WEB: Beyond Release #3

Having a modern-looking, engaging website with fresh content is essential — this is how we make first impressions with people who are not our members but might become members. This cannot be an afterthought.

These issues became clear to me during the Facelift project that I want to bring to the your attention. I would be happy to discuss any of this with you:

Formalize the role of webmaster

• The webmaster would be the point of contact in the organization for website-related matters. During the Facelift project, there were many indicators that the website was forgotten or ignored. People who had the need or desire to update content had no idea who to turn to.
• I established some user accounts with plugin vendors and also charged some premium fees to my credit card (I was reimbursed). Nevertheless, doing these personally makes it difficult to maintain continuity when a personal leaves this position.
• I am a firm believer in avoiding "single points of failure" in any mission critical system, if at all possible. While I am happy to continue for the care and feeding of the website, I think it is in MJCBY's interest to identify a volunteer whom I can train to also do this. I have started drafting a User's Guide to document what I've learned and done, but that is not sufficient.
  
  Recommendations:
  (1) Establish webmaster role with a job description and reporting responsibility to a single Executive Committee member who can make decisions, as needed. Is there written guidance for people who chair committees or sponsor events? It should stress the importance of using the website to promote their missions.
  (2) All web-related accounts should be registered through the webmaster role and paid for with a synagogue credit card.
  (3) Identify a volunteer whom I can train to learn to be capable of maintaining the website.
• Additional changes to our WrdPress configuration: There are some changes that should be made to the WordPress Theme and Page Templates (these define how our site looks) that are beyond my current skill level and resources to implement. In the interim, I have used some quick-and-dirty workarounds — what's called technical debt, but these detract from the maintainability of the site. I sent an email to Hirsch Fishman describing what is needed, but he has not replied. I will call him on 9/4 when I return home. I am hoping he will do this for free, but that remains to be seen.

Social Media & Photography

• Please correct me if I'm wrong, but we do not have a Social Media strategy or plan nor anyone who is responsible for this.
• We have a Facebook page where Miriam has been uploading pictures that she takes at Religious School events, but these are not curated.
• We do not seem to have an Insta account, which I believe is a better platform for reaching our targeted (younger) audience than Facebook (which their parents are more likely to use).
• We do not have a systematic way to take and collect photographs of our events. This became crystal clear as we looked for current photos of MJCBY people "doing Jewish."
• The slide carousel on the homepage needs to be refreshed as do the hero images on the internal pages.
  
  Recommendations:
  (1) Establish a volunteer position to create and implement a social media and photography plan.
  (2) It should be top of mind for all committe chairs that planning, composing, and taking photographs at their events is important as we want to be able to tell our story effectively.