Best club and commercial web sites

[Vsoars]

Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
make people eager to give soaring a try? Out of date sites with
pictures that don’t include recent improvements and photographs that
are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members.
Great web sites can. Please give us some inspiration.

[sisu1a]

On Sep 11, 6:01*pm, Vsoars > wrote:
> Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
> make people eager to give soaring a try? *Out of date sites with
> pictures that don’t include recent improvements and *photographs that
> are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members.
> Great web sites can. *Please give us some inspiration.

My club's site falls into the not so inspiring category, so I will
nominate one from an op that has a goodn to get it started:
http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com/index.html Good thread topic!

-Paul

[Bruce]

My attempt is www.whisperingwings.org.za

It generates a lot of traffic, has 34 back links (good measure of success) and keeps people informed.
Alexa page rank is 3 - also a good measure.

That said it is now two years old and about to get a heart transplant.

Unfortunately the "new" ships in the fleet are a 37 year old Kestrel T59D (19m Slingsby built version) and a 38 year old
Std Cirrus. Last decade is nothing on the trainers, 1956 and 1964 - still going strong but not very sexy.

Bruce

sisu1a wrote:
> On Sep 11, 6:01 pm, Vsoars > wrote:
>> Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
>> make people eager to give soaring a try? Out of date sites with
>> pictures that don’t include recent improvements and photographs that
>> are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members.
>> Great web sites can. Please give us some inspiration.
>
> My club's site falls into the not so inspiring category, so I will
> nominate one from an op that has a goodn to get it started:
> http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com/index.html Good thread topic!
>
> -Paul

[joesimmers]

http://www.soarccsc.com/index.shtml

[chipsoars]

I believe PGC's website is pretty good, thanks to my partner's
efforts, KK.

http://www.pgcsoaring.org/Index.html


Chip Fitzpatrick

[John Brennan]

At 01:01 12 September 2008, Vsoars wrote:
>Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
>make people eager to give soaring a try? Out of date sites with
>pictures that don=92t include recent improvements and photographs that
>are obviously from another decade can=92t help us recruit members.
>Great web sites can. Please give us some inspiration.
Take a look at:
www.sosaglidingclub.com
John B.
>

[Steve Koerner]

www.asa-soaring.org

The Arizona Soaring Association site is, beyond a doubt, the best club
soaring site out there. It was originally crafted from the ground up
by member Nigel Cripps and is now in the able hands of member Ted
Wagner. The site has numerous cool features including a great chat
area. The pictures on the home page are changed every month or two to
keep it interesting. We have some distant club members who regularly
pay annual dues to the club just for the right to fully access our
discussion forum -- which at times becomes quite lively. Our website,
more than anything else, has kept ASA together through trying times
over the last few years.

Steve Koerner
www.wingrigger.com

[Nyal Williams[_2_]]

You didn't give an address:

http://www.asa-soaring.org/

Lots of good info, but could be improved with lots of big pictures; I'd
vote for the SOSA page on that account.

It appears to me that the ASA page is directed more towards members (not
quite a blog), and the SOSA page is directed more towards the public as
advertisment.

At 16:28 12 September 2008, Steve Koerner wrote:
>www.asa-soaring.org
>
>The Arizona Soaring Association site is, beyond a doubt, the best club
>soaring site out there. It was originally crafted from the ground up
>by member Nigel Cripps and is now in the able hands of member Ted
>Wagner. The site has numerous cool features including a great chat
>area. The pictures on the home page are changed every month or two to
>keep it interesting. We have some distant club members who regularly
>pay annual dues to the club just for the right to fully access our
>discussion forum -- which at times becomes quite lively. Our website,
>more than anything else, has kept ASA together through trying times
>over the last few years.
>
>Steve Koerner
>www.wingrigger.com
>

[Jim Kellett]

Skyline Soaring CLub in Virginia <www.skylinesoaring.org> is right up
there, and while it's attractive to newbies, it's primary focus is
meeting members' interests and needs. It's actually more than a club
website, since the Club owns/manages the server which, in turn hosts a
whole bunch of Club goodies, e.g.:

1. The website itself, with several layers of highly secure limited
access section (e.g., for instructors, members, Directors, etc.)
2. Automatically records all the Club's operational and financial
records, updats them electronically from a laptop at the field after
each operating day. Then provides huge database for mining for
management information.
3. Houses a sophisticated instructional progress tracking system
(available through the secured "Instructors" section of the "Members
Only" website.
4. Repository for Club documents
5. Distribution system for the newsletter "Skylines".

