NSRA Club Finder

[Hemmers]

Just got my copy of the Rifleman (the NSRA's quarterly journal). There's a short bit from Jenny Page that I shall reproduce below.
The gist is that a lot of people ask the NSRA how to improve recruitment in their club. The simple answer is publicity. The NSRA has some 900 clubs affiliated to it, yet only 400-odd have provided information for the club-finder. All you need is the club's name and a contact number/e-mail (although you can add websites, etc if they exist). It strikes me as terribly strange that many clubs don't take up this offer of absolutely free advertising with their national governing body.

Go check if your NSRA-affiliated club is listed, and if not, then find out why not from your committee and get some details sent to Jenny!

The Club Finder Feature

We are often asked by club officials what they can do to improve their membership numbers and the obvious answer is - PUBLICITY. A cheap and easy way for a club to publicise itself is to use the internet.

When the Association's first website went live in 2002 we contacted all affiliated clubs inviting them to provide information for linking to the Club Finder section of the site. Subsequently, in late 2007 prior to our new site being launched, we approached all clubs listed on the old site to update their information for inclusion in the new and improved Club Finder. To date there are some 400 entries which, considering that there are 900 plus clubs currently in affiliation, is a disappointing number.

Clubs ar able to put as much or as little information as they like on the website. The following is a list of the information that we prefer to receive. Whilst a link to an e-mail is advantageous, the lack of one will not satnd in the way of an entry on the site. [Hemmers: Given that you could freely set up an xxxrifleclub@hotmail.com, there really isn't any excuse for not having an e-mail contact for the club anymore]

1. Club Name (required)

2. The nearest town to the club, if the location is not apparent from the club's name.

3. The County in which the club is situated (required). In the case of clubs situated on a county boundary, more than one county can be specified.

4. A link to the nominated e-mail address

5. A contact name at the club, with or without other details such as address, phone number.

6. A few paragraphs about the club (disciplines available, facilities, opening times, etc) to a maximum of 120 words.

7. One picture - e.g. club logo/badge, a picture of the range or clubhouse (this should be provided in .jpg format).

Why not have a look at some of the entries on the website to see how different clubs have approached this subject.

Please remember that the Club Finder service is there to allow potential new members to make the initial contact with the club and it is important to ensure that the details are kept up to date. The NSRA reserves the right to remove any club details that contain broken links and out of date or unsuitable information.

If you are a club official who would like to have your club included in Club Finder please send the information to jpage (at) nsra.co.uk. If you, or a club member, do not have access to email please send to Jenny Page at Headquarters.

[biggles]

Was almost the first thing I did after we (Swallows FTC) affiliated. And we've certainly had a few contacts and new members as a result.

Why on earth would you NOT take this opportunity up (unless you're 'full') ?

Biggles

[biggles]

Of course, posting this reply prompted me to go and check our entry, only to find (or not) that we are missing

email now on its way to the Club Finder admin

Biggles

[Hemmers]

Was almost the first thing I did after we (Swallows FTC) affiliated. And we've certainly had a few contacts and new members as a result.

Yep, every summer our club gets quite a lot of enquiries via the website from students starting that autumn.
OK, a few of them are directed to our site from the Sports Union site (bit of free advertising), but there's nothing to stop non-university clubs (and indeed uni clubs) from posting links on sites like localsportsclubs.co.uk or locallife.co.uk to help get ranked highly in search results and provide extra links and ways into the website. Not to mention placing cards with the club's web address on those boards they sometimes have in supermarkets, etc for local sports clubs and community groups to advertise on.
Given that search engines rank sites in no small part based by on the number of external links pointing to them (on the basis that highly-linked sites must have something going for them for people to recognise them and link), placing links anywhere you can is a must, NSRA Club Finder, locallife, localsportsclubs, upmystreet, local council sports club listings, etc, etc.

People need to wake up to the fact that when people are looking for something, like a sports club or group, their first port of call is no longer the yellow pages or community centre notice boards, but invariably the interweb.