Support Services Unlimited Wed, 31 March 2021 14:00:00 Wed, 31 March 2021 14:00:00 Leslie Guo https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2021/reminder-of-office-closure/ Long Weekend Office Hours: Please note our office will be closed on Friday, April 2 and will reopen Tuesday, April 6th, for the holiday weekend. Thank you! https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2021/reminder-of-office-closure/ Wed, 31 March 2021 14:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2016/dash-launches-first-bilingual-french-and-english-association-website/ We are thrilled to announce the launch of our first bilingual website, www.caaa.ca ! The Dash team in Vancouver worked closely with the Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA) in Toronto over the past few months to develop their English and French website. As a major national non-profit association, it was essential that they provide a professional bilingual environment for members.  Users are able to easily switch between English and French across all pages of the website, including events and membership management/user account pages. We are pleased to be able to offer multi-language (French, English and beyond) sites to our clients going forward. To find out more about our association management software services, please contact info@adoptdash.com https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2016/dash-launches-first-bilingual-french-and-english-association-website/ Thu, 06 October 2016 11:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2016/naiop-greater-vancouver-wins-two-chapter-merit-awards/ Congratulations to our client NAIOP Greater Vancouver for winning two NAIOP Chapter Merit Awards! NAIOP Greater Vancouver received the awards at the Chapter Leadership and Legislative Retreat in Washington, D.C.. Recognizing the best in special events, publications, membership, legislative advocacy and more, recipients are selected by a committee of their peers comprised of volunteer judges. The chapter received the  Communication Initiative Award  for their new  Industry Leaders blog series , launched in mid-2015 and promoted through social media channels, newsletters and on their website homepage newsfeed, created by the Dash team. The chapter also won the  Sponsorship Program Award  for their  sponsorship opportunities . These expanded in 2015 to include individual event sponsorship opportunities, as well as annual sponsorship packages. Through Dash, NAIOP sponsors are able to purchase sponsorship online, print and email invoices and receipts, and upload their logos and profiles to the website. We are proud to be partners with NAIOP Greater Vancouver. https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2016/naiop-greater-vancouver-wins-two-chapter-merit-awards/ Thu, 18 February 2016 08:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/dash-launches-new-website-for-us-client-medical-alley-association/ Dash was proud to make its first entry into the U.S. market today with the launch of a new website for Medical Alley Association, formerly known as LifeScience Alley Association. Based in Minneapolis, the Medical Alley Association is a state-based member organization serving the health technology community. They work to promote the corridor in Minnesota that is home to the world's most concentrated health technology cluster. The membership is made up of medical device, biopharmaceutical, diagnostic and digital health industry leaders. We were proud to partner with Medical Alley for the launch of their rebranded website. We were committed to providing a mobile-friendly, intuitive site that would allow the association to better present and promote its content, from research articles to news releases. Medical Alley's communications team are now easily able to upload new articles on a daily basis and promote them in prominent areas across the website with only a few clicks. Supported by our powerful back-end database, the new website makes it easier than ever for members to sign up, register for events, track payments and manage their contact details. With all of the association's activities handled in the Dash database – from event management to financial reporting – we aim to improve efficiency and enhance operations for the entire Medical Alley team. The database handles almost 10,000 member records, making this the largest association we have worked with to date. The success of this project can be attributed to open communication and collaboration with the Medical Alley team – being in a different country couldn't stop us!  Take a look at the new Medical Alley website here:  www.medicalalley.org For more information on how Dash can help your association, contact us . https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/dash-launches-new-website-for-us-client-medical-alley-association/ Tue, 05 January 2016 09:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/migrate-your-website-content-with-minimal-stress/ Migrating your association's web content to a new site can be a painstaking and time-consuming process, but it is essential that the project is handled well to guarantee the success of your new site. The last thing you need is to spend dozens of hours transitioning to your new site, only to discover you've lost some essential content from your old one! We have managed and worked through numerous content migrations of varying scopes, and we've turned our experience into a step-by-step guide to ensuring the smoothest transition possible. Here are some things to consider:  What is the overriding goal of your new site? Before diving in to your content migration project, be sure that your team has a complete vision for how your new site will look and feel. Take time to consider what the ultimate goal of your website will be. Are you hoping to drive membership? Do you plan to focus more on the resources available to members? Is your aim to keep the website looking updated more regularly? Take all of this into account before planning how the content will be accessed on your new site. Write your mission statement down so that those working on the content migration can consult it when making tough decisions. Step 1: Conduct a ‘content inventory’ This is an initial assessment of the content on your website, including all internal media files and external links. You will need to assess: Which pages/sections will need to be moved over in their exact current format Which pages/sections will be moved over but edited, restructured, or incorporated into other sections (ie you need to capture the information, but rework it before posting)  Which pages/sections will be scrapped from your new site. When making these decisions, you may want to consult your analytics to determine which pages are more successful than others. You should also look at the keywords that your users are searching when they arrive at your website. How can you improve accessibility to the information people are searching for? At all stages, ask yourself ‘How does this content help us meet our objectives?’