Re: Coho websites
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Tue, 30 May 2017 19:54:46 -0700 (PDT)
> On May 30, 2017, at 9:05 PM, John Goldberg <johngoldberg [at] hotmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> I would appreciate your thoughts about best practices in coho community web 
> sites including topics to include or exclude  

1. Your location, or hoped for location.

2. Your location including the country. I’m serious. One site had no 
information about a state/province or country. My only clue that it was not in 
the Americas was that I didn’t recognize the mountains in the background. Town 
names are common to all states and counties. “Venice" and “Centerville" could 
be anywhere (maybe not China but you never know). “On Route 34 near the city 
park” will only attract people who live close enough to know that very 
intersection.

3. Your address plus the country plus an easy obvious way to make contact. Put 
it on the front page, not the last. Put it on every page. Even if no one pays 
attention the first time they see it, they will know where to find it when they 
are ready to contact you. Don’t make them dig around to find it again. Don’t 
hide from the people you want to find you if you want them to find you. 

4. Inviting contact info. If you want people to fill out a form to contact you, 
think twice. It’s a double message to tell people that cohousing is different 
and then have people fill out the same form they fill out everywhere else. Or 
to give the impression that unless they fill out the form they won’t get any 
information. Not a good message. And don’t ask them to tell you why they want 
to live in cohousing. Too much like a job interview or a screening device to 
you can pick and choose. The worst message.

5. If you want contact through the website and not directly to an email address 
or a phone number, be sure someone is receiving these messages and responding 
to them ASAP. Daily if not several times day. There won’t be so a large number 
that this will be a huge problem but a quick response gives the impression or 
even confirms that you are efficient, and alive and kicking.

6. Put a person’s name on contacts. Something about the person is also 
inviting. "Carl can answer all your questions and give you the schedule of 
upcoming events and meetings. He is one of our first members and would also 
like to talk about miniature trains if you have time.” Or “has beer making 
equipment in his basement.” Give them something to like. 

7. Pictures and bios — hard to collect but very helpful to people who are 
looking to see if these are people “like me” or "like people I know.” That none 
of you has green hair with purple stripes and you wear clothes. If there are 
obvious gaps in your current membership add a message — "we want to attract 
households with children and plan to build a playground and indoor play space." 
Or "we would love to have more singles join us — it’s just by chance that we 
are all partnered."

8. Target prices along with information about affordable units, etc. Be real 
about money. Better to know upfront that people can’t afford to buy a unit you 
are building. That doesn’t mean you can’t help someone make it work but it’s 
very painful to have someone work for months and form attachments and have to 
withdraw just because of money. And for you to add expensive features that 
price you out of the market.

9. Pictures of events, including business meetings. Prairie Spruce Commons in 
Regina had pictures on their website of a broom dance done while they were 
cleaning a boulevard near the property. And members also kept a blog of their 
activities. Not just about meetings, etc. They were fun and real.  Don’t be 
afraid of putting people off. Be who you are. Have fun. Start being alive 
together.

10. The obvious is information about cohousing and links to the CohoUS site and 
perhaps to other cohousing communities. If you are doing lot development, to 
lot development models, etc. But don’t get too ideological or preachy. You need 
one purpose — to build a cohousing community. It can have alternative and 
special features but don’t focus on telling people that they are currently 
living in a home that is destroying the earth and they owe it to the world to 
join your community.

11. Information. Splash pages with evocative pictures and fancy animations are 
a distraction. Designers want flash so other designers will be awed. People 
want clear information attractively presented. The new flat design with pages 
of wonderful photographs and navigation like a scavenger hunt is only good for 
sites with no content. People leave because it takes so much time to find 
information. And you want to attract people who want to get things done, not 
bliss out.

12. Be careful to clearly identify any pictures of buildings that are not 
directly from your own project or plans. Don’t put a picture of a another 
completed community on the front page. It gives the immediate impression that 
you are built when you don’t even have land. It will feel like a bait and 
switch. Put any examples of the styles you are interested in off the front page 
and clearly identified as inspiration only.

13. Your location

____

And again I am interested in doing websites for new communities. I do 
uncomplicated Wordpress sites for $500. That includes domain name registration 
and hosting for one year. I stopped doing more websites when I was maintaining 
12. I found that to be my upper limit but some non-profit organizations closed 
down and some author found their books weren’t selling anyway.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org





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