Here’s how your real-world bass club’s Web site can evolve into a powerful communication and recruiting tool in the virtual world of the Internet.
If your bass fishing club hasn’t yet set up housekeeping on the Internet, it’s time to take a spin on the Web and build a site. Even the smallest clubs can benefit, and large operations with far-flung members find that communicating through a feature-rich site can bring anglers closer together.

Your site can be simple or complex. You can build it cheaply or grow it into a major part of your club’s budget—it all depends on what your organization needs and, more importantly, where you want to go in the future. A site on the information superhighway can take you there.

Find The Host With The Most
Countless tools and services for building and hosting Web sites are available, with costs that range from free to breath-taking. Most clubs start small, often with a single Web page, then grow as officers and members request new information and services. Most Internet Service Providers, (ISPs), the companies that sell access to the Web, offer free or low-cost space for fundamental Web sites and directions for setting them up. Start your research there.

The name of your Web site must be unique and registered for a small fee. For the sake of fumble-fingered typists, avoid numbers, underscores, or symbols while choosing a name that’s as short as possible and instantly recognizable. Sites exist in domains such as .com (for general use) or gov (for government use). Many clubs choose .com or .org (for organizations use) for their domain.

The ISP’s tools for setting up a new site will prompt you to search for available names. You can also type “domain name” into any search engine to find sites authorized to register them. Expect to pay a minimum of $10-$12 annually for naming rights. Service packages aimed at small businesses often bundle Web space with the e-mail functions you’ll want for your members. Read any agreements carefully before signing up.

The Webmaster
Now that you have a name and a footprint on the Internet, it’s time to put someone in charge of creating and maintaining your site—the Webmaster. The title sounds like something out of a Harry Potter book, but it will quickly become one of the most important positions in your club, much like newsletter editors for clubs with their own publications.

In addition to having a knowledge of building Web sites, a Webmaster’s most important job is keeping content fresh and up to date. The technical aspects of building sites are many, but one of our favorite Webmasters suggests open-source content management systems (enter “CMS” into any search engine), which involve free software tools that non-technical people can use to build and update Web pages. The sites that provide these tools typically offer various extensions or functions, such as calendars, forums, and log-in security. These fees vary. Encourage your new Webmaster to start training another member as a back-up and eventual successor.

COVERING THE BASICS
Every bass fishing club Web site should communicate these journalistic classics:

Who -Your club’s formal name, address, telephone number or e-mail address, and the approximate number of members.

What - A brief statement about the type of bass fishing club you have, including affiliations with larger organizations.

Where – Your home town or area served and your home waters.

When - The year the club was established and when activities occur. For example, “We meet monthly at Bob’s Café,” or, “We hold tournaments every Saturday from March through September.”

Why - The club’s reason for existing, or your mission statement, such as teaching youngsters to fish, building fish habitat, or conserving resources.

How – What your club does to fulfill its mission, such as shoreline cleanups or conservation projects with state agencies.

With these essentials done, turn your imagination loose. Update tournament results and photos of winners, their trophies, and their fish to always keep members returning to the site. Also, everyone enjoys posting photos from successful outings. Encourage your best writers to post their latest musings on the life of a bass fisherman. Successful sites make it easy for different users to interact.

To welcome inquiries from potential new members or businesses that might donate items for your fund-raisers, post telephone numbers or e-mail addresses for a couple of officers. Describe the benefits of joining — in addition to glitzy tournaments and trophies, let site visitors know about your meetings, banquets, raffles, fellowship, community service, mentoring younger anglers and other programs.

A club history, including names of founding members, past and present affiliations, major accomplishments, photos, and other lore is a source of pride for old and new members. All these features and more turn your site into a magnet for recruiting new members—and show that you care about more than catching fish.

What’s The Date, Mate?
An up-to-date calendar communicates with club members and allows outsiders a peek into your culture. If your site doesn’t have a calendar feature, simply create a heading for every month and list scheduled functions by date. This format allows space needed for basics like date, time, location and details such as meeting agendas, what to bring, tournament format and driving directions for each event.

Enrich the calendar with interesting outside events, such as hunting and fishing season dates, local parades or celebrations, or the dates of public meetings with wildlife agencies to discuss fishing regulations. Display the Webmaster’s e-mail address so members and guests can send additions and suggestions.

Let’s Talk!
Most Internet users enjoy forums, or discussion groups, that enable people to exchange thoughts about a common interest, such as music or bass fishing. A well-organized and active forum drives traffic to your site and creates a dynamic online community that can reach beyond your membership, drawing in potential new members or businesses that might advertise by donating samples to your club.

Divide your forum into logical discussion areas. For example, consider categories for club news and announcements, general fishing topics, anglers looking for fishing buddies for outings, non-boaters seeking boaters for tournaments, conservation issues, fishing tips and advice, service projects, and items for sale or trade. Brainstorm a menu of categories that works for your group.

Every discussion group has operating rules and the forum decorum, or “netiquette,” it expects from users. These rules include any password requirements, respect for fellow posters, moderators’ powers, and warnings against inappropriate language or topics. Model yours on rules you find on similar forums and write them to reflect your club’s values.

Links To Friends
A high-priority page for all clubs provides links to other sites your members will like. For example, all anglers appreciate lake and river gauges, solunar tables, current fishing reports, and the latest weather.

To build valuable relationships with your site, link to sites for businesses that donate items for fund-raisers, the nearest Chamber of Commerce, your state’s conservation and tourism departments, other outdoors-related clubs in your area, local fishing guides, resorts and motels, and any other businesses or organizations that your members and site guests will patronize. These links build goodwill in your community, reward donors for contributions, and prove to potential donors that you’ll help them market their products and services to your membership.

Summing It All Up
Your bass fishing club’s Web site can serve as many or as few purposes as you like. Fortunately, the tools for generating its content are as flexible as the Internet itself so that a knowledgeable Webmaster can add, remove, or change the many moving parts of your site as easily as knotting a new lure to your line. Start small, dream big, invite all members to participate, keep an open mind to the possibilities, and there’s no telling where this fascinating adventure on the information superhighway will lead you and your fellow club members.

Internet users have a swinging lingo full of new meanings for old words and acronyms that turn stock phrases into shorthand. A few classics include LOL (“laughing out loud,”), IIRC (If I recall correctly”), and YMMV (“Your mileage may vary,” which means one user’s advice may not work for another.) Here are a few more terms you’ll encounter.

Flame: To post insulting, angry, or intentionally hurtful messages in a forum, often ending in “flame wars,” or open fighting until moderators regain control.

Hijack: To take another person’s thread into a completely different direction.

Moderator or Admin: A forum official who registers members, silences controversial topics, douses flame wars, and expels trolls.

Phishing: Pronounced “fishing,” these are scammers’ attempts to obtain names, credit card numbers, and other data for illegal use.

Thread: A series of related responses about a topic, posted by forum users.

Trolls: Forum troublemakers who provoke arguments, dominate threads, or assume false identities.

— By Steve and Cindy Taylor

If a club does not want to create their own website, they can use the BoatU.S. ANGLER forum to create a section for their club to post their information, like tournament information, meeting notices, photos, etc.

Vist www.boatus.com for added information.

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