Websites, Pet Peeves

Date: Fri Feb 29 8:42 AM, 2008

Websites, Pet Peeves

Date: Fri Feb 29 12:36 PM, 2008

Id have to agree with you about outdated websites. Websites with old pictures, old news. as a customer it bothers me not to find good information. like recent accomplishments or fun things going on in the gym. misleading information.they have too much info but really nothing - you get what im saying
i love Power website it has all the information up front with cost etc but still leaving information for members only. i love cheergyms because it is always fresh and updated very classy and profressional. there are several others i like but those 2 stand out to me the most. i like airborne as well and cheer athletics in texas. love to see photos of the facility an pictures of staff members. snapshots of kids sell your gym and once agin updated information.
otherwise dont have a website

Danny · Senior Member

The worst is the sites that are "free" with random advertisment & pop ups. Also the sites that list 2 novels worth of info on the home page making it scrollable for 10 yards. Oh and my ALL TIME web site pet peeve...the use of "comic sans" font. We're a sport my friends....not a day care. Here's the best example i could find. http://eteamz.active.com/ecv/

The best is any site that can make you return on a daily basis. My favorite cheer gym related site (outside of cheergyms.com of course) is Pro Spirit. NOTE: To the naked eye this may look like a JAM Spirit Site. It's not. Way better quality and much less cookie cutter. http://www.pro-spirit.com/

flipkidjudge · Senior Member

1.) Websites with annoying pop ups all over the place. If I did not click thefirst time, i am not going to click the fiftieth time. If you must have a pop up, be creative with it so it does not distract from the site.
2.) Out of date Websites. At least every 10-30 days there should be some type of new information on the website. otherwise it looks like nobody cares.
3.) Unprofessional looking websites - hire someone and keep someone on it to make it current.This does not mean a parent volunteer unless that is their profession and will be dedicated to it and your program.
4.) Missing, or incomplete contact information. I mean what is really the point?
5.) Complicated URL addresses - keep it simple, even if you have to be creative.
6.) Rip Off Websites - ok we all have our favorites. But why make yours look just like your favorites? I know there are services that bundle sell sites so there will be some commonality (JAM Spirit Sites), but I have on boring days surfed the web looking for well designed cheer websites and seen more duplicates that I care to ever see again.
7.) Unmonitored blogs/guest books. This is a great way for gyms to encourage one another but also a bad way for spammers to attack your site, or for gyms that you have issues with to plant crazy stuff. (Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and sold it for a profit.) Keep it clean, light and encouraging. "Locker room talk" belongs in the locker room and not on the web. Remember that others (including gyms who don't like your gym) may be reading your site as well and what you say tongue in cheek can very easily be interpreted as a slam by somebody else.
8.) Honesty in the posting of placements, whether in first or last. It frosts me totally to see any gym only post when they won first place/National Champion/Grand Champion or came in second in a super, duper, gigantic really awesome National...but any other place is ignored or not posted. Or to only post their Level 4 scores while every other level is ignored. What are you saying that winning is the only thing that counts? Second to that is making excuses for why you lost. Every team has injuries, every team has somebody sick, most teams have to deal with replacing someone at the last minute because they quit. burned out, did not pay their bill, etc. It looks like sour grapes and makes you look like a sore loser if when you don't win you blame everybody but yourself and tells whomever won they did not deserve to win.