Im landed with the position of setting up a decent website for our local club.
Considering putting up fixtures, results, reports, phot gallerys, links to other sites etc.
I would appreciate if anyone could direct me towards decent servers for such websites.
Anyone with any good ones???
I'm in the same boat too donelli. Have a mate who does the local soccer club website who's going to give me a hand but I really am not sure what the best way to go is. A lot of people are telling me to use joomla but this fella usually uses wordpress so I think I will be going with that.
Anyone who can be of any assistance on here would be greatly appreciated.
As always I recommend servasport for this, www.servasport.com
they have a tonne of clubs counties and universities on board for the GAA already, and they are an Irish company
I will be redesigning our own club website and will be using Joomla as a Content management system.
Im a software engineer but the Joomla stuff is fairly complicated to set up.
I have it installed on our server, I just need to set up accounts and get it to talk to some webpage templates.
I not sure yet how to set up the templates with it.
Its time consuming.... ::) :(
I've developed a few for antrim clubs with an easy to use content management system and done a a fair bit of the content management for the Antrim site itself.
The most important part is keeping it updated, which is easy with a good cms.
But you need to be updating it regular with match reports fixtures etc so will need a good PRO/team looking after it.
The GAA have their own content mamangement system already set up that clubs and counties can use.
I think all you have to do is get your club secretary to register your club details and provide club colours and crests and they do everything for you.
They then provide you with web address like www.myclub.gaa.ie. There will also be a link to your club from the GAA.ie site.
They give you manuals on how to update it and I think it is very straightforward.
Here is the link on the official GAA site for all the info.
http://www.gaa.ie/page/gaa_websites.html
If it was me I would go with this.....why re-invent the wheel thats what I say.
I done the Galbally one in WordPress and it was very easy. Not that wile flashy but very easy to update with club notes, photos and league tables and results. Will be very easy to hand over to the next PRO to keep updated.
www.galballygac.com
Quote from: Mac Eoghain on January 06, 2009, 02:54:08 PM
I wouldnt say good but it does the job : http://www.moy-gfc.com (http://www.moy-gfc.com) - developed using Dreamweaver & ColdFusion. Im sure the programming is like a spaghetti junction by now but try and work out what exactly you want from the site, the hardest part of building a site isnt the programming or development, it is getting the content together which has to go onto it and a decent PRO who will give you regular information for updating.
And that's were the plan all falls apart, screenexile :P
Shut up mouth!!! I didn't see you volunteer for any positions at the AGM so keep it shut!
Tbrick I have looked into the gaa.ie sites and to be honest they are all pretty primitive and I've been told that it isn't too difficult to get a better site up and running. For the time being I will be setting up a gaa.ie site to get used to updating and then when I have the better site sorted I hope to transfer it across.
As PRO I have no problem updating the site but I'll be damned if I'm producing all the content so it will be up to managers and club members to do their bit for it to be a success. I was asked last night at the club meeting if we will be having a guestbook! Some chance... those things are more hassle than they're worth.
Quote from: screenexile on January 06, 2009, 04:05:39 PM
I was asked last night at the club meeting if we will be having a guestbook! Some chance... those things are more hassle than they're worth.
Yeah can be a hassle, but if you have an administered guestbook it can be useful for replying to genuine queries.
When posters see that the stupid/daft posts aren't being put on they will soon stop posting them.
I used joomla for our site. www.drumraghgfc.net.
I'd definitely recommend it. You don't have to have much programming experience to set one up, and you need none at all to update a joomla site.
Abbeysider, you're not painting a good picture of joomla. It's very simple to use.
There's plent of useful step-by-step books;
http://shop.joomla.org/amazoncouk-bookstores.html
I used Building Website with Joomla for my first one and it's pretty good.
QuoteAs PRO I have no problem updating the site but I'll be damned if I'm producing all the content
The earlier versions of our site were all html based and needed me to update all the info and even with others producing the material, it was a pain in the ass to be honest.
You want a CMS based site that others can update themselves. It means that you can let the PRO, team managers etc update the site themselves. It'll mean that the site will be much better as a result I think.
If you check our sites clubtalk section, you'll have to go back 11 articles before you find one submitted by me, which is great:)
Id have to agree with Mac Eoghan. The hardest part is getting the content. That's why it's good to have users from every section of the club involved in uploading content.
Although I think he definitely needs to get rid of that blue menu on his site :P
Does your club use servasport heganboy? How much do they charge??
How much do all of you get charged p/a for club websites? I remember someone on here before saying that they paid quite a lot for their hosting etc.
