Saturday, December 17, 2011

Please don't tell me 98.4% of your marketing is your website?

Let’s be honest, your website stinks!

You want me to prove it to you?  Well, statistically speaking I can’t because if your like 97% of the Private and Public clubs in America, you don’t track daily, weekly, or even monthly web hits.  Equally worse, you have no idea what specific areas potential members are viewing within your website.  Ugh!

Aesthetically, I can tell you...your landing page is boooooooooooooooring, confusing, disjointed, and the stock template the youngster you traded out a membership for to create your site is sadly past its prime.

Relevant information about your club?  Hard to find or non-existent.

And the pictures taken in 01’ with the clubs 2.1 megapixel camera...looks like they were taken in 2001 with a 2.1 megapixel camera.

When you take into consideration most clubs website is their marketing program, glaring items like the ones pointed out above aren’t sad, they are fatal.

Potential members are looking for a home away from home, and just like the poorly marketed personal residence, if it isn’t presented in the best light, no one will request a showing.  

What should you add immediately to spruce up your site?

1.  A Facebook Button - This simple, free, and powerful medium is your key to the fifty and under crowd (if utilized properly).  When people “click” your Facebook button, they become a “fan” of your club and automatically get live feeds of information you create about your club.  You want to create a lot of buzz and excitement?  This is the perfect tool.  

2.  A Course Tour - I am constantly no longer amazed by the number of clubs that are in horrible financial shape, yet focus on the clubs financial loser, the Restaurant over the financial star, the Golf course.  Are you one of the guilty ones with pictures of your Restaurant, a few more shots of the dishes you serve, and a beautiful rendition of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu on a downloadable pdf, but few of your course?  If so, why? People don’t join a Restaurant club with a Golf course.  If your course is truly the star, then let it shine with a shot by shot tour of each hole (bonus points if you ask for an email address to view it).

3.  Your Newsletters - By now, most clubs have probably converted to a downloadable monthly Newsletter, but few clubs actually post them on their website?  Outside of an active Facebook account, nothing puts more personality into your club for the prospective member than a well-written, interesting, and informative newsletter.    

4.  Scrolling pictures of “Hot Buttons” - Can you imagine a television commercial featuring one immovable image with thirty seconds of dialogue playing in the background?  Of course not, but many clubs landing page does that very thing making the users first impression drab.  You want to draw the prospective member in on multiple fronts and I bet your pictures could tell a powerful story if you added this simple feature to your site.

5.  A Summation Statement of Why A Person Should Join Your Club -Can you boast of consistent three to four hour rounds?  A host of weekly events that any handicap can participate in?  A famous design/architectural pedigree you would like to feature, i.e., Ross, Tillinghast, Raynor, or Maxwell?  Do you have a great junior program?  Why not bullet-point all of these “features and benefits” in one place on the off-chance the husband can’t convince his wife simply because he likes the golf course.

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