Hello people! Although I might not be able to be back in nyc for some more riding soon, I have recently started the design for our new website! Here is a link for the mockup: http://xd.adobe.com/view/0e4fc79d-6f9e-44df-4df1-6c802255f69e-787e/?fullscreen
(You could click on the different sections to navigate)

Please take some time to view it via the link. Any suggestions or ideas are welcomed. Also, if someone could write about themselves and the club, that would be great (in the team page). lmk if the link doesn't work for you... Thanks!

Nice work. I think I can do without "we pose" as a point of pride, or the number of fields people work in.

Looks awesome! 

People have talked on and off again about a blog for 10+ years. The issue is quality & consistently. Who is it really for? TBDetermined do a good job but even they have few & far between articles.

Jules said:

People have talked on and off again about a blog for 10+ years. The issue is quality & consistently. Who is it really for? TBDetermined do a good job but even they have few & far between articles.

Agree. Not just in the context of cycling or kissena.

No blog is better than a sad blog with no updates with a post from 2 seasons ago. My take on this, if a few members were already creating written content and posts somehow then a Kissena blog would be a great avenue and great place to give them a home. Otherwise we would be creating an avenue, that after a few test rides, no one will use.

@eloy I think that if we delegated like three or four people to put out a weekly post, it would be a great leverage for sponsorship. You are right though, a sad blog is one of the worst things imaginable. I know everyone has busy lives but I know I would honestly carve out some time, if we did go this route. Personally, to write a piece a week if it meant that we could have the potential to draw another sponsor or two would make the entire thing worth it as long as we all agree to not let it go to the wayside. 

cpulvidente said:

@eloy I think that if we delegated like three or four people to put out a weekly post, it would be a great leverage for sponsorship. You are right though, a sad blog is one of the worst things imaginable. I know everyone has busy lives but I know I would honestly carve out some time, if we did go this route. Personally, to write a piece a week if it meant that we could have the potential to draw another sponsor or two would make the entire thing worth it as long as we all agree to not let it go to the wayside. 

Mediocre blog isn't leverage, it's just mediocre

If quality content was as simple as delegation the world would be a much better place

FWIW in ten+ years I've never heard a potential sponsor say "if only you had a blog I'd give you something..."

@Jules I totally agree with that. Mediocre anything is actually worse than just not doing it. 

I do think that if we delegated to a few individual who would put the time into it, it could work. I may be a bit naive in thinking it could help entice sponsorship, only because I see so many people my age making a living off a vlog or similar things. 

cpulvidente said:

@Jules I totally agree with that. Mediocre anything is actually worse than just not doing it. 

I do think that if we delegated to a few individual who would put the time into it, it could work. I may be a bit naive in thinking it could help entice sponsorship, only because I see so many people my age making a living off a vlog or similar things. 

not to delve on this... but my point is: respectfully, who are these few individuals at kissena? -- who will be create more than a post or two and still be consistently creating content seasons from now?

Better to try and fail then never to have tried at all?

I would be keen to put my thoughts down about events, races, and general cycling topics. 

I think for the blog part we should do a poll on who wants to takes on the task.
The blog can be active in season and can be monthly in off seasons.

I think if we have 3-4 contributor from kissena we can make it worth while.

We need to start thinking about the people who wants to do it, doing it for incentives doesn't make the best blogs or articles. If people are driven by their personal creativity, this can be their external outlet.

As for the website goes here's so of my tweak ideas.

O/A it feels very sales pitchy, It kinda makes it sound were desperate for members. 
I think if we can get a better copy for the site it'll boost the content. (I suck at writing so dont ask me ;P)
Also I dont think we need the star athlete sections too... The board member is fine, but I think highlighting the new member and development sections will be better.
Ultimately I think the website should be about what fun can we bring them, how we can help them develop and letting them know we do fun rides and races. 

Now some design ideas.
Navigation:
Keep kissena logo blue even though you switch pages.
The "join" button keep it the same font size as other.

Sorry its a lot, I think the base design is really great, just some tweaks.
Feel free to take whatever you want from this and trash whatever.

Jules said:

People have talked on and off again about a blog for 10+ years. The issue is quality & consistently. Who is it really for? TBDetermined do a good job but even they have few & far between articles.

Personally I think TBD does a pretty good job at making their club seem active. They’re the club I think of when I think “social media/ web presence”. I think the fact that we all know about the TBD blog must mean something 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for all the suggestions. The main reason that I had all these sections like "star athletes" and "a typical day" is that currently we don't have enough content. I saw that a few people have interest in some writing, it would be great if a few could write a bit about what they felt about the club in general ( ie your favorite event or team races/ ride last year etc.) (can be 100 words or so) Any writing would be great.

If we can have a momentum in writing starting from the main pages then a blog page could be doable in the future (as I can edit and push anytime so not a big thing to implement in the future...) Also maybe we could just edit the "race report" in the forum and put it towards a blog post. It shouldn't be something that take up too much time as the effect of blogs nowadays aren't that significant in my opinion. All in all, It's not just a presentation for the public also a way to keep our own records (rides). For now, we need to fill up each current page with WORDS and I will make some teaks before code.

Guys - we can't come up with enough content for a new website but somehow we're gonna blog on the regular... am I the only one that sees a problem here?



Bigger question what is the motivation/rationale for the redesign?

In terms of blog, I guess my race reports can be construed as blogging. I started writing race reports to get me to think about a race, and help me analyze the race in the hopes to have a better experience the next time. I feel that if people read it, good. If they don't, I don't care since it's intended for me.

Over time, it kind of spiraled into writing the day up. I sometimes write when I go to Tuscany and ride my bike over there, or other locations. I try to go visit my sister once a year although this year it might not happen. I am not sure if there would be any interest in the my spewage but if anyone would like to see the crap I write, here is the link: https://awjbikeracing.wordpress.com.

@Jules main reason for the redesign is we need a contact form for prospects, currently we only have a email address listed... also current website is only an one page site... (a quick redo after the malfunction from last year....)

That's not a rationale for changing the content.

"Also, posting a "new website" thread with a grammatical error in the title doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

^said with love, but also a tiny eyeroll

I share the same reservations as Jules about this whole site redesign.
Why do we need a more elaborate site exactly ?

If the objective is to attract new members then I am unconvinced that a more expansive site is going to add value.
If the prospective member has seen a Kissena rider or riders then a simple site that provides brief details of who we are, what our values are and how to get in contact are all that is needed.

Furthermore, as a collective we will reach a far wider audience if members post their personal dynamic content through the recognized social platforms of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter with a Kissena Cycling hashtag.

If we start hosting all this content ourselves then we create expectations in the audience regarding regularity, length, style and especially quality and since this content is on the 'official' Kissena site it needs to be vetted and edited to ensure it meets those criteria.

As an old man I have seen, over the years, many initiatives start with a flourish of tremendous enthusiasm that is just not maintained over the longer term - causing that initiative to ultimately be considered a failure.
To be honest - alarm bells are ringing for me with this current agenda.

Having a Kissena website that is stale or contains content of questionable quality is worse than not having a site at all.
This does mean that our existing simple site should be updated periodically to reflect the changing fashions in site design, but we do not need to create an additional burden for ourselves (and those that follow) beyond that.

Yours Curmudgeonly, Ian

Big +1 to Ian, and thanks for boldly curmudgeoning when I was reticent.

Frankly the less website we have the better. Sponsors and prospective members want social media, not websites.

Kissena's twitter (checks notes) is almost 40 days stale.

If we have people blogging on the regular on their personal sites then that's what links are for.

Now excuse me while I go tie an onion to my belt.

I think it is fair to say that Tom was creating the wireframe for the site rather than being too concerned with the wording...

Ian I do think you raise a good point regarding ensuring that whatever is created is sustainable, however when I take a look at other cycling clubs website I see a lot more material published directly on the site covering the activities of the club. For example the Kingston Wheelers site:

https://www.kingstonwheelers.com/

There is a lot of great activities and events that KCC riders undertake through the year, however our current website doesn't facilitate communicating this out to the wider world. To me it would make sense for us to make this info available via the website (as opposed to via social media channels) as this may help attract new people to the club, widen our visibility for our sponsors, raise our profile in the local community etc etc.

Personally I would be more than happy to put together a running race report on the PP series and any other race I undertake over the course of the year - if I look at Kingston they have similar style entries:

https://www.kingstonwheelers.com/1-2-for-brendan-and-ben-at-hillingdon/

Longer term, the effort/time requirement for this would appear to be fairly minimal and that (with volunteers) could be spread fairly evenly to ensure that this could be something that could be maintained longer term. 

