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Websites
for local and national support groups in England,
Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
2
Contents
page
Introduction
3
Planning your website
3
Naming your website
4
Website design and hosting
4
Building your own website
5
How do you ensure that search engines find your site?
5
Content
6
Links or information you might include:
6
Disclaimers, terms and conditions and privacy
7
Resources
9
This guide is for information purposes only and is not intended to be a source of legal advice and must not
be relied upon as such. Other organisations are listed for information purposes only and inclusion does not
constitute endorsement by Contact a Family.
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
3
Introduction
A website is a good tool for informing as many people as possible of the existence of your group
and what it provides. You might decide not to have a website, though, and have a blog,
Facebook and/or Twitter page. See our group action pack guide Social networking for local and
national support groups for tips and free resources.
How to plan a website?
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How might a website further the aims of your group?
•
Who will benefit from your website: parents, young people and professionals?
•
What information do you want on your website?
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How much, if anything do you have to spend?
•
Who will maintain the website?
Take a look at as many parent support groups’ websites as you can. This will give you ideas as to
what you might like to do. If you are rare condition support group, you will find links from
Contact a Family’s online Medical information to condition-specific support groups.
If you are a rare condition support group using medical information on your site?
Check out the following:
Health on the Net Foundation (HON)
This organisation aims to ensure that medical information on the internet is accessible
and good quality. The HON code is not an award system but a set of principles that
organisations adhere to so that people accessing their information are able to judge the
quality easily.
www.hon.ch/
Usability.gov
This is a US Government site managed by the US Department of Health and Human
Services. You will find guidelines for making websites user friendly and accessible.
www.usability.gov/guidelines
Information Standard
The Information Standard is a quality mark that is supported by the department of
health and applies to printed and web-based health and social care information. It helps
the public and patients quickly identify reliable sources of quality, evidence-based
information through the use of an easily recognised quality mark.
www.theinformationstandard.org
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
4
Naming your website
Having your own domain name such as www.smithsyndrome.org.uk will make your site easier to
find. The problem for most people is the cost involved in having your own domain name and the
technicalities of getting one.
Most groups opt for an ‘.org.uk’ domain but some choose the more global ‘.org’ or ‘.com’. Once
you have registered the address it is yours for as long as you pay the annual fee. It is possible to
move the site to a different ISP (internet service provider) whilst keeping the same address.
Have a look at Nominet.uk www.nominet.org.uk which gives clear information about domain
names. Nominet is officially recognised as the ‘.uk’ domain name registry by the internet
industry, users and the UK Government. Nominet ensures that each domain is only used once
and all the other providers have to register through them.
There are a number of providers of domain names offering varying services. Some questions you
might want to ask:
•
Is there an annual fee?
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Can you move the domain name to another host?
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Do they offer online or telephone support?
Some suggestions:
www.123-reg.co.uk
www.freenetname.co.uk
www.domainnameshop.co.uk
Website design and hosting
There are many companies offering web design, hosting and support. Each one is different and
you will need to shop around to find the one that suits your needs best.
Reading: Article titled ‘Non Profit Website Design: Examples and Best Practices’ in
Smashing Magazine available at www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/14/non-profitwebsite-design-examples-and-best-practices/ has some useful tips and information on
website design.
Some groups have found that a member, or member's relation or friend, will turn out to be
either a computer professional or an enthusiastic and skilful amateur. This will save you money
and hopefully mean the site will be tailored to your needs. However, it will mean you have to
work at their speed and it may take longer to get it up and running. You can go to an expert
commercial provider but they can be expensive and may not necessarily produce a better result
than your group can.
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
5
When designing your website think about the people who will be using it – for example, if you
are supporting people with a visual impairment the site will need to be accessible to those using
specialist computer equipment. Some colours are also easier to read than others. If you are
using an expert to help build your site, they should be able to advise you on this.
There are a number of organisations who do web design. Here are some suggestions that other
groups have found useful:
www.it4communities.org.uk – they can put you in touch with a volunteer to help you develop
your site. There is a small charge.
freecharity.org.uk – they can help design a website and arrange hosting. Again, there is a small
charge.
Building your own website
This may sound daunting but with a little bit of will, some knowledge and a lot of enthusiasm it
is possible to build your own site. There are a number of companies online offering support with
this and if you search for “free web design software” a wide range of options come up.
One site you may find helpful is the BT Community Website Builder. This site allows registered
UK charities, non-profit making organisations and volunteer led groups or organisations to build
and maintain their own website free of charge. To qualify for use of the free service, your
organisation must be from the United Kingdom, must provide a clear benefit to the local
community, and be one of the following:
•
•
•
a registered charity
a non-profit making organisation
a volunteer led group or organisation.
To start using the Community Website Builder go to
www.communitykit.co.uk.
How do you ensure that search engines find your site?
When your site is up and running you should register it with the major internet search engines.
Advice on this can be found at www.promotionworld.com
You can publicise your site on your letterhead, publications and in your email signature.
Most search engines will have a "Submit URL" or similar link where you can tell them about your
website. In most cases this will be free of charge.
Search engines all work slightly differently and that is why their results vary. They will all give
web pages a score based on a combination of:
•
Words used in the text
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
6
•
Where words appear on the page – a title or heading will score higher than text used in
the body
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The number and importance of sites that link to that page.
Your score will determine the "rank" – where your page appears in the search engine results.
Most search engines return a first page of ten results so your target should be to get into the top
ten. If you are further down the ranking, have a look at some of the pages above yours to find
ideas as to how to improve your ranking.
Content
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Be clear about the purpose of your site – what do you want visitors to your site to do, for
example, make a donation.
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Introduce yourself – the about us page should be short and snappy – statistics show that
people spend around 30 seconds reading this page.
