Does your club website need a few more visitors? Are you launching an online community for radio amateurs? Are you promoting events online and would like to get some more attendees?
Here are 20 top tips from Essex Ham:
- Make sure your site has a clear “Mission Statement” – it should be immediately obvious what your site it, who it’s aimed at, and why it’s the best place to be
- Is your site the best that it can be? Clear, approachable, lots of images, easy to navigate, accessible and content-rich. If you offer training, make that a key selling point. See Improving your amateur radio club website for ideas and Ham Radio Website Woes for things to avoid!
- Does your site encourage a sign-up? Clubs and communities that offer lots of great content and features that encourage users to sign up always do well. On the front page, list what’s on offer and encourage people to sign up, and want to come back.
- Facebook – Love it or hate it, it’s still a popular online meeting place for radio amateurs. Making good use of Facebook includes:
- Having a Facebook Page
- Creating a Facebook Group
- Being active in some of the major amateur radio Facebook groups
- Twitter – Great for quick, short posts. Tips include:
- Create an account for your name and use some good images for the icon and header
- Following some of the big names
- Good use of hashtags
- Regular posts
- “Sticky” posts – things people will want to share and re-tweet
- YouTube – Very popular way of promoting, and easier than you think. Some tips
- Create a channel for your brand
- Upload some stuff. Even if you’re not into video editing, create a PowerPoint, export it as an mp4 video – an easy way to create content without editing video
- Popular topics (at the time of writing) include: “how-to” guides, product “unboxing”, amateur radio training
- Google – Still the top search engine, so make sure your content is searchable. Top tips:
- Make sure your pages have a good amount of searchable text, ideally containing unique phrases highlighting your top selling point
- Make sure you submit your site to Google, and if possible, publish an XML sitemap
- Get some links from other sites, to help improve your own ranking
- Instagram – A visual social media platform, great if you have lots of shareable images of activities / people / places
- Newer Social Media, for example, Discord (for discussion) or TikTok (short viral videos)
- Testimonials – As the old cliche goes, “Word of mouth” is the best form of advertising – get some of your members to do the sales work for you and write a short summary of why they recommend your club. That extra text content also helps with your Google rankings.
- Talk to your members / visitors and find out what works, and what doesn’t. Some ideas:
- Run a member’s survey and find out about their likes/dislikes
- If you’re signing up members online, as “how did you hear about us” for ideas on where to promote
- Get help from the RSGB – Can your local RSGB team help promote you? Can you get a listing in Radcom’s Around Your Region and in the weekly GB2RS news service? Can you get an entry in the RSGB Club Finder and or the RSGB annual Yearbook?
- Send a story to Radcom and Practical Wireless. Keep it short, and include a decent picture, and it may appear in print
- Blogs – Does your site have a blog or news section? Tell the world, and your members, what you’re doing via a blog – these are generally Google-friendly, keep the site looking fresh, and stories can get syndicated using RSS
- Add a unique feature – Podcasts & YouTube videos appear to be popular choices within the amateur radio online community at the time of writing – something to set yourself apart from the crowd.
- Newsletter / Mailing lists – Does your site offer a “sign up for news updates” option or a newsletter? Build a solid subscriber base, and it’s a) easy to reach out, and b) content that your members or customers can easily share
- Create a news story and submit it to Southgate News site – this has a solid worldwide circulation. You can also try creating a news story on QRZ.com (best for world-wide stories, but can be hit-and-miss)
- A post in some of the big forums – Transmission 1, Charlie Tango and of course, Essex Ham
- Nets – Take part in local nets and promote your website where appropriate (remembering the rules on business use). If you’re a club – hopefully you’re already running a net!
- Try local press – they’re often looking for “good news” and community activities to fill their pages
Extra tips for events
- Create a Facebook event
- Add your event to Eventbrite
- Get it listed in Radcom and read out on GB2RS
- Consider online community groups (like Nextdoor.com)
Got an idea we’ve missed? Add it below…
