BIBC Ltd Website(s)

Those of you who visit our bowling club’s website, 77 of you last week, may have noticed some minor updates (enhancements and corrections) – these are documented in a new ‘Enhancement and Additions page’.

The main reason for this email is to let everyone know that www.bromleyibc.com is back, and it won’t automatically forward you to www.bromleyibc.org.uk – you’ll have to click the .org.uk link if you visit our old .com website which should still work until 16th December – a mystic Rob prediction (I need it to harvest some historical info).

Every page of the current website invites visitors to “Sign up for our Email Alerts”. here are the stats after 30 months: As @ 18th November 21 - Jobs 12, Offers 39, Events 64, News 76. Nobody has access to the email addresses because they are secured – this means BIBC Ltd cannot use website news articles for member comms, just adhoc news which people have signed-up for.

Another stat you may be interested in is regarding our website’s overseas visitors …. since 19th July people have browsed from the USA, China, Brazil, Malaysia, Jersey, South Korea, Australia, Canada, India, Guernsey, France, Poland, Hungary, New Zealand, Spain and the Netherland (aka Holland)!

Last week we had nearly 700 page views. The most popular pages tend to be Home (20%), Rinks (20%) and Leagues (10%). I predict the weekly page viewing figure to rise to over 5,000 by the end of January – we’ll see.

I’m working on a BIBC website booster at the moment – my 3rd shot at this! Initially I’ve been restoring the structure and ‘feel’ of the website which I created in May 2019. I’ve also added more info re competitions, BIBC with Sue’s help and the Nationals so I have all the info to hand when I’m Umpiring – also some Kent info. The Umpires paged has morphed into the ‘Match Officials’ page with invaluable input of Alex Duckworth and Brian Flagg. I’ve also added a ‘Disability Bowls’ page following some eaves dropping and a subsequent conversation with Paul Gallagher – we are the first club to even begin to highlight the facilities and opportunities that we offer as far as I know (and I’ve browsed a lot of bowling club websites).

Newsletter pages were hidden because they contained personal details. The Gallery page because of pictures of Juniors, the other pictures are now on the Home Page.

I’ve also added a Website Feedback form because perfection is my aim – we’re not even bordering on excellence yet. They say there’s no such thing as a stupid question, but I won’t LOL if I get one!

I gave the amazing Daphne Richards a tour of our website earlier this week. She asked some tough questions, and our plan is to send out a newsletter special about our website and its potential before Christmas – I hope to include more about Disability Bowling too.

Other areas that I’m inestigating at the request of our Board include:

• Secure areas
• Members booking rinks direct
• Membership pages
• BIBCOS
• FAQs
• Profiles of all club officials – the Board and BIBC bowling
• Details of away clubs
• Social – Quizzes and Fun pages (lots of clubs have these)

I’ve been asked about adding Team Sheets again, but for practical and security reasons WhