cath,

I couldn't help responding to your posting, and I'm very sorry if this seems like touting for business (which it clearly is!!!) - if you want to discuss revamps / redesigns for your Parish Council website, please do give us a call, and we'll see if we can do something for you - it is what we do after all!

Best regards,
Neil Pfister

Director, Parishcouncil.net

[cath_p]