Website Options for Bridge Clubs

On the whole committee-run bridge clubs have been slow to use websites as a means to communicate with their members and the general public. This reflects both the relatively low technological interests and skills of many bridge club members and the volunteer nature of many bridge club management committees. 

This is a pity as websites and related electronic communication is a cheap and effective means of communication - and can significantly improve the information available and reduce the time and costs in making it available.

So what are the alternatives for a bridge club considering its website options:

1. Lean on a volunteer approach- There is bound to be a member or a member's friend or child that is able to construct a club website. They may well be prepared to do so for free or at a very reasonable cost. Sounds great, but unfortunately this approach has two main problems:
   • All the information generally has to be funnelled through this volunteer who is often busy with other things - leading to little information being updated to the site and this often being late.
   • The site is very dependent on this volunteer - when they are no longer available, the site often freezes as an embarrassing legacy for the club.
2. Go professional approach - There are many professionals who can construct an excellent site provided they are given an excellent brief as to what is wanted. This is a time business and the costs are not generally cheap, and changes to the brief can be expensive. The content problem is also still there - there needs to be volunteers from the club to upload and maintain the club news and other information and keep the site attractive to members and visitors.
3. Utilise a suitable service approach - Using a bridge web service such as bridge-game.info or bridge-club.orgis a middle ground that has a number of advantages:
   • The basic site functionality is designed for bridge clubs and players and avoids some of the issues in designing a good bridge club site. It also shares the cost of functionality like an event calendar (with appropriate event types), a results displaying service, and a content system that provides an easy means for "normal people" to add content directly to the site.
   • While there is still a need for club volunteers to add and maintain the club news and information, the streamlined process makes this open to more people - anyone able to use a web browser and a word processor should not have a problem.
   • Such services can be used as a club's sole website, generally with a webiste URL such as yourname.bridge-game.info, if desired.

Bridge-Game.Info is a free and attractive option for any bridge club. It includes a range of useful functionality, including event calendars, a simple registration system, and newsletters. A club choosing to use this service would still need to:

• Decide if it wished to incorporate a 3rd party enhanced results publishing service (recommended and reasonably priced)
• Find one or more volunteers who are happy to maintain and expand the club's content on the site 

Bridge-Game.Info will assist with content work if needed, either in an emergency or if the club prefers to pay for this service on an ongoing basis. However in practice this content maintenance work is best handled by those who know the content best. 

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