Ah, spring. The time of warmer weather, higher pollen counts, and the start of spring sports seasons. Just like you may clean out your garage around this time of year, now is the perfect time to refresh the website promoting your club or league.
Your website is often the first place someone will find information about your organization. Is it easy to navigate? Do users have to dig to get what they need? Here are three easy changes you can make today to grow your signups and improve your online presence.
1. Put your most important information up front and center
When users visit your website, the most important action they need to take should be visible and easily accessible, whether on the homepage or an easy-to-find link on the navigation bar. Since these actions will likely change depending on where you’re at in your season, consider updating them regularly.
Before a season starts, elevate links to registration on your homepage. For clubs, this is the time when signing up athletes is the number one priority. When registration closes, consider highlighting team schedules or your spirit wear store.
Some web designers employ the “above-the-fold rule,” meaning the most important information on your website should be right on the homepage, without requiring a user to scroll down to find it.
Using call-to-action boxes within SportsEngine HQ’s Sitebuilder can be a great way to make your links stand out. By placing these call-to-actions in a prominent spot, families are more likely to take action. At the end of the day, always make sure your most important links are easily visible.
2. Keep your site navigation clean
Larger organizations with lots of programs or multiple sports should review their navigation to make sure that it is logically laid out and readable. For example, if a parent is looking to sign their child up for 8U girls soccer, make sure that all of the programs are available within a click or two; a parent shouldn’t have to scroll through a laundry list of items that aren’t applicable to them.
Consider bucketing your registrations in a way that makes sense to a parent or guardian such as by age group, gender, or sport.
Creating a site map is also a great way to visualize how someone would navigate from page to page. Ask yourself these questions:
- What are the main categories that you should show on the navigation bar?
- What subcategories make the most sense underneath those?
- Do all items in a subcategory make sense together?
- Are there certain items that should also be included on the page itself?
Ultimately, determine what the most important thing(s) that you want a visitor to do on your site and make sure those are prominent
3. Out with the old and in with the new
Do you have any outdated registrations or content on your website? This old information just causes confusion. We’ve heard from admins themselves who needed assistance after families registered for last year’s program by mistake because it was still visible on the website.
Before opening registration, consider performing a site audit and going through each and every page of your website with a fresh set of eyes. Disable or delete pages from last season that shouldn’t be there. If you aren’t tracking stats or player history, you can also disable or delete the previous season’s teams and team pages. Also, don’t forget to archive those old registrations!
Your images and visuals could also use a second look. Are there any graphics on your site that don’t seem to be the right size? Switch them out with higher-quality images to make your website really pop!
Spruce up your website
Refreshing your website can be simple and the benefits are huge. Use these tips to help past and future members find exactly what they need and create a program signup process that truly speaks for itself.
For more website tips, check out the following articles:
