How to improve no of members and utilization of SAPTA website?

We can increase utilisation of the site if it is a source for information eg. calendars of events, timetables, announcement, communications, news, etc., anything which the parent need to know. Even letters/forms for parents for upcoming events.
Direct all parents to use it as a resource library.
Thanks and keep up the good work,
Judy Wee

Hi everyone

I am back again. I agree that the hit list in this web page is not ideal at the moment. My personal opinion is such

1. This site is about posting issues dealing with teachers, parents, school and maybe about students. It is an open site and blog that most of members are afraid to be candid about things. For one, when I wrote about the obese kids, I had to phrase my words carefully to avoid any deframatory remarks.

2. Most of the members are either active in school activities which they can be easily recognised or inactive members who fear their remarks spark reactions that may be channel to their kids in school instead of them.

I having to be active in the school's CCA and also ex-SAC member of another school, noted that teachers are very cordial to parents and likewise parents to teachers when they meet each other. However, each other has their own opinion of how to manage them and refuse to make known to the other party for fear of creating an unwarranted scene. I hope the SAPTA committee is able to do more to promote the site of its genuine purpose to improve the school's environment and directions. Only with open mind then all can achieve its goals.

I sincerely encourage more members to be active in this site.

Cheers

Hi Paul

Thanks for raising this up. I'm sure participation will grow over time.

As with all websites and especially online communities, there are three main aspects relating to visits and participation:

1. First visit - Awareness of the site's existence.
People will visit a site when they know its there and its relevant to them. They will visit out of curiousity and perhaps to search for information on a related and specific item.

2. Duration of stay on the site/Number of pages visited
Once on site, you can gauge how successful a site is by how long a user stays on and how many pages in terms of width and depth of the site he/she visits. We can collect statistics to track these on-site activities :)
The key reason determining how long people stay on-site is the content - how interesting and relevant is it to the visitor. The more relevant, the longer he will browse through the page or go more in-depth. To this end, we must keep the site updated with news of SAPTA events, school achievements, etc. The forum plays a big part in allowing participation by visitors to voice their personal opinions or ask questions.
Another site feature which will be popular is an online photo gallery. Members will be able to post photos of events like today's Food Fair, or hockey and rugby games. This online gallery will be available soon.

3. Return visits
Whether a visitor returns to the site, or how often he checks in, depends on the site's relevance and the availability of new information and content to retain their interest.
This is why we will need to continually update the site with news and updates.
Again, the forum is usually a main driver as new posts and threads create new content. When someone posts some new content or replies to someone else's post, he or she will check in often to see if anyone replies. To this end, I hope that ex-co members will be proactive in responding to queries, and also sharing points of view, or at least responding to members' posts to encourage even more posts.

Right now, the creation of content is being done by myself but I would like everyone to do this as well.

To this end, I have modified the site settings to allow all members to be able create news items that will show up on the homepage. So for example, Paul, you can post a news story on how well the hockey team did, by writing a short article.

Other members will be able to comment on the story and add their own slant to it too, if they wish. This kind of site interactivity can really help to draw members' participation and created site "stickiness".

Of course, we will have site administrators who will also moderate the content to ensure that all news and posts are not libelous or scandalous or inflammatory.

So Paul, please go ahead and write that story on the hockey victory if you have a few minutes, to start the ball rolling on this.

The last thing is that we should continually let all parents know about the site to create more awareness. We should use it in all our correspondences sent out in email or in printed newsletters. The URL should be in the email signature.

These steps will greatly increase memberships and participation and return visits, in my experience :)