I pay £19 for 500mb of webspace but I need to increase it as I've used 80%. 1143 photos in the gallery at this stage
The company I use are having a 50% off sale at the moment;
http://hosting-unlimited.co.uk/products/hosting/index.asp
my domain name only costs £8.50 p/a
So a total of £27.45 p/a isn't bad.
Quote from: donelli on January 06, 2009, 02:24:15 PM
Im landed with the position of setting up a decent website for our local club.
Considering putting up fixtures, results, reports, phot gallerys, links to other sites etc.
I would appreciate if anyone could direct me towards decent servers for such websites.
Anyone with any good ones???
St. Benedicts Harps GAA in Leeds use "intheteam.com" who provide sites for many sports. You can have different plans, I have the dearest (£99.00pa) and it works well. Fixtures, league tables, stats as well as a guestbook and a forum which you can have as a closed shop for club members or have it open to all. Have a look at it and decide for yourself: http://stbenedictsharps.intheteam.com (http://stbenedictsharps.intheteam.com)
HTH
www.homestead.com (http://www.homestead.com)
Around 44 euro a year, easy to put together and additional sites are about 2 euro a month once you have one.
Do the trial and then see what you think.
Quote from: screenexile on January 06, 2009, 04:05:39 PM
Shut up mouth!!! I didn't see you volunteer for any positions at the AGM so keep it shut!
Tbrick I have looked into the gaa.ie sites and to be honest they are all pretty primitive and I've been told that it isn't too difficult to get a better site up and running. For the time being I will be setting up a gaa.ie site to get used to updating and then when I have the better site sorted I hope to transfer it across.
As PRO I have no problem updating the site but I'll be damned if I'm producing all the content so it will be up to managers and club members to do their bit for it to be a success. I was asked last night at the club meeting if we will be having a guestbook! Some chance... those things are more hassle than they're worth.
You're right there....I only suggested it (as I have done before to our last website developer :o) as all the work of setting it up is taken out of your hands and then anyone who can read a manual can update it (reducing the workload for the pro). It's the quick and easy way to do it, but it would be better to get a custom made site up and running.
I know the problem in the past for our PRO was that at the start of the year there were always match reports sent in from managers, but as the year wore on these became few and far between. Then everyone complains to the PRO about lack of information! Its one of the toughest jobs IMO, so good luck to you.
Quote from: WeeDonns on January 06, 2009, 05:07:06 PM
I used joomla for our site. www.drumraghgfc.net.
I'd definitely recommend it. You don't have to have much programming experience to set one up, and you need none at all to update a joomla site.
Abbeysider, you're not painting a good picture of joomla. It's very simple to use.
There's plent of useful step-by-step books;
http://shop.joomla.org/amazoncouk-bookstores.html
I used Building Website with Joomla for my first one and it's pretty good.
CMS is the way forward. We have people in our club that are fantastic at updating the site, and know very little html.
I just need to make time for it. Between gym, playing a bit and other interests it is something I have put on the long finger for a while after my initial setup. I just downloaded that E-Book you mentioned and will crack on with the re-design soon.
Anyone know any good sites for downloading templates to work from?
Quote from: tbrick18 on January 06, 2009, 03:40:18 PM
The GAA have their own content mamangement system already set up that clubs and counties can use.
I think all you have to do is get your club secretary to register your club details and provide club colours and crests and they do everything for you.
They then provide you with web address like www.myclub.gaa.ie. There will also be a link to your club from the GAA.ie site.
They give you manuals on how to update it and I think it is very straightforward.
Here is the link on the official GAA site for all the info.
http://www.gaa.ie/page/gaa_websites.html
If it was me I would go with this.....why re-invent the wheel thats what I say.
well if the wheel is round and the tyre's inflated thats one thing, if its square and flat I might have another go at it...
Cheers Noel but I'm just looking at a few things at the minute but when the site is up I will more than likely come back to you thanks.
I got the GAA pack there and it really is primitive and isn't what I'm looking for at all. I do like the domain name and the fact that it will store all the content but is there any way I canuse joomla or wordpress to design the site but still keep the free domain name and hosting? I notice antrim.gaa.ie and a few others have their sites hosted on gaa.ie but don't use their content management system. How can I do this?
I think Screen Exile likes the word 'primitive'
Twice in 2 days
Quote from: screenexile on January 07, 2009, 04:15:54 PM
Cheers Noel but I'm just looking at a few things at the minute but when the site is up I will more than likely come back to you thanks.
I got the GAA pack there and it really is primitive and isn't what I'm looking for at all. I do like the domain name and the fact that it will store all the content but is there any way I canuse joomla or wordpress to design the site but still keep the free domain name and hosting? I notice antrim.gaa.ie and a few others have their sites hosted on gaa.ie but don't use their content management system. How can I do this?
The Antrim site is not hosted on the gaa.ie servers.
The antrim.gaa.ie subdomain is just pointing to the server where it is hosted.
AH! Yeah that sounds like a fairly normal thing and now I feel like an even bigger idiot than when I started this project.
Thanks ME anyway.
Quote from: Fionntamhnach on January 08, 2009, 08:56:00 AM
Quote from: Mhic Easmuint on January 07, 2009, 04:35:38 PM
Quote from: screenexile on January 07, 2009, 04:15:54 PM
Cheers Noel but I'm just looking at a few things at the minute but when the site is up I will more than likely come back to you thanks.
I got the GAA pack there and it really is primitive and isn't what I'm looking for at all. I do like the domain name and the fact that it will store all the content but is there any way I canuse joomla or wordpress to design the site but still keep the free domain name and hosting? I notice antrim.gaa.ie and a few others have their sites hosted on gaa.ie but don't use their content management system. How can I do this?
The Antrim site is not hosted on the gaa.ie servers.
The antrim.gaa.ie subdomain is just pointing to the server where it is hosted.
I assume special permission has to be granted to allow the nameservers for gaa.ie subdomains to be pointed away from its normal hosting. Do you know if clubs are allowed to do this or are they stuck with the current CMS the GAA has for them?
Don't know if clubs can avail of it or not. It would leave it a long domain name for a club if they were using it. E.g. portglenone.antrim.gaa.ie
The GAA's CMS is very limited as has been said before but I think I read somewhere that there is a major update in the pipeline. It has a couple of things going for it. Its free hosting (not that hosting is dear these days). If you don't want to register a domain name you can use yourclubname.county.gaa.ie which is quite long but it will get you there. If your county are setup with sportmanager.ie in theory you should be able to pull your clubs fixtures and results automatically from the county's website. Down are in the process of rolling this out but I think Derry are much further down the line with this and maybe a Derry club website admin could tell us if this works.
Another problem I have with the GAA's web hosting is that when I redirect www.mayobridge.com to http://mayobridge.down.gaa.ie my news can't be displayed because of a cookies problem. Everything works fine when I use http://mayobridge.down.gaa.ie
In the name of jesus how much help do you need to build a website. This program is better than that, this costs this and this costs that.. You are talking about €65 a year for jaysus sake. I am a complete thick as far as computers are concerned simply because my school had a pot bellied stove and a pot bellied teacher and the only mouse in the place was the mouse we fired bits of chalk at. I am 59 and never had anyone teach me which is why I am as they say computer illeterate, yet I could string together the guts of a site (www.fennetec.com) using www.homestead.com without much trouble, simply because it isn't trouble. Ye are all young lads for gods sake, it should be a piece of cake to go and build a website and stop crying about how much it costs. You would think the way ye are talking you had to build a site laying concrete blocks after digging it out with a spade. The local bicycle shop, nude cleaning service, used frying oil collector, red diesel delivery man, ostrich egg seller or anyone including myself would gladly pay your years subscription for a banner add on the site or a link add.
Quote from: Bud Wiser on January 08, 2009, 11:20:08 AM
In the name of jesus how much help do you need to build a website. This program is better than that, this costs this and this costs that.. You are talking about €65 a year for jaysus sake. I am a complete thick as far as computers are concerned simply because my school had a pot bellied stove and a pot bellied teacher and the only mouse in the place was the mouse we fired bits of chalk at. I am 59 and never had anyone teach me which is why I am as they say computer illeterate, yet I could string together the guts of a site (www.fennetec.com) using www.homestead.com without much trouble, simply because it isn't trouble. Ye are all young lads for gods sake, it should be a piece of cake to go and build a website and stop crying about how much it costs. You would think the way ye are talking you had to build a site laying concrete blocks after digging it out with a spade. The local bicycle shop, nude cleaning service, used frying oil collector, red diesel delivery man, ostrich egg seller or anyone including myself would gladly pay your years subscription for a banner add on the site or a link add.
Thats fine for that type of a website which is not updated regularly. For a club site which should be updated regular, that method would soon become a nightmare to update, with bits being stuck in here and there and become hard to navigate.
For a club site a CMS solution is the only way to go.