[Jim Logajan]

Vsoars > wrote:
> Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
> make people eager to give soaring a try?

www.youtube.com

Okay - not the organization type you were asking for. But it was an
influence on me. I was already considering taking flying lessons and was
already leaning toward glider training - but was rather hesitant. Some of
the better glider videos I found on YouTube were a factor in making the
final decision. I found the "first person" videos made from inside the
cockpit to be the most compelling. In particular if the camera was scanned
around, that helped give me a perspective on how it might feel to be
inside. I book marked a few, and while the ones below aren't the best
videos, nor all first-person views, they are representative of the kind
that influenced my decision:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pZ5dTntBxE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcneOD6HYgc
http://www.vimeo.com/739603

[BT]

I thought I posted this.. sorry if it is repeated
a club operation.. not so much to entice new members but to explain who we
are and to be functional for the membership

www.lvvsa.org


"Vsoars" > wrote in message
...
Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
make people eager to give soaring a try? Out of date sites with
pictures that don’t include recent improvements and photographs that
are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members.
Great web sites can. Please give us some inspiration.

[Ken Kochanski (KK)]

On Sep 12, 8:24*am, chipsoars > wrote:
> I believe PGC's website is pretty good, thanks to my partner's
> efforts, KK.
>
> http://www.pgcsoaring.org/Index.html
>
> Chip Fitzpatrick

I support the website for our club and understand from our membership
chair that it is often mentioned as the reason people decided to
join ... or just come out for a ride.

We use a lot of visual content on the site - the club header is
farcical of course, but a nice visual hook for surfers ... and the
main page lets people see flight ops from two web cams. I also use
tons of recent photos on the site ... we have a number of good photogs
in the club who are sending photos of every event. I actually edit
every photo (sharpness, color balance, contrast and composition) and
select the few best in the set to maintain consistent image quality
levels - i.e. people will soon get bored by an endless stream of
'snapshots'. All of the photos I select show 'smiling happy
people' ... after all, the soaring community is a happy family, isn't
it?

In addition to a lot of individual photos - captioned with snappy and
sometimes irreverent comments if I have the time ... we have a few
nice photo montages ... a couple of members have created some very
good movies ... and we have the web cams as mentioned - so again, a
lot of visual content.

I have the full Macromedia suite and will probably build some flash/
fireworks features this winter ...

Ken Kochanski
PGC Webmaster
http://www.pgcsoaring.org/Index.html

[Andreas Maurer[_1_]]

On Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:16:07 -0700 (PDT), Jim Kellett
> wrote:

>It's actually more than a club
>website, since the Club owns/manages the server which, in turn hosts a
>whole bunch of Club goodies, e.g.:

Hi Jum,

interesting website, and huge club with international members!
But I was not able to find a page about the club's gliders...


Bye
Andreas

[[email protected]]

Have a look at:http://www.rideauvalleysoaring.com/

Rideau Valley Soaring - Gliding and Soaring in Ottawa Ontario Canada -
An Ottawa Gliding Club

Our webmaster proud of it and should be.

Paul

Vsoars wrote:
> Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
> make people eager to give soaring a try? Out of date sites with
> pictures that don�t include recent improvements and photographs that
> are obviously from another decade can�t help us recruit members.
> Great web sites can. Please give us some inspiration.

[Martin Gregorie[_4_]]

On Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:01:15 -0700, Vsoars wrote:

> Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
> make people eager to give soaring a try? Out of date sites with
> pictures that don’t include recent improvements and photographs that
> are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members. Great
> web sites can. Please give us some inspiration.
>
While its not in the States, I think my club (Cambridge) has a decent
site: http://www.glide.co.uk/

But I think the best I've seen for attracting new blood to gliding is the
London Gliding Club: http://www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[HoUdino]

I agree with Ken, pictures of "happy smiling friendly people doing fun
things with gliders" is the primary closer for websites, the second
step is a "next step" of telling the web site visitor exactly what to
do to get involved (buy a voucher, come to a meeting, schedule a ride,
etc...anything just don't leave them without a "next step"). I can't
say more.
;-)

LT

[Phil Umphres]

On Sep 11, 8:01*pm, Vsoars > wrote:
> Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
> make people eager to give soaring a try? *Out of date sites with
> pictures that don’t include recent improvements and *photographs that
> are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members.
> Great web sites can. *Please give us some inspiration.

We are pretty proud of the Texas Soaring Association website,
www.TexasSoaring.org . It is something of a challenge to keep the
content current when you get one that contains as many pages as we do.

