When building a website, it’s easy to focus on how the site looks: the design, color and graphics. While this is an important consideration, it’s probably not as important as what you put on the website. A simple website that is easy to read and has regularly updated and relevant content is much better than a website that looks beautiful but has outdated or just plain wrong information.
One of the first steps to building a website is deciding what content you want to make available. Building an outline or sitemap is a good way to organize your information.
While every local or district lodge has different needs, much of what they do is the same. Each lodge has a list of officers, contact information, and social events (among other things), but what you want to show on the website may vary.
The sample outline below is not a comprehensive list, but a starting point. We have tried to give you some ideas about what other lodges are doing. The top level of items could be considered your navigation for the website. In this case, it would be:
- About Us
- Events
- News
- Photos
- Contact Us
- Training Program
- Political
- Resources
- Links
Feel free to pick and choose what is appropriate for your lodge and rearrange these headings as you see fit. For instance, many lodges choose to make the “In Memoriam” section of their website a main item in the navigation. One of the most important things though is to make sure you have content for a page before you include it on your website. It can be frustrating for members to see a page with an “Under Construction” message or graphic and a page that never gets updated. You can always add more pages later!
Here is a list of websites maintained by local lodges which you can visit to help give you some additional ideas.
Sample outline for lodge website
- About Us
- [Each of these can be a heading under About or a completely separate page.]
- Officers
- Staff
- Jurisdiction
- History
- What is a Boilermaker?
- Events/Calendar
- Meetings
- Application Dates
- Training
- Social (picnics, rallies, parades)
- News/Announcements
- Local
- Service Pins
- Scholarships
- Picnics
- Parades
- Rallies
- Charity or Community Events
- Retiree News
- Obituaries/Deceased Members
- International
- Local
- Photos/Gallery
- Picasa
- Flickr
- Shutterfly
- Contact Us
- Business Hours
- Address (or list of locations)
- Phone
- Fax
- Map
- Contact Form
- Job Information Hotline
- Training/Apprentice Program
- Application Process
- Events
- Welding
- Safety
- Rigging
- Regional Training Center info
- Political
- LEAP (capwiz.com/boilermaker/home)
- Voter Registration
- State Legislators
- Members of Congress
- Political Action Committee (PAC)
- Endorsements
- Resources
- Contractors
- Work Site Locations
- Policies
- Forms
- By-Laws
- Wage Rates
- TWIC
- Dues
- Unemployment
- Links
- International (www.boilermakers.org)
- Boilermaker Reporter (www.boilermakers.org/news/reporter)
- Canadian Boilermakers (www.boilermaker.ca)
- National Funds (www.bnf-kc.com)
- Canadian Benefits (www.boilermakersbenefits.ca)
- MOST (www.mostprograms.com)
- MBDS (www.most-bds.org)
- BNAP (www.bnap.com)
- Apprenticeship LMS Training Program (bnap.adrenna.com)
- Regional Apprentice Program/Training Center
- LEAP (capwiz.com/boilermaker/home)
- Common Arc (www.commonarc.com)
- Helmets to Hardhats (www.helmetstohardhats.org)
- Bank of Labor (www.bankoflabor.com)
- Local Facebook Page
- Local Twitter
- Local PAC
- National/Regional AFL-CIO
- National/Regional Building Trades
- Area Labor Council
- Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (www.unionsportsmen.org)
- Union Plus (www.unionplus.org)
- Labor 411 (www.labor411.org)
- Union Label (www.unionlabel.org)
- Union Insurance Group (www.uigins.com)
Leave a comment below and let us know if you have any other suggestions!
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