Would clubs have any budget for initially setting up the site?
Quote from: cornerback on January 06, 2009, 03:54:15 PM
Quote from: Mac Eoghain on January 06, 2009, 02:54:08 PM
I wouldnt say good but it does the job : http://www.moy-gfc.com (http://www.moy-gfc.com) - developed using Dreamweaver & ColdFusion. Im sure the programming is like a spaghetti junction by now but try and work out what exactly you want from the site, the hardest part of building a site isnt the programming or development, it is getting the content together which has to go onto it and a decent PRO who will give you regular information for updating.
And that's were the plan all falls apart, screenexile :P
They used to have one
Anyone have any idea how I can get my site to appear on Google when people search for Ballinascreen GAA?? I remember filling out some kind of request form at the time yet the site will still not appear. All help appreciated thanks.
Whats the address of the website?
Most sites are usually picked up by google itself providing it is search engine friendly.
ballinascreen.derry.gaa.ie
Yeah I'm not really sure how to make it search engine friendly either. Any tips?
Thats part of the GAA CMS. You will be limited to what you can do with it. (I've never actually used it but would say you have little control over most things)
Submitting to the various search engines is probably your best bet.
How long is it since you submitted it? Sometimes takes a while before it is listed.
<title>Ballinascreen</title>
<meta name="keywords" content="" />
<meta name="description" content="" />
Not sure if that means you have no keywords, does it give you the option in the CMS ?
And if it is possible change that title as well.
Something like Ballinascreen GAA - Derry
Then if possible as well change the title throughout the site.
E.g. Ballinascreen GAA - News, Ballinascreen GAA - Gallery etc etc.
The primary deciding factor in how google prioritises the order of the search results based almost entirely on how many sites link to it.
Quote from: blanketattack on May 05, 2009, 06:19:09 PM
The primary deciding factor in how google prioritises the order of the search results based almost entirely on how many sites link to it.
I dont know about that one! :D
Ill post more info tomorrow, lots of things you can do with keywords, meta tags and headers!
Quote from: AbbeySider on May 06, 2009, 12:16:44 AM
Quote from: blanketattack on May 05, 2009, 06:19:09 PM
The primary deciding factor in how google prioritises the order of the search results based almost entirely on how many sites link to it.
That is not true! :D
Ill post more info tomorrow, lots of things you can do with keywords, meta tags and headers!
Agreed, bit of a daft staement, more to it, key word density, key words in title bar, friendly urls, clean code, etc etc.
Quote from: AbbeySider on May 06, 2009, 12:16:44 AM
Quote from: blanketattack on May 05, 2009, 06:19:09 PM
The primary deciding factor in how google prioritises the order of the search results based almost entirely on how many sites link to it.
I dont know about that one! :D
Ill post more info tomorrow, lots of things you can do with keywords, meta tags and headers!
Quick links on using Meta Tags:
http://searchenginewatch.com/2167931
http://www.highrankings.com/metakeyword
Google Webmaster guidelines
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769
More tips and tricks for Search Engine Optimization:
http://www.searchengineoptimising.com/seo-guide
I'll give all that stuff a try thanks a million lads!
The webiste for Mayobridge is surely the benchmark for any club, even county.
www.mayobridgegac.com
It is updated daily with results and news.
It has photo albums to would put Down's website to shame.
And has all the matches videod too on youtube. I would definatly think its one of the best about.
:)
Quote from: WhoAreYaWhoAreYa! on May 06, 2009, 11:03:21 AM
The webiste for Mayobridge is surely the benchmark for any club, even county.
www.mayobridgegac.com
It is updated daily with results and news.
It has photo albums to would put Down's website to shame.
And has all the matches videod too on youtube. I would definatly think its one of the best about.
:)
:D
(http://www.evuk.co.uk/imgs/Blow_Your_Trumpet.jpg)
(http://i5.tinypic.com/20j5ve9.jpg)
Quote from: WhoAreYaWhoAreYa! on May 06, 2009, 11:03:21 AM
The webiste for Mayobridge is surely the benchmark for any club, even county.
nope- its bollocks
We only developed our site earlier this year and for whatever reason it didn't show on google searches for a while. It shows up now and I know for a fact that nothing was done to rectify this, it simply appeared after a couple of weeks!!!
Ours is linked to hoganstand and louth website, don't think that there is much hassle in getting these links with them, once you reciprocate.
For what it is worth, I am throwing my tuppence worth in, in relation to setting up the site.
