Web site

Scope

Lands Village Hall Trust was a charitable trust in need of modernisation. Following the redesign of its logo, the trust intended to build a web presence for the first time. It also aspired to develop a social media profile. It was new territory for the organisation, having avoided all forays into the online world previously.

The trust asked us to build and publish its web presence, which included creating the platform, design, hosting, domain registration and publication of a web site. Included in this was the need to create a Facebook™ page to start their social media channels.

Our solution

Considering the technical experience, including the lack of a web presence, we concluded that a CMS was the best option. A CMS would enable members of the trust to update content and publish stories regularly about community events. We decided that the CMS should be well–established, popular and update–driven. We found the best solution was WordPress with a modified theme that reflected the trust’s new branding.

WordPress provided a sufficiently user-focussed approach to suit the majority of probable users. It is an easy–to–use CMS and relatively adaptable to the needs of the trust. It was also convenient for fast deployment and was versatile enough to align with the trust’s brand.

Successes

Within a few weeks, the project published the trust’s web site, which adapted the WordPress theme to the trust’s brand in a clean and friendly design.

The project gave the trust a web presence for the first time in its 100–year history and introduced it to Facebook. 

The objective of the project was to give the community a focal point to bring it together. Community engagement with the web site has not met expectations yet, chiefly because of the COVID–19 lockdown. Once events start at the venue again, community uptake will increase.

Requested by the trust, we hosted the site on our servers, registered the domain name and prepared the server before publishing the site.

Challenges

We completed the project during the first UK COVID–19 lockdown, which made communication and collaboration on the project complex. We solved this challenge through online meetings and WhatsApp communications.

Content for the web site was also troublesome because the hall is closed, there are no events, and therefore fresh copy is not readily available. We decided to include some background information about the venue, and the trust, to support the main aim of advertising a hire space. This outline gave the web site sufficient interesting content for publication.

Impacts of the project

For the first time in its more than 100 years of history, Lands Village Hall has a web presence, which it can maintain and update as required. Although the hall is closed, its web site has received a steady flow of visitors and interest. Once the hall reopens and begins running events and hires again, we expect the traffic to the web site to increase in line with an expanding list content.

The web site provides the trust with a focal point for interest. It is modern, current, and well branded for Lands Village Hall.

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