JCNA.com now offers its affiliate clubs the capability of displaying their club data over multiple pages with customized graphics transforming their old simple club page into a full fledged website.

For clubs without a website, this means that the wait is over. You can now have your own site without the hassles of creating one from scratch, begging one of your members to design a site or relying on one of the free hosting services with more pop up ads than content...

For clubs with a website, it's just an option for you to consider as we all know how much effort goes into maintaining your own site... In many cases, using this new system will be much more efficient as data is updated thru forms that any of your board member can access. No more outdated calendar, missing results, etc...

All it takes, is 1 minute to log into your club data page and activate this option. After you activate it, you can then take a little more time to customize your site with your own header, colors, background, etc... and make sure the data presented is accurate. If it is not, updating it is as easy as filling out an on line form... no need to learn new software or language, no need to beg someone to upload the article and pictures from the concours held two months ago..

At this time, Club websites include:

• Home page with presentation, announcements, updatable pictures...
• Calendar page
• Sanctioned Events Results
• News and features page for articles, reports, etc...
• Online membership application with optional paypal payment
• Image galleries
• Discussion Forums
• Classifieds
• Newsletter

in other words, everything your club needs!

Because any of your club officer can login and update the calendar, anouncements, etc... there are no more excuse not to have an up to date website. And because some of the data is pulled from the JCNA site, calendar, results, etc.. there is little to update.

Also, we can set up shortcuts to your website in the following format... www.jcna.com/clubs/myjc so that you can easily publish your site address. Email webmaster@jcna.com to set this up.

To see what the new Club Sites offers, look at the South Florida JC page at http://www.jcna.com/clubs/sfjc. As usual, any comments, suggestions, questions, email me at webmaster@jcna.com !

From 0 to a Website in 15 minutes: step by step instructions

Here is a short step by step tutorial on how to set up you site.

1. go to your existing Club Page and click on the Login link to get to the Main Club Menu
2. Choose Update your Club Data, and in the first section type an M in Display Type
3. Scroll down the page and make sure the Intro field contains a text presenting your club. This is the first thing that shows up on your home page, type in a few paragraphs
4. Update the Announcement field, this is shown on the home page immediately below the club Intro.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and Click on Update button. Once the page reloads, click on Return to Club Service Menu link in the top right corner.

Check the results by clicking on Preview your Club Page/Site. At this point you will find the basic data presented in a Website format, over multiple pages using the standard JCNA graphics. To customize your site graphics, read on!

1. From the Club Menu, click on Customize your club site.
2. Fill out the form presented on the screen (most fields are optional). Experiment with various colors, background to get the look you want. Every time you save your information by clicking on Submit button at the bottom of the page, the page will relaod using your new settings so that you can see how it looks.
3. After your basic color options are set, you can add introduction text for some of the pages and also upload 2 pictures that will be shown on your home page.

15 minutes... you're done! congratulations your club now has it's own website.

Well... almost done. You probably want to spend a little more time tweaking things and adding content like events, stories, articles, etc.. Want to add articles with pictures that will be shown on separate pages? easy... just click on the Content Manager link on the Club Main Menu and follow the easy directions. All you need is an article saved as a plain text file and some pictures...

The most important thing to update is your event calendar; make sure you enter all your club events, sanctionned or not, including meetings, drivers, tech sessions, etc... This is important not only for your members but also to attract new members. And again, the calendar is updated with a simple online form which post events both on your website but also on the main JCNA calendar page. All in one shot! No more excuses not to have an updated calendar!