Photo Club Website

[BananaRepublic]

In the absence of any other forum to put this;

The camera club that Im in want to get a new website. There intentions are to have a publicly accessible zone and an internal members only space.

They have given an estimated cost of €2000 just for building it alone which would be around $2300. Having a vague knowledge of the costs involved in building a website I would want to able to launch the starship enterprise with it to justify that cost.

Is this a mad price or a reasonable one.

 

[tirediron]

First and foremost, I'd love to be in a club that could budget that sort of money for a website...

It's a decent cost if you're going to have it professionally developed; that said, given how easy platforms such as WordPress make this process, I'm not sure why you would want to spend that sort of money.

 

[Jeff15]

My club would never spend that sort of money on a website, it seems a trifle excessive...

 

[BananaRepublic]

First and foremost, I'd love to be in a club that could budget that sort of money for a website...

It's a decent cost if you're going to have it professionally developed; that said, given how easy platforms such as WordPress make this process, I'm not sure why you would want to spend that sort of money.

Honestly I believe it would have to be done professionally because the politburo would wade in and in the end the backend of the site would look like a monkey-maize. I know €11 to 1500 would get a very good site built but I don not know what kind how the internal element would effect the price. I have had encounters before regarding other things and I really dont much care what they do but it is baffling sometimes.

 

[BananaRepublic]

My club would never spend that sort of money on a website, it seems a trifle excessive...

The main problem is they have to much money resting in there account and vested interests make changing the important things impossible.

 

[jeffW]

I belong/lurk on three local recreational club websites - one is primary a forum and I don't think anyone ever goes to the other pages. The other two are cycling clubs and actually have good budgets, with sign in capabilities, pdf doc hosting(cue sheets) calendars, newsletters, etc.

The problem is unless you have a truly full time webmaster the sites don't have the immediate organic capabilities that just having your club through Meetup or Flickr. I think before asking what type of budget you need, figure out what you truly want the website to do.

You might find that the capabilities that you are after in a club's website are better found in the turnkey solutions of Meetup, Facebook or Flickr. Such as having members check in on their mobile phones, easily posting pictures from events and or marketing your club via the platforms already captive audience.

 

[BananaRepublic]

I belong/lurk on three local recreational club websites - one is primary a forum and I don't think anyone ever goes to the other pages. The other two are cycling clubs and actually have good budgets, with sign in capabilities, pdf doc hosting(cue sheets) calendars, newsletters, etc.

The problem is unless you have a truly full time webmaster the sites don't have the immediate organic capabilities that just having your club through Meetup or Flickr. I think before asking what type of budget you need, figure out what you truly want the website to do.

You might find that the capabilities that you are after in a club's website are better found in the turnkey solutions of Meetup, Facebook or Flickr. Such as having members check in on their mobile phones, easily posting pictures from events and or marketing your club via the platforms already captive audience.

Essentially everything in the first paragraph has been listed as requirements, links to Youtube PS & LR how to's were mentioned for example, but they also have the idea that the pros in the group could advertise their wears to the public. Whilst all that is do able its sound like a big cluster f!@£ for what is a recreational club and many of members cant even rename there photo files for competition submissions

There is a face book page but high command dont know how get the best from it and there is no talking to them.

 

[jeffW]

Like my city counsel, unless you truly have a specific plain laid out you can eat up your budget with consultation meetings and exploratory studies. I imagine most web designers charge for meetings, consultations and any revisions after the fact.

Maybe suggest using the money in the coffers for speakers to come in and talk on how to manage club pages on Facebook, Meetup, and Flickr? It's funny how you can trying to inform people and they never hear you, have a speaker or consultant state the same thing and poof they hear it.

The reason why I brought up the social media platforms is because the one club that has the biggest budget and built a very professional website probably 3x your budget. Use to have a Meetup presence and it was so much better. yes the website is very nice but as a member it doesn't compare to the functionality the Meetup platform provides. addresses go right to mobile maps, mobile check ins, instant messaging if a meeting is delayed or moved etc. For an individual club's site you would need a full time administrator providing that kind of functionality. Don't get me wrong their pricing is rather steep for small clubs but combine that with a flickr group and I don't see how an individual website can compare (for a member's user experience)