. If it does not, cut it from your consideration. Your time is best focused on the content that truly adds value. Think about your time-sensitive content, such as news items or blog posts. How far back do you want to go when saving these? Also take into consideration any media files currently included on your website, such as videos. Where are these hosted and how do you plan to host them on the new site? Do you need to note down their embed codes, or can they be easily accessed elsewhere? Step 2: Saving and planning your content Once you have a clearer idea of what you need to cut and what you need to keep, it’s time to start saving your content outside of your website. This can be done in a number of ways and it will depend on how your team prefer to work. It may be simplest for you to copy and paste each page into a Word document and save it in folders corresponding to the site map of your new site. For example, create an ‘About us’ folder, and save each page under this folder in the order it will appear in this new section. The crucial thing is to ensure that every page is captured – pay special attention to pages that may be hidden from navigation but are linked to internally. Make a note of pages that may require special coding, such as those with buttons, tables, or any other item that will need to be styled to fit the branding of your new website (font, colours etc).  Step 3: Moving media The media (images, PDFs, other documents) file section of your website is likely jam-packed with files, some of which may be years out of date, others of which may be incorrectly organized. We recommend going through each of these files individually, determining which need to be saved and which do not, and saving them to your computer in the exact folder structure you would like them to appear on your website. For example, ‘AGM Minutes – 2015 – 2014 – 2013’, etc. Keep things as structured as possible to allow for easy navigation. When you are confident you have captured everything, you can then begin moving your files into the media section of your new site, safe in the knowledge that anything you miss on the new website is stored on your computer drive. Step 4: Restructuring and rewriting content Once you are sure all of your text and media has been saved and archived, it’s time to start reworking any content that needs attention. Here are a few things to consider: How can you reduce the need for frequent updates to basic information pages on your website? For example, if you have an annual awards deadline of March 1st, remove any reference to the year on the page. That way, your team does not need to set a reminder to adjust the year on the page.  What is the most logical way to present your information? Think about the questions you most commonly receive from members. Why are they not able to find this information easily on your current website? Is there something you can do to make it easier to navigate to essential information? Perhaps you have information buried in longer pages that, on reflection, is worthy of its own section. Consult your analytics to get a good idea of what information is most important to your members. How can you improve SEO? Refer back to your analytics – are there any search terms that are generating a lot of traffic to your website? You may want to rewrite pages, titles and subtitles to incorporate these keywords where appropriate. Is your content easy to read? Consider breaking longer pages down into sections and accordions. This is particularly important considering your new site is intended to be viewed on devices of all sizes. Do you have any pages that can be incorporated into others? Pages that are only a few sentences do not look good on your website, particularly if they are simply linking elsewhere. Are you able to incorporate information from two pages into one, without making it difficult to find? Step 5: Moving the content into your new CMS This stage should go smoothly provided you have followed the above steps. When copying your content into the new website, however, there are a few tips you can follow to ensure that your information is presented in the best way possible. Use ‘accordions’ for lengthy pages that require scrolling. These are particularly useful for FAQ pages, or other pages where the content can be easily split into sections. Consider mobile friendliness at all times. How will the page look at different sizes on different devices? Is there a better way to present the information? Avoid ‘click here’ links. When adding a link anywhere on your website, it is much better to hyperlink the title or a complete phrase rather than say ‘click here’. For example: ‘ Read the latest Dash blog here ’ is more easily read on first glance and creates a stronger urge for action than ‘ Click here to read the latest Dash blog’. Avoid duplication. If information is listed on two different pages of your website, does it need to be? Remember that you can link people to the section they are looking for, rather than try to cover all bases in one place. Step 5.1: Monitoring links All internal links will be changed on your new site, so it is essential that you make a note of where links will need to be updated. When copying pages over to your staging site, make a clear note at the top that there are links to be updated