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Sarah
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 2:17 pm    Post subject: How to gain support for a website Reply with quote

I have looked through the forum, and I could not see anything on this point. I am looking to set up a website for our Parish Council, and have run into all sorts of opposition, some from other members of the Council (hence I have decided not to name it here!!!) and some from the local community (though tending to be from people who have connections with the dissenters in the Council).

Whilst I think that all Parish Councils should be looking to the future and setting up websites, I am not too sure about how to go about it. Most people I speak to are surprised to hear that there is no website already, and as I am sure you all know, it is much easier to campaign in favour of the status-quo than to do something new an innovative.

So, if anyone has any ideas on how to curry favour for having a Parish Council website, please do let me know, as I really want it to happen.

Regards,
Sarah
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cath_p
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 2:59 pm    Post subject: Re: How to gain support for a website Reply with quote

Sarah wrote:
I have looked through the forum, and I could not see anything on this point. I am looking to set up a website for our Parish Council, and have run into all sorts of opposition, some from other members of the Council (hence I have decided not to name it here!!!) and some from the local community (though tending to be from people who have connections with the dissenters in the Council).

Whilst I think that all Parish Councils should be looking to the future and setting up websites, I am not too sure about how to go about it. Most people I speak to are surprised to hear that there is no website already, and as I am sure you all know, it is much easier to campaign in favour of the status-quo than to do something new an innovative.

So, if anyone has any ideas on how to curry favour for having a Parish Council website, please do let me know, as I really want it to happen.

Regards,
Sarah


hi sarah there is a website called local channel network i discoverd them at the recent NALC conference look them up they specialise in parish council websites at minimal costs : email: sarah.clark@thelocalchannel.co.uk she is very helpful ........good luck we are in the process of setting one up

cath x
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Sarah
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:40 pm    Post subject: Re: How to gain support for a website Reply with quote

cath_p wrote:
Sarah wrote:
I have looked through the forum, and I could not see anything on this point. I am looking to set up a website for our Parish Council, and have run into all sorts of opposition, some from other members of the Council (hence I have decided not to name it here!!!) and some from the local community (though tending to be from people who have connections with the dissenters in the Council).

Whilst I think that all Parish Councils should be looking to the future and setting up websites, I am not too sure about how to go about it. Most people I speak to are surprised to hear that there is no website already, and as I am sure you all know, it is much easier to campaign in favour of the status-quo than to do something new an innovative.

So, if anyone has any ideas on how to curry favour for having a Parish Council website, please do let me know, as I really want it to happen.

Regards,
Sarah


hi sarah there is a website called local channel network i discoverd them at the recent NALC conference look them up they specialise in parish council websites at minimal costs : email: sarah.clark@thelocalchannel.co.uk she is very helpful ........good luck we are in the process of setting one up

cath x


Cath,

Thanks for that. I did actually know already about the Local Channel, and I must say I was a little put off by the fact that they put random adverts on your site and that you cannot control what the website actually looks like. Whilst we have opposition from some of the Council, they were even more against having a website like that. Their view was that we should either have a professionally-made website or nothing, and I understand that Parish Councils must be careful about using adverts and other things which are not allowed on local government websites.

My ideal would be to have a site like the ones made by this forum's sponsor, so that it could have its own address and we could design it ourselves, but it is just about getting the Council to agree to part with £250!!

Good luck with your site though, do let us know what the address is when it is finished!

Sarah
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cath_p
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

do you know what thats the direction i think i'm going in after learning bout the other one sarah will approach these again lol Very Happy Wink

xx
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Sarah
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hope I didnt put you off it! Embarassed

I have been reading some of the sites on there and there are some pretty good ones. I am just not convinced about the advertising etc. and you can just imagine what the electorate will say if they do not like the website! Crying or Very sad
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cath_p
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sarah wrote:
Hope I didnt put you off it! Embarassed

I have been reading some of the sites on there and there are some pretty good ones. I am just not convinced about the advertising etc. and you can just imagine what the electorate will say if they do not like the website! Crying or Very sad


no not at all im a website novice lol dont have a clue what im doing but being pushed to set one up grrrrrrrrr lol Wink
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ParishCouncil.net
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Obviously we do not want to comment on other website providers' services, but we would urge people looking to have a website to consider the accessibility requirements for Local Government websites.

For more information, please visit the e-Government Unit website at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government/resources/handbook/html/2-4.asp
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For more information on getting your own Parish Council website, please visit [b:d7ad3e42ad]www.parishcouncil.net[/b:d7ad3e42ad]
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cath_p
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ParishCouncil.net wrote:
Obviously we do not want to comment on other website providers' services, but we would urge people looking to have a website to consider the accessibility requirements for Local Government websites.

For more information, please visit the e-Government Unit website at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government/resources/handbook/html/2-4.asp


hi a couple of questions:

have approached my parish council about using your website building expertise, 2 questions: 1 how much space is therer is there for instance to keep archive minutes and agendas?

and secondly would we be able to update it ? thanks cath x
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tom
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sarah,

I certainly hold myself out to be no expert in the field, but the sort of thing that would get me to visit a website would be to have both useful and interesting information on there. There are some websites addresses in this forum that you can visit, and one in particular from Penselwod is the sort of thing that would get me to keep revisiting. It may be worth getting your people to look at this one and decide if they want something similar.

Tom
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richardgarforth
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

Why would anyone not want a website? What reasons do they state?

I had a "discussion" at our Parish council meeting, there were people who did not want it, but it was from a position of "not knowing about internet".

Once I had reassured them that it would not replace the newsletter, could be used to display information quickly without waiting for the newsletter, they were more receptive. In our parish although the website is not officially the newsletter has benefitted. Our site has cost about £10 so far for hosting, and we will be running adverts to generate income back to the council.

I work in IT and so I have a few years experience of website design (Hence the £10 so far in cost) I have seen other sites that include their own adverts in the design and make a fortune from those. On another site I designed I use google Adsense and Commission Junction to pick what adverts I want to display, and we make the money.


Richard
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Claire White
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Richard,

I am very interested in the advertising info. Could you possibly start a new thread and tell us how this is done. I reckon lots of councils would be interested in having websites that dont have them at the mo because of the cost, and if they could make a few £££s from it - well, why not!?

Claire
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