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Do include your contact information – e-mail and telephone details are most frequently
used rather than a postal address.
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Don’t use your site to dump reams of information. Aim to grab people’s attention. Keep it
conversational, snappy and fresh.
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Use headings and bullets to break up the text.
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Tie the content of the site to your mission statement, or your aims and objectives.
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Different audiences should be addressed on separate pages; for example, parents,
professionals, young people.
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A description of the disorder you support.
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Details of what your group offers to individuals and families.
•
If you are in touch with the doctor who identified the disorder you support, ask them to
write an introduction.
•
If you include information or text from another site, it is good practice to get permission
first and always reference it.
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
7
Links or information you might include:
•
links to websites containing relevant information
such as universities, medical sites, online text books
and organisations useful to your members, such as
Contact a Family, and other advice agencies. It is good
practice to let them know you are linking to them and
you can ask them to link to you at the same time
•
a publications list, including links to full text versions of
your leaflets
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copies of your newsletters
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history of your group
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details of any patrons
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details of research into your disorder
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reference material on your disorder
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a news or events section. It is important to keep this up to date. Someone visiting your
events section where the only event listed was in 2006 might not think you are active and
may not bother to get in touch. Put your current events at the top
•
stories from families or members of your group
•
if you include photographs on your site make sure you have permission from the people in
the photograph, especially if they show children, and the person who owns the
photograph. We have example permission forms available and there is a wide range
available on the internet. More information on photograph permission can be found in the
Group Action Pack Guide Producing leaflets, newsletters and posters.
Information on your
website should be
accurate and up to
date. Diarise the
checking of your
website at least every
two or three months –
or more frequently if
you have datesensitive information
such as event listings.
There should be an
indication of when the
site was last updated
on the home page.
Why not get some of your parents and members involved? Ask them to look at the site and give
feedback on the content and the design. Is it easy for them to find things? Is the layout clear?
Disclaimers, terms and conditions and privacy
A disclaimer advises readers of what the organisation’s responsibilities are. This sounds scary
but you should be clear with your audience that you are not medical professionals and that your
site is to provide emotional support and share experiences.
‘Although great care has been taken in the compilation and preparation of all information to
ensure accuracy, [organisation name] cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions.
All medical information written by [organisation name] is reviewed and approved by a medical
expert.’
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
8
‘Any medical information is provided for education/information purposes and is not designed to
replace medical advice. You should obtain further information from your medical practitioner.’
If you have links to other websites, you should also have a further disclaimer:
‘Any links to external websites have been carefully selected but are provided without any
endorsement of the content of those sites.’
Similarly, the terms and conditions set out what you are offering and what you expect from
people using your site, for example, can they copy information from your site? If you offer
forums or chat rooms on your website you should also give guidelines on how people should
behave, details of the moderation process and how people can raise concerns.
If you collect any data on your visitors, a privacy statement will outline what you do with this
information. If you keep information, what will you use it for?
Many examples are available on the internet and you can use these to create guidelines that are
most relevant for your group.
Tracking visitors
Some groups find it useful to track who comes to their site, where they come from (whether
from a web browser or another website) and which pages are more popular. A number of site
hosts have this facility and provide the service free. Statistics from your website can be used to
help you apply for funding and help develop your website in the future. The most widely
recognised provider is Google Analytics and this may carry more weight with funders.
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
9
Resources
BT Community Web Kit
As part of BT Community Web Kit you'll receive lots of free resources to build a website with
unlimited pages and up to 500 pictures. You’ll also find Welsh language options.
www.btck.co.uk/
Lasa knowledgebase
The knowledgebase helps third sector organisations realise the benefits of using technology to
achieve their goals. It is source of independent information and help
www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk
SwarmTek (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales)
SwarmTek is a crowdsourced charity of IT volunteers who provide free IT services and support to
charities across the UK. They offer a free online helpdesk for assistance with IT issues. Charities
can also request longer-term assistance in the form of a mini project. This mini project will
usually be started from scratch, rather than fixing a system already in place. This could include
creating a new website, or setting up a shared cloud space.
www.swarmtek.org
Charity and biscuits
This website design company based in the USA has a free DIY charity digital toolkit and other
tips and advice.
www.charityandbiscuits.com/charity-website-toolkit/
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82
10
Local Group Network
Our Network is for local support groups
to share ideas, top tips and good
practice. It is free to join, just visit our
website here and fill out the form. If you
are running or want to start a group in:
Group Action Pack
for local and national support groups
Whether you’re setting up a local parent
support group, developing a national charity
or a social enterprise, our guides are packed
with advice and tips. Other guides include:
Northern Ireland, email
nireland.office@cafamily.org.uk
•
Effective meetings
•
Fundraising
Scotland, email
scotland.office@cafamily.org.uk
•
The role of trustees
•
Holding a family day
Wales/Cymru, email
cymru@cafamily.org.uk
•
Group development and information
•
Social networking
England, email
adele.meader@cafamily.org.uk
•
Newsletters, posters and flyers
•
Websites
•
Writing a press release and speaking
to the media
•
‘What outfit do we need?’: legal
structures for support groups
•
Public speaking
•
A guide for professionals working
with parent support groups
•
Developing a national rare condition
support group
•
The role of medical advisers in
national support groups
Connect with us
www.cafamily.org.uk
www.facebook.com/contactafamily
www.twitter.com/contactafamily
www.youtube.com/cafamily
© Contact a Family, 2015
Freephone national helpline 0808 808 3555 www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family 209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
Tel 020 7608 870 Fax 0207 608 8701 Email info@cafamily.org.uk Incorporating The Lady Hoare Trust
Contact a Family is a registered trademark. Registered Charity Number: 284912 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC039169
Company Limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number: 1633333 VAT Registration Number:
GB 749 3846 82