We paid this crowd www.nexus451.com to develop this site www.thejoesgfc.com. A local sponsor paid for the development costs and the first year of hosting the site, club paying for the annual hosting costs at an agreed rate after year one (don't know how much any of this cost, so no point in asking me!). It works using a content management system called caboodle, which I have seen, a child could use it, its that simple. We have five different guys with sign ons to update the CMS.
I spoke to the company who developed the website myself and this was their first gaa site, but it now gives them a template that they can use for other gaa clubs who might be interested in going down this route.
I know the way that it was done in our club is that all the content that will stay fairly constant, clubhouse facilities, roll of honour, links, contacts etc. was loaded up first before it was put live to the public. Then it is simply a matter of keeping news, fixtures and results up to date (which is still being done at the moment, but we are still in the honeymoon period!)
I know the guy who developed our site, so if any of you are interested in going down this route drop me a pm.
Quote from: Louth Exile on May 06, 2009, 07:41:08 PM
We only developed our site earlier this year and for whatever reason it didn't show on google searches for a while. It shows up now and I know for a fact that nothing was done to rectify this, it simply appeared after a couple of weeks!!!
Ours is linked to hoganstand and louth website, don't think that there is much hassle in getting these links with them, once you reciprocate.
For what it is worth, I am throwing my tuppence worth in, in relation to setting up the site.
We paid this crowd www.nexus451.com to develop this site www.thejoesgfc.com. A local sponsor paid for the development costs and the first year of hosting the site, club paying for the annual hosting costs at an agreed rate after year one (don't know how much any of this cost, so no point in asking me!). It works using a content management system called caboodle, which I have seen, a child could use it, its that simple. We have five different guys with sign ons to update the CMS.
I spoke to the company who developed the website myself and this was their first gaa site, but it now gives them a template that they can use for other gaa clubs who might be interested in going down this route.
I know the way that it was done in our club is that all the content that will stay fairly constant, clubhouse facilities, roll of honour, links, contacts etc. was loaded up first before it was put live to the public. Then it is simply a matter of keeping news, fixtures and results up to date (which is still being done at the moment, but we are still in the honeymoon period!)
I know the guy who developed our site, so if any of you are interested in going down this route drop me a pm.
Nice clean coded site which makes it more search engine friendly.
Most sites if designed properly will be picked up automatically by the search engines as you say.
As you say it is most important to keep it up to date and is often best to have a team of people doing it rather than leaving it to one individual. E.g. Someone looning after juveniles, someone seniors, others for camoige etc.
Done a few website for clubs myself. The latest being http://www.conmagees.com/
Quote from: Mhic Easmuint on May 06, 2009, 09:36:00 PM
Quote from: Louth Exile on May 06, 2009, 07:41:08 PM
We only developed our site earlier this year and for whatever reason it didn't show on google searches for a while. It shows up now and I know for a fact that nothing was done to rectify this, it simply appeared after a couple of weeks!!!
Ours is linked to hoganstand and louth website, don't think that there is much hassle in getting these links with them, once you reciprocate.
For what it is worth, I am throwing my tuppence worth in, in relation to setting up the site.
We paid this crowd www.nexus451.com to develop this site www.thejoesgfc.com. A local sponsor paid for the development costs and the first year of hosting the site, club paying for the annual hosting costs at an agreed rate after year one (don't know how much any of this cost, so no point in asking me!). It works using a content management system called caboodle, which I have seen, a child could use it, its that simple. We have five different guys with sign ons to update the CMS.
I spoke to the company who developed the website myself and this was their first gaa site, but it now gives them a template that they can use for other gaa clubs who might be interested in going down this route.
I know the way that it was done in our club is that all the content that will stay fairly constant, clubhouse facilities, roll of honour, links, contacts etc. was loaded up first before it was put live to the public. Then it is simply a matter of keeping news, fixtures and results up to date (which is still being done at the moment, but we are still in the honeymoon period!)
I know the guy who developed our site, so if any of you are interested in going down this route drop me a pm.
Nice clean coded site which makes it more search engine friendly.
Most sites if designed properly will be picked up automatically by the search engines as you say.
As you say it is most important to keep it up to date and is often best to have a team of people doing it rather than leaving it to one individual. E.g. Someone looning after juveniles, someone seniors, others for camoige etc.
Done a few website for clubs myself. The latest being http://www.conmagees.com/
That looks like a good site alright, nice and clear.
Yeah, the split of people we have looking after things is: Website adminstrator, PRO, Secretary, Ass Secretary and Minor VC