Without a doubt, the Internet has changed the way people and groups can communicate with each other. But perhaps the biggest revolution in this digital age, is how easily individuals or groups, such as your Jaguar club, can get a presence on the World Wide Web at a very reasonable cost. This article describes in step by step detail how to get your Jaguar Club on the Internet with its own web page, email addresses, and domain name. And while some of the terminology and concepts may be new to you, they are actually easily learned. The result hopefully will be a web site that will serve your club well by informing your membership of club activities and providing a means of recruiting new members.

Designing Your Club Web Site

The first step is to decide what you want on your web site. The best way to start to do this is to think of your web site as an electronic brochure about your club. Be creative, and write down why people should join your club. Where do you meet and how often? What type of activities does your club do, and other like things. But unlike a brochure, which is a static, limited, non-changing document, your web site is not limited like a one-page flyer. You can have as many pages as you want, so why not include other information about your club as well? This can include your club's charter, contacts of club officers, an application form, and Concours scores, newsletter articles, lists of members and pictures and stories of cars in your club. Use your imagination! Your web site can be anything you want it to be, and once created, can be changed at any time in the future. You might want to see how other clubs have done this too, and there are several very good web sites of other clubs at JCNA.com that can give you some ideas.

Please be forewarned that writing and developing your content for your web site is by far the most important step before any of the following 'technical' aspects, including actually building (or coding) the web page itself! A simple technique to help you get started is to take a few 8 ½ x 11 pieces of paper and lay them out on a desk. Each "page" represents a page on your web site. Put a name on each page such as "club officers", "club meetings", and so forth. Once you get all these "pages" written, you'll have an excellent foundation on what you want your web site to be all about.

Now that you have your content done, you can start on a few more techie-type activities. The first is what do you want the main page (often called the homepage) to look like? This is the page that people first see when they visit your web site. Just like presenting your Jaguar at a car show, you want to make a good first impression. For this reason, once your web site content is developed, a pleasing looking home page is important. Remember that your site and club is volunteer based with a limited budget, so don't be disappointed if your page doesn't look like that of a major corporation! They literally spend thousands to develop customized digital art graphics, so don't expect the same results and keep it simple. Start with your club logo, preferably in color. A white or light background with darker letters is easy to read, professional looking, and easy to create. Each of your content 'pages' above should be accessible via a link on your home page. If you've used the Internet, this is the usually blue colored underlined text Like This that you see on your screen. A simple but effective technique is to have a link on each page to always provide a means to going back to your home page. You can also choose to have the links for all your pages to appear at the top or bottom of all the pages on your web site.

Translating Your Content to A Webable Format

Next, your hand or preferably type written content (saved in Microsoft Word or other computer text format) needs to be translated into a web language called HTML. Basically, this is your content with some special codes inserted into the text of the document that formats it into bold, Italics, paragraphs, and so forth. Although HTML is easily learned for 'computer type' people, it may a bit of a stretch for the SU carburetor attuned Jaguar owner. So rather than learning HTML, you have two alternatives to get your content into webable form.

The easiest and quickest solution is to hire a web site designer. Web site designers are a little bit like interior designers. They take your style, wishes, and colors and decorate a room or home. But unlike most interior designers (who are not generally inexpensive) there are web designers in your town or city that can charge very reasonable rates (sometimes even free!) to hundreds or thousands of dollars. Ask around, especially with your children or their friends. A lot of high school and collage students are creating or learning how to create web sites, and it is conceivable to have them either build the site for little or no cost, just for the experience, and to build their portfolio. You can also look in the yellow pages under Internet--there are quite a few home based web designers that can do the job for well under $500 with an average small four to five page web site at around $200. If that sounds like a lot, consider the cost of getting a professional brochure produced and printed! It starts to look inexpensive in that light.

Although a bit more difficult for the first timer, you can also create the prototype for your web site right on your own personal computer! If you are using a recent version of Microsoft Word, or some other writing programs, there is a "Save as HTML" feature built in at no cost. Ideally, you should store each of your 8 ½ x 11 content pages in a separate computer file. Bring up one of your content pages, select "File" from your menu bar at the top of your page, and scroll your mouse down to "Save as HTML". Once saved, you can preview what this page will look like simply by "dragging" this newly created file on your desktop or the folder you saved it onto a browser window. In other words, open your Netscape or Internet Explorer browser on one side of your screen, then click on your saved web page file and drag it onto the browser window and--magic! Your page will display on your home PC screen.

Another software method is to buy a web site creation program. There are several available, and while not the best, the best known is Microsoft FrontPage. Products like FrontPage provide an on screen point and click method for creating the appearance of your web site. Again, be forewarned that while these 'page layout' programs are generally easy to use, the amount of time you'll spend fiddling around with both the software program and getting the page to look 'just right' may not be worth the time and frustration.

An Address for Your Garage--Getting a URL

Once you have your site content written and formatted, the next step is to register a web site address. This address should represent your club name such as "OurJaguarClub.com" or similar. You can do this yourself on the Internet at several Domain Name Registrars companies on the Internet. The best known (but not least expensive) is Network Solutions (www.NetworkSolutions.com). You can spend anywhere from $12 (or even free) to $60 for a two year registration of your ".com" address. Check around for the best deal for your club. This part will also be covered again later on in this article.

This address is important, because it is how people will reach your web site. Having a URL (i.e. "Universal Resource Locator" in techie terms) is the norm for organizations that want to have a professional presence. Some clubs, organizations, and companies have a 'directory' address under another company. For example, the Hemmings car people have club address that can be hosted under their web site (URL) address like www.hemmings.com/clubs/foreign/ourjaguarclub. These are hard to remember and type. Again, for not a lot of money, you can have your own unique address. Especially for new members, many of them Internet savvy, your own URL makes a good impression that your club has their act together.

Where to Park Your Jaguar Web Site

A web site is a lot like a car or collection of cars--you need somewhere to park them, be safe a secure, and do so at a reasonable cost. However, unlike a real garage that you would definitely want in your town or near your house, your web site "garage" can be anywhere literally in the world. The company that you go to to park your web site is called a web site hosting company, or provider.

Web site hosting is also very reasonable, and if you shop around, prices can vary. On the low end, web sites hosting can be as little as $9.95 a month, and on the upper end dozens or hundreds per month. The national average is around $15-20 per month. Paying more doesn't always mean better, and for the type of site the typical JCNA club would have, the lower cost, less feature hosting plans will suit quite well.

If you are using a web site designer he or she may have a web site company that they use and can take care of all the details for you. Some designers will also register your Domain Name (URL) for you too. This is a good deal, because there is a little technical information regarding which "Domain Name Resolvers" you are using and their associated "IP" addresses. Such overt technical questions may cause the wire wheels on all your cars to go out of true simultaneously! So if you don't know, you can't register your club's domain name. Sometimes when you find your web site provider, they can do all this for you. Naturally this will make your job easier, but a service fee may apply.

How to Park Your New Jaguar Web Site in the Garage

None of what we have discussed is difficult, but like the old axiom, "Everything is Difficult if you Don't Know How". This includes putting new timing chains on your E-Type, or getting your HTML enabled site content onto the server. The technical term is called "File Transfer Protocol" or FTP. Simply stated, this is a program that transfers a copy of the web pages you or your web designer has created and puts them on your web site provider's computer system. Then and only then can they be viewed by the world. Again, if you are using a designer, they will know how to do this. If you are doing this yourself, it can be figured out, and believe it or not, there is software built into your PC that can do this. However, describing the nits and nats of doing so is well beyond the scope of this article.

Sir William, Your Web Site is Ready

After completing all of the above, your web site is now available to anyone in the world. So the steps to get here again are:
1) Write the content for your site
2) Specify the look and colors for your home page
3) Translate the content into a webable form (HTML)
4) Register your Domain Name (URL)
5) Sign up with a Web Site Provider
6) Transfer the pages to the web server

That's it! Your club now is 'on the net'. But there are a couple of other details you might want to consider too.

Receiving Electronic Mail to Your Jaguar Club

In addition to hosting your web site, most web site providers include in your monthly hosting cost so many email 'boxes' to receive electronic mail. You can designate these to be special addresses such as info@OurJaguarClub.com or president@OurJaguarClub.com etc. Having addresses like this makes it easy for people to contact your club electronically. Sometimes this email is delivered physically into an electronic mail box at your web site providers system, or it can be forwarded to your personal email account. Either way, having one or more email addresses is simply another means of letting people get a hold of you easier. Consider putting these email addresses on pages in your web site so that people can get in touch with the appropriate person(s) in your club for certain matters.

Closing The Hood, and Driving Into The Sunset

Well, we made it! If you follow these steps, you will be on your way to getting your club in the new Millennium. Remember a web site for your club is not just a keeping up with the Jones type thing. It can be a valuable tool for reaching out to new members, informing your current members, as well as documenting past and future activities of your Jaguar Club.

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About the author - Wayne Estrada is President of the Virginia Jaguar Club and President and founder of HostYou.com, a national Internet web site company. Wayne is a former AT&T software engineer and also teaches UNIX, Java, HTML, and CGI scripting to major U.S. corporations.

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