on that page. Go through each page and ensure that the file links are going to your new Media section, not your old website. Similarly, any images will need to be uploaded into your new site rather than copied and pasted over. Final steps: Content review and testing Phew! Now that all of your content has been moved over into your staging site, it’s time to conduct thorough checks. Go through each page of the website and ensure that each link is going to the correct place – be careful that there are no links to your old (existing) website Go through the content plan you establish in steps 1 and 2 – has everything been moved over from your old website that you wanted to keep? Have a third eye explore both your old (existing) site and the new staging site and identify any gaps. Ensure that pages intended to be members-only have been set as such. Want to hear more about how we help assocations create new websites? Contact us at info@adoptdash.com https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/migrate-your-website-content-with-minimal-stress/ Wed, 09 December 2015 09:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/how-to-increase-your-association-s-event-attendance-through-online-registration/ Events are the showpieces for your non-profit association. Whether you host events once a month or once a year, they are the most important opportunity you have for engaging with members and potential members. Like it or not, your association will be judged by the standard of your events, and this will have a direct effect on your ongoing attendance levels as well as your membership numbers. Not to mention the fact that your events are likely an important source of revenue for your association. To guarantee your next event is a resounding success, you need to start by looking at the very beginning of any event experience – the registration process. Here’s our advice for providing the best online registration process possible. Spread the Word with an Easy-to-Read Online Event Calendar The first obstacle in getting people to register for your event is making sure they know about it! You likely send out eblasts and social media posts to let members know when things are happening, but nothing can beat a well functioning and interactive calendar on your website – after all, this is where most members will come to check what’s happening with your association. We recommend using a calendar that allows people to view your events in a number of ways. For example, Dash websites feature event calendars that give people several viewing options: a calendar view for that month; a list view for that month; a list of all upcoming events; and a list of all past events. This allows people to locate information in the easiest way possible and guarantees that no event will be missed. It’s even better if you automatically pull your event calendar to the homepage – a feature box displaying your next event keeps your homepage looking fresh and will pique the interest of passing visitors. Automated Pricing: Member, Sponsor, Early Bird Discounts and More Managing event ticket discounts manually can be time consuming and frustrating for both your staff and your attendees. We recommend using a system that will automatically detect the attendee’s status with your association and charge them accordingly. With association management systems such as Dash, attendees are required to log in to the website in order to register for your event – it may take them a couple of minutes to set up an account the first time they register, but from then on they will be able to store their card details online and register for future events with only a few clicks. Dash can recognize whether an attendee is a member, non-member, sponsor, or season pass holder and display the event pricing accordingly. The system will also manage early bird pricing, group discounts, and complimentary registrations. Attendees will be impressed that they don’t have to call in to your office in order to receive their discount. Allow Attendees to Enter Dietary Requirements and Other Notes Every event planner knows that some attendees will have specific requests for the event day – from dietary requirements to who they would like to sit with at a table. Rather than having to field calls and emails, why not allow attendees to enter these requirements online when submitting their registration? On Dash websites, attendees are presented with a ‘Notes’ text box where they are encouraged to enter any specific requests or comments related to the event. This will then appear alongside their name in the attendance list – a clear and simple process for both attendees and event planners. Register Now, Pay Later! Have you found that your attendee numbers suddenly surge as the day gets nearer? There are a few reasons this could happen – one may be that people are waiting until they are certain they can attend before registering, to avoid the hassle of refunds and cancellations. We recommend using a system that collects registration and payment details in advance, without actually charging for the ticket until the event day nears. Many of our clients opt to process payments two days prior to the event. Payment details are collected upon registration – weeks or even months in advance – so that attendees are guaranteed a place but are not yet charged. This means that if attendees do have to cancel at some point between registration and those two days prior to the event, they can simply do so online and their card will not be charged. This reduces work for your accounting department and encourages people to sign up for your event well in advance. Sell Merchandise for Your Association Event Enhance your attendees’ event experience – and boost your revenue – by selling merchandise alongside your event tickets. This can work particularly well for large annual events that members may want to collect souvenirs for, from programs to beer mugs. With a good online registration system, you will be able to include your merchandise products as an option alongside the event ticket during online checkout. Promote Networking by Displaying Your Attendance List Association events are intended for, among other things, networking. So why not promote your attendance list? Dash websites feature an optional ‘Who’s Coming?’ list on each event page. This displays the name and company of those who have already registered for the event, so people can see if an old friend, colleague, or someone from a company of interest is attending. Show off the type of people your event is attracting, and others will flock to join the list! Automated Confirmation Emails, Invoices and Receipts Your members are as busy as you and will be discouraged from attending an event if it involves a lot of admin. Be sure to use an online registration system that delivers automated confirmation emails, invoice emails, and receipt emails, so that attendees are able to reconcile their accounts and be reimbursed for any expenses with minimal hassle. With Dash, invoice and receipt emails are stored in the user’s online account for several years, allowing them to log in and locate the information at any time, from anywhere. All of this gives members and attendees great confidence in your association, enhancing your value and boosting your reputation in all the right places. https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/how-to-increase-your-association-s-event-attendance-through-online-registration/ Thu, 08 October 2015 11:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/renewal-season-how-to-improve-your-association-s-member-retention-rates/ As the summer draws to a close, our minds turn to the months ahead and the end-of-year tasks that need to be taken care of for our association clients. Most importantly, we’re planning for the upcoming renewal season for those clients whose membership runs with the calendar year. Our operations department handles renewal reminders and processing for a number of associations, and we’ve seen it all when it comes to the pitfalls that can prevent members from deciding to renew. Our experience has helped us to develop tricks and tools that ensure the renewal process is an easy one for association members. By adopting these practices, you can achieve higher member retention rates than ever. Automated Membership Renewal Reminders If your membership runs with the calendar year, you likely send out email reminders throughout November and December letting members know that it is time to renew. But it can be trickier when you have a rolling membership – manually checking expiration dates and sending out emails or letters takes up a large amount of time and resources. In our experience, the best solution is to use a system that will automatically notify members that their expiration date is approaching. Using association management software solutions such as Dash, you have the option of integrating your email software with your database so that an automated message containing a renewal link is sent out to members. You can choose when this happens – a month before expiration, a few days before expiration, or even in the weeks after expiration during a grace period. With this process taken care of automatically, your staff can be confident that nobody’s membership will expire without them knowing about it. Giving members a reminder ahead of time also gives them more time to prepare for renewal, whether this involves earning the number of CE credits required or simply factoring dues into their budget. They will certainly thank you for notifying them in advance! Fast Online Renewal Processing and Receipts It is essential that your association offers online membership renewal. Handling renewals by paper is time consuming for both your staff and members – not to mention unfriendly for the environment. Members will be more likely to renew if they can do so using either their laptop or mobile device. During renewal season, make sure that a renewal button and link is placed in a prominent spot on your homepage. Your system should retain member’s contact details so that they do not need to re-enter these when renewing. Even better, your system should give members the option of keeping their credit card details on file so that they can renew every year without having to re-enter their information. If your members are required to have insurance for membership (eg malpractice insurance), consider integrating your association website with the insurance provider website. For example, members of our client BCAK are required to have insurance before renewing. Dash gives them the option of either uploading their confirmation of insurance when renewing, or simply clicking straight through to the insurance provider’s website to complete their insurance purchase. The system then recognizes when the insurance purchase is complete and brings the member back to the BCAK website to finalize their renewal. Automated Membership Certificates Your members may need proof of membership for their employer or other third parties. Rather than issue certificates manually, use a system that automatically sends out a membership certificate email along with the renewal receipt. With systems such as Dash, you can store an electronic copy of the certificate in the member’s online profile so that they can locate it and download as a PDF at any time – no need for them to contact your office. Accept Cheque Payments Online Allowing members to pay for renewal via cheque shouldn’t mean a lot of extra work for your office. With Dash, members have the option of selecting ‘Pay by cheque’ when renewing. This generates an invoice number and email in the same manner as if they were paying by card. The outstanding invoice will display in your financial reports until the cheque is received, at which time your staff can mark the invoice as ‘paid’, renewal is complete and an email receipt is automatically issued. The more that you handle online, the better for both you and your members! Online CE Tracking If members are required to complete CE credits before renewing, an online CE tracker on your website will allow them to keep track of their credits. The system will also prevent them from renewing if they have not completed the appropriate number of credits. Find out more about online CE tracking in our previous blog post . https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/renewal-season-how-to-improve-your-association-s-member-retention-rates/ Tue, 08 September 2015 08:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/6-reasons-why-association-management-software-is-awesome/ Having worked in the association management business for nearly 60 years, we’ve seen it all when it comes to tools and tricks for getting the job done. As technology has advanced, so too have our processes – we developed our very own association management software (AMS) solution. Using AMS has improved our efficiency and the quality of our association management work beyond measure, and now we can’t imagine life without it! If your non-profit is currently weighing up the pros and cons of adopting an AMS system, here are a few reasons we believe you would benefit from saying ‘yes’ to AMS! 1. Quick Access to Member Information There’s nothing worse for your association’s reputation, and your staff stress levels, than having to search through folders and files to assist members with their requests. When a member calls to change their contact information they expect this to be done quickly, and the update should apply to all aspects of their interaction with the association. Rather than changing the information on multiple spreadsheets – member lists, email lists etc – a good AMS solution allows you to update everything instantly and in one place, reducing the possibility of error. Even better, your members should be able to make these updates themselves via the association website, meaning they won’t even need to contact your office. This saves time for both you and your members – everyone’s happy! 2. Access Association Data from any Location or Device Good AMS solutions allow your association staff to work from any location and manage operations in real time. Association databases such as Dash are hosted in the cloud, meaning all you need is an internet connection to log in and have instant access to member accounts, event management information, finance reports, invoices and more. You can boost your productivity by finishing work while travelling to and from meetings, and be a hero when you have instant access to information at board meetings or events. 3. Automated and Centralized Operations, from Event Attendance to eMarketing A good association management software solution will integrate all of your processes on one platform – this means membership, events, credit card processing, emarketing, accounting, website updates and more. For example, when you create a new event in Dash, the information will automatically display on your website event calendar and the website will recognize members, non-members and sponsors and charge them the appropriate ticket rate. You can then monitor registrations, event invoices and finance reports all in the same area of Dash. Similarly, when a member logs in to the website, their entire membership history, event attendance history, and invoice and receipt records are viewable all in one place. Good AMS solutions will also integrate with your marketing processes – Dash records members’ subscriptions to mailing lists and updates these in your eblast delivery software. All of this means less stress for your staff and your members. Everything is easy to find, easy to use and accessible anywhere – and you know the information is safe and secure in the cloud. 4. Save Time and Money – Essential for Your Non-Profit! Time is money. With a centralized AMS solution, your processes are happening automatically and behind the scenes. When human intervention is required, a good AMS system will send an alert to your staff – for example, an email notification when a job posting needs approval, or an alert message on the Dash homepage when a membership application needs approval. This gives your staff confidence that they will know about any tasks that need their attention, without having to do manual checks. 5. Improve Your Non-Profit Association’s Image A good association management software solution will include a mobile friendly website that fully integrates with your back end database. For example, members should not have to click through to a third party site to register for your events. With integrated AMS, your website will look slicker and more professional and members will be thankful that they can sign up for membership, register for events and browse your resources from any type of device. Non-members visiting your website for the first time will be more likely to sign up when they see how user friendly and visually appealing your site is. What’s more, people will be more likely to find your association website in the first place if it is mobile friendly and incorporates SEO tools such as metatags and keywords. Google recently changed its search algorithm to take into account mobile friendliness – has your association adapted accordingly? 6. And Finally…Help the Environment! AMS allows your association to reduce its carbon footprint by managing operations online, thereby reducing paperwork. There is no need for paper filing, paper membership certificates, paper invoices or paper event tickets – all can be delivered online through good AMS solutions. With Dash, board and committee reports can also be stored electronically on the ‘Virtual Boardroom’ tool, meaning there is no need to file them in dusty boxes for years to come. Every little helps! Contact us to find out more about how the right AMS solution can transform your association for the better. https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/6-reasons-why-association-management-software-is-awesome/ Mon, 27 July 2015 10:10:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/making-ce-simple-5-essential-features-for-your-association-s-online-ce-credit-tracking/ Continuing education may be one of the most important benefits your association offers, or even its primary purpose. Members come to you looking for high quality, convenient ways of enhancing their career and earning continuing education (CE) credits. But that’s not all members are looking for when it comes to CE. Once they complete their courses, they need a simple way to submit and record their credits. Moreover, your staff