However even if it didn't work out longer term, I wouldn't deem it a failure. If we try something, and it doesn't work out as intended that does not mean there was not value in trying. Much can be learnt which will help inform future members of the club, and just because an idea does not catch at a certain point in time, doesn't mean that it won't be viable again in the future.

@ian ellis I think as an old man you also see if nothing changes nothing will ever be improves. If no one tries no one will know where success and failures are.

Also I think the two statement you made are somewhat contradictory
"but we do not need to create an additional burden for ourselves (and those that follow) beyond that."
"as a collective we will reach a far wider audience if members post their personal dynamic content through the recognized social platforms"

We are volunteer based club, those who are making the site and if fruitions "the blog" are self volunteered individuals using their time to do it with their own interested. 
Also I have only seen few individuals who post dynamic content through out the social platforms, and I don't expect all member to participate in this. These are also volunteered time and self interest that they put toward creating content and most of them are not hash tagged or created solely for the club. If we enforce that wouldn't it be a burden to our current and our future members?

I think the current website are far from the best we can do. We need to redesigned to we can communicate better through out it. The new site are incomplete this is why @thomaschen is asking us for input, copy will be rewritten, site will be adjusted, and revisions will be done so it will be great. I dont think we will post a website with lorem ipsums... 

We are a collective club and a few team that should work together in making things better. Thomas is a great web designer, with that said if we have a copy writer or english major, UX UI, even content creator that would like to contribute. Wink wink!

Like Rich said "If it didn't work out longer term, I wouldn't deem it a failure."

A few quick notes of clarification. 

Last year the board discussed the need to update the website and had two goals in mind. Neither of them had to do with a blog, although the idea of having visitors get a clear idea of what Kissena offers and an easy way to contact the club was part of the deal.

First goal had to do with having our WordPress site hacked last year (several times I think). A static page was created to replace it, but there was a problem with the “join Kissena” button (or something to that effect) and the board wanted to create a contact form for prospective members. 

Second goal had to do with on boarding new members. While there is a lot of good info for new and existing members on the forum and in on boarding emails sent to new members, It had come to the board’s attention that many new members had a difficult time finding the information they were seeking. Therefore the idea was to host “members only” web content that could include onboarding info, FAQ, etc.

A great deal of information is passed on verbally or through posts that get buried deep in the forum. Organizing and improving these materials and making it easily accessible to members was seen as important. Seems to me that the recent discussions about group riding etiquette is one of those bits of info that gets passed down in various ways, but could benefit from being easily accessed by new members. Similar information about sponsorship, training, volunteering, could be made more clear and accessible. Part of the discussion was finding some way to ensure that new members became aware of and took a look at these materials. 

So let’s not get too stuck on the blog issue. If we can create the content as well as the infrastructure to maintain a quality blog, then we should consider it, but this would be a significant undertaking. Either way, this was not the impetus of the site redesign.

Other board members from last year may have more to add

Also, the website can be redesigned to serve us - current members. So far we highlighted the pros and cons of content that is aimed for prospective members. The website can also host tools and content that will be relevant to Kissena riders.

Just my 2 cents (as a newish member)

The old website I liked, was the way I got to know about Kissena, I saw some of the materials you had there on races and riding through the winter and stuff. Phrases like "be safe, it's just bikes" and the general tone in which it was written made me feel like you were a cool bunch. 

Only suggestion is to put links to the social media like Instagram, since now it's more active. 

The blog sounds cool, I like reading this kind of stuff, normally read the Training Peaks one.

Thanks for all the comments, all great points. One thing that I disagree is that website still play a big part in today’s digital world, especially in the west where there isn’t a monopoly like WeChat which controls literally everything. For many of the projects I do, the clients first see your online personal website then cv and etc... website is this front image of any organization, whether its for firms like OMA or charities like world bicycle relief or something... I agree we don’t have to make it too fancy ie no blog etc. but it is necessary to give a nice first impression.

^ all of that written as if we don't already have a website that promotes sponsors and directs new members to what the club is.

Still not hearing the rationale for a compete redo of the website and content.

I know we put the kibosh on the race/experience reports/blog, but this was brought to my attention this weekend 😇😉
https://www.tobedetermined.cc/journal/castelli-partner-announcement-2020

Bump!

Don't think this is the right thread, but after a few searches, I couldn't seem to find a better one.  So...

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And I can't access any of the messages.

Don't know if it matters, but I tried posting to the Saturday/Sunday Group ride thread a few times yesterday and my message did not seem to post.

@mugwump I’ll reach out to vanilla on this