Phil Umphres
SSA Region Ten Director

[Ken Kochanski (KK)]

On Sep 13, 1:09*pm, Martin Gregorie
> wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:01:15 -0700, Vsoars wrote:
> > Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
> > make people eager to give soaring a try? *Out of date sites with
> > pictures that don’t include recent improvements and *photographs that
> > are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members. Great
> > web sites can. *Please give us some inspiration.
>
> While its not in the States, I think my club (Cambridge) has a decent
> site:http://www.glide.co.uk/
>
> But I think the best I've seen for attracting new blood to gliding is the
> London Gliding Club:http://www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/
>
> --
> martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
> gregorie. | Essex, UK
> org * * * |

Nice website and nice glider port ...

Do you guys ever ridge soar on that hill in the background?

KK

[Jim White[_3_]]

At 01:03 16 September 2008, Ken Kochanski KK wrote:
>
>Nice website and nice glider port ...
>
>Do you guys ever ridge soar on that hill in the background?
>
>KK
>

Yep, in a Westerly it works fine. If the wind is moderate and more NW it
is possible to run the Chiltern ridge all the way down to Watlington and
back, 40k each way. Luton airspace allowing!

Jim

[Martin Gregorie[_4_]]

On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:03:23 -0700, Ken Kochanski (KK) wrote:

> On Sep 13, 1:09Â*pm, Martin Gregorie
> > wrote:
>> On Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:01:15 -0700, Vsoars wrote:
>> > Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
>> > make people eager to give soaring a try? Â*Out of date sites with
>> > pictures that don’t include recent improvements and Â*photographs that
>> > are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members.
>> > Great web sites can. Â*Please give us some inspiration.
>>
>> While its not in the States, I think my club (Cambridge) has a decent
>> site:http://www.glide.co.uk/
>>
>> But I think the best I've seen for attracting new blood to gliding is
>> the London Gliding Club:http://www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/
>>
>> --
>> martin@ Â* | Martin Gregorie
>> gregorie. | Essex, UK
>> org Â* Â* Â* |
>
> Nice website and nice glider port ...
>
> Do you guys ever ridge soar on that hill in the background?
>
I've only flown at LGC once in a very strong westerly. The ridge was
working well. It was fun zipping past Whipsnade zoo and looking down on
the penguins and wallabies before turning and beating back. You have to
be low past the zoo because Luton said to stay below 1000 west of the
airfield. Such a shame.....


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[Vsoars]

On Sep 16, 5:36*am, Martin Gregorie
> wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:03:23 -0700, Ken Kochanski (KK) wrote:
> > On Sep 13, 1:09*pm, Martin Gregorie
> > > wrote:
> >> On Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:01:15 -0700, Vsoars wrote:
> >> > Which clubs and commercial operations have outstanding web sites that
> >> > make people eager to give soaring a try? *Out of date sites with
> >> > pictures that don’t include recent improvements and *photographs that
> >> > are obviously from another decade can’t help us recruit members.
> >> > Great web sites can. *Please give us some inspiration.
>
> >> While its not in the States, I think my club (Cambridge) has a decent
> >> site:http://www.glide.co.uk/
>
> >> But I think the best I've seen for attracting new blood to gliding is
> >> the London Gliding Club:http://www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/
>
> >> --
> >> martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
> >> gregorie. | Essex, UK
> >> org * * * |
>
> > Nice website and nice glider port ...
>
> > Do you guys ever ridge soar on that hill in the background?
>
> I've only flown at LGC once in a very strong westerly. The ridge was
> working well. It was fun zipping past Whipsnade zoo and looking down on
> the penguins and wallabies before turning and beating back. You have to
> be low past the zoo because Luton said to stay below 1000 west of the
> airfield. Such a shame.....
>
> --
> martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
> gregorie. | Essex, UK
> org * * * |- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks to all of you for the great information and analysis of the
important elements that make a successful web site. One conclusion is
obvious- many clubs have talented people who have created wonderful
web pages that motivate people to discover soaring. Also many clubs
have a social environment that keeps members active in soaring.

It’s not too late to send me more information. We are on our 10th day
without power in my part of Houston. (Our gliderport was not harmed
and the soaring since the hurricane has been good.) As soon as I can,
I will study the elements that the best sites possess and the
commentary you provided about the essential elements a soaring site
needs. Then I’ll write something for SOARING or E-News.

[[email protected]]

I haven't updated the look and feel of our website in a couple of
years, but it continues to bring in both rides and new members.

www.valleysoaring.org