need an easy way to see whether members have earned the necessary number of CE credits for renewal. Through an effective online process that integrates with your member database, CE tracking need no longer be a drain on resources for your association. Here are the essential tools your online CE system should include:          Allow members to view credit history online Make life easier for members by enabling them to log in to your association website and view their course history and CE credit tracking. In some cases, members may need to recall courses taken months or even years ago in order to submit their credits. For example, members of our client CDABC are required to submit 36 CE credits every three years to their licensing body. Their operations staff received numerous phone calls from members wanting to know what courses they had taken through the association over the past three years, which became time consuming and difficult to monitor. Our solution to the problem? Create a CE tracker in their online member profile. Members are now able to log in and see a full record of CE activities they have completed, dating back several years. The website allows them to record specific notes about the activity and the date that it was undertaken – regardless of whether it was run by the CDABC or another party. No more need to search through old emails and certificates!   Automatically update continuing education credits in member profiles An online CE tracker should allow members to enter their own CE activity. But if your association offers its own CE opportunities, make things even easier by adopting a system that will automatically update members’ profiles with the credits they have earned. Association management software solutions such as Dash are able to identify course attendees, assign the appropriate number of credits to their profile, and send an automated certificate email. The system can be set up to deliver CE credits to all those on the course attendance list (or all those who purchase a self-study course). Alternatively, Dash has the ability to send an automated email containing a link to a quiz that the member must complete in order to confirm their attendance. Dash will identify whether or not they have passed the quiz, and will update their profile and deliver a certificate email as appropriate. No need for your staff to spend hours marking tests or confirming attendance! Continuing education credit progress charts Your online CE tracker should have the ability to show a member’s progress made in each continuing education category (if applicable). By displaying each category and the number of credits needed/allowed per category, as well as a progress chart, members are easily reminded of their CE requirements and where they stand in completing them. Pull printable continuing education reports Members may need to send hard copies of their CE activities to a third party. Rather than have them call your office to request documents, make it easy for them to save and print a PDF or Excel file containing their CE history. With Dash, this is as simple as a few clicks of a button – more time saved for your members and staff! Ensure members have earned CE credits before they are able to renew If your members are required to have a certain number of CE credits before renewal, it can become an administrative nightmare when renewal season rolls around. Your staff likely don’t have the time to confirm each person’s CE progress manually – so, adopt an automated solution! Dash will identify how many CE credits a member has earned and will allow or restrict them from renewing based on this number. If they need to earn more credits, Dash will let them know – they can then take a look at the CE tracker in their profile to review their progress and enter more CE activities. Once they have the appropriate number of credits, the online system will allow them to complete their renewal. With the entire process laid out clearly online, members will have no need to contact your office and face delays in their renewal. All of this means more time to focus on advancing your association. https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/making-ce-simple-5-essential-features-for-your-association-s-online-ce-credit-tracking/ Tue, 16 June 2015 00:00:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/may/4-quick-ways-to-keep-your-association-s-homepage-up-to-date/ Nobody likes an out-of-date association website. A neglected homepage leaves a bad impression on paying members and is especially unappealing to potential members assessing the value of your association – if you’re not able to keep your website running smoothly, what else might you be missing? When you have limited resources and pressing deadlines, it can be easy to slip into the habit of leaving your web updates on the backburner. Our marketing and communications team have uncovered a few quick, efficient and effective ways to keep your homepage looking fresh. Breaking News! Incorporate a Newsfeed  Your homepage will likely be the first port of call for both existing and potential members. It needs to comes across as active and vibrant from the very first glance – highlight your association’s activities so that members can see how their dues are being put to use. We’ve found that the easiest and quickest way to do this is with an RSS newsfeed on your association homepage. The newsfeed is a place to share event information, board updates and third party messages. Most recent postings will show up on the homepage alongside their posting date, letting visitors see that your association is keeping active. News items can be short – just 200 words or so – and you can copy and paste text or HTML from your association eblasts and newsletters into this space, making it easy to create a post in only a few seconds. We’ve incorporated newsfeeds into the content management system (CMS) of all Dashboard clients, and our operations staff use them every day to update the websites of our in-house association clients. It takes no more three or four clicks, and right away your homepage looks fresh! Take a look at the CDABC homepage for an example. Be a Social Butterfly! Add