What's in a blog...

OK... we've defined what a blog is, the difference between blogs and websites and that blogs will play a crucial role in the district for years to come. So what's in a blog?

There are many blog Widgets that can easily be inserted to give life and personality to your club's or groups blog. The hardest thing is decide on what to include. Remember, appropriate and thoughtful Widgets will increase readership and induce repeat visits.

Here are Widgets that should be included in every club blog:

Feedblitz - enables the reader to subscribe to your articles that get posted. This turns your blog into an electronic newsletter.

A site language translator - Google provides a blog and website translator that works very well. Remember, your blog will be viewed by the world, not just club members. Why not allow the world to see what you're doing?

Links to other blogs and websites.

Other widgets are available through Google such as the video bar and metric sites such as Sitemeter that will give you optional functionality that makes your blog more interesting.

You're only limited by imagination!!

Networks and blogging - a Vision for our future

There are so many wonderful things that this District does that go unrecognized by the general public and even our own clubs. Over the last 5 years I've heard the same story and as I travelled from club to club as an Assistant Governor the resounding reply was " I didn't know that" or "How do I find out how to ..." . What occurred to me is that we need a stronger communications network that ties in all the clubs, the District, the Foundation and associated programs while at the same time giving each and every member in our District a voice. Technology has given us the opportunity to bring Rotary communication to a whole new level.

As mentioned in my previous post, blogs are a excellent way for clubs to gain public exposure, recruit new members, chronicle club activities, inform current members and link themselves to other clubs in the area, as well as the District.

Linking the clubs and the District via hyperlinks serves a number of benefits to our District. First and most importantly our placement on Internet searches when people surf the net. The more links we generate, the higher our placement becomes with various search engines. This is how you generate readership and subsequently generate a readership on all the activities and programs we develop. This will translate into a larger membership and greater fundraising potential.

My vision of an inter-District blog network is incredibly simple and will generate a quantum leap in club communications. First things first. We need to have each and every club within 7910 develop a blog of their own and post on a semi regular basis. Next, each of these blogs need to be hyperlinked to and from the District Blog. Concurrently, each club blog should be hyperlinked to a neighboring club which will complete the District network. Once this is complete all members can easily view the activities of a neighboring club for ideas, support and membership escalation. To the public, it will show the cohesiveness of the District.

My next post will detail the content needs of a club blog and some additional products that will enable the clubs to get a running start for the future.

Dan

What's a blog??

Soo... sometimes a restart is required to allow people to grasp a concept. I apologize to those who have been listening to me speak over the months about blogs , what they can do for the District, clubs and groups affiliated with Rotary. In my diligence it appears that my readers don't understand the differences between blogs and websites. Since the differences can be a conceptual it will be easier to describe what a blog is and isn't, so here it goes:

First off a blog is short for Web Log or in layman's terms an electronic diary. An excellent example of a blog in the district is the Merrimack Valley's blog which chronicles events that occur among the membership.

A blog is an ongoing dialog of events, pictures, references and links which are stored in reverse chronological order.

A blog is designed to stimulate a dialog with it's readership. This is opposite of a website which has static information available for download.

Blogs are normally maintained by many authors and readers and allow for comments, websites are maintained typically by a single Webmaster, designed to deliver information only. Comments can only go to the Webmaster, not the site.

Blogs are an intricate part to modern public relations.

Blogs do not require specific knowledge to design, maintain or distribute, whereas Websites do!!

There are many things that blogs are or blogging is. One thing for certain is that a blog is different for every user, topic or objective. The importance of blogs and the rapid pace in which they are growing in usage is undeniable. It's growth is far outpacing Websites and will continue for many years to come.

In a few days I will share my vision of blog networking for the district and how your club can get started with blogging. It's simple, it's fun and it's important for the growth of the District and membership as a whole.

Dan

Technology team virtually meets again.

Once again the team did an online conference and the main topic was again online registrations for district events. The challenge at hand is offering multiple choices to registrants. The example is for meal selections. Currently, Club Runner is not set up to accept this type of registration but other services such as www.Regonline.com could offer a solution without investment of thousands of dollars.

Brief discussions about the Billboards and locations were discussed. Multiple points were made about the layout of the entry page of the district website. A 3 person group has been selected by Klaus to review and make changes to streamline the look of the site.