a Twitter Feed to Your Homepage Like with the newsfeed, we recommend including a live feed of your Twitter channel on your website homepage. As long as your Twitter feed is up to date, this is a simple way to make your homepage look fresh that requires no extra work from your communications team. Once a tweet is posted, it will automatically display homepage – you're keeping two areas of your online presence active with just one action. Not only that, but users will be able to click on the feed and follow your association on Twitter, further expanding your digital reach. Take a look at the Canadian Academic Accounting Association website  for an example of how Dashboard websites make use of this tool. Keep Things Moving with a Carousel A carousel banner is a great way to highlight your association’s latest news and events, and can also serve as a tool to drive members to a particular page of the website. At Dash, we’re able to upload an image and then simply enter the text we want to display in the CMS. The website will automatically stylize the text so it looks great with the banner. You are able to select an internal page for the banner to link to, or input a URL for an external site. Carousel banners mean your website looks vibrant without you having to create any new content – you’re simply uploading an image and linking users to an existing area of your website. Take a look at the Public Works Association of BC website to see how they promote upcoming events using a carousel. Promote Your Events An automated display box featuring your next event not only encourages users to register, but is an ideal way to keep your homepage active without putting in any additional work. If your website is hooked up with your event management system, as with Dash websites, your event feature box can automatically pull the event photo, title, date and intro text, as well as a button directing users to register. Once again, you are keeping two areas of your website up to date (your event calendar and homepage) with only one action! These tips have saved our marketing and communications team countless time and resources, and ensure that our clients' homepages are always active. Contact us to find out how we can help you with this and more! https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/may/4-quick-ways-to-keep-your-association-s-homepage-up-to-date/ Tue, 12 May 2015 11:52:00 Holly McCluskey https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/enhance-your-efficiency-with-an-interactive-member-faq-page/ Handling Member Queries The way you handle member queries can often depend on the size of your staff – a small team may need to let queries go to voicemail or an inbox, whereas a larger team can provide live phone support. Each scenario has its downfalls. In the first, while your staff will have the freedom to prioritize queries, you may find your inbox overflowing – and members becoming frustrated as they wait for a response. In the latter case, your members will be happy to hear a live voice at the end of the phone but your staff will face regular interruptions. The only solution is to go to the root of the problem – why is your office receiving so many queries in the first place? Identifying Patterns in Member Queries When our client, the Certified Dental Assistants of BC , came on board as one of our association management customers, our office faced a huge increase in phone call volume. With almost 1,000 members, there were questions about events, membership, continuing education and more coming in throughout the day. The trick was to identify patterns in the queries we were receiving. For example, we recognized right away that many people were confusing CDABC with the regulatory body for the dental assistant profession and were incorrectly contacting the office in that capacity. We started to think about how we could answer members’ questions before they even reached our office. Your association’s website is the best place to get across information. However, the simple fact is that if your information is not clear and accessible within seconds, many will prefer to hit ‘Contact us’ and get their answer without putting in further effort. The CDABC’s original website was poorly designed and not mobile friendly. It was a chore for members to read. If searching your website becomes a chore for your members, they will give up and pass that chore on to you in the form of an email or phone call. Making Information Easy to Find on Your Association Website When redeveloping the CDABC website, we knew a simple FAQ webpage was not going to cut it – nobody would want to scroll down a lengthy page to find a simple answer. Working with our partner Zendesk , we created a searchable and responsive FAQ zone  for the CDABC website. The page is organized into clear categories, and users can type in a keyword or an entire question to search articles for an answer. Best of all, the FAQ tool hooks up directly with the ‘Contact Us’ form on the website. The form obligates users to type in a subject line for their email – when they do, a pop-up appears with suggested articles that can answer their question before they’ve even finished typing the email. The FAQ zone also features a community forum, where users can start their own discussions and post questions to fellow members. It becomes an interactive experience for knowledge gathering and sharing, and your members feel better off for it. The Result? After launching the new FAQ and community forum, our office has experienced a dramatic decrease in member calls and emails. “We were overwhelmed by calls from CDABC members when they joined us as a client, and it was affecting our ability to focus on bigger projects for the board,” says Membership Manager Dan Chong, “But after we introduced the new website and FAQ, there was a notable drop-off in calls coming in. We were no longer overwhelmed.” An interactive, responsive FAQ could be the ideal solution for enhancing your association’s efficiency. Contact us to find out how we can help! https://www.adoptdash.com/blog/rss/blog/posts/2015/enhance-your-efficiency-with-an-interactive-member-faq-page/ Mon, 13 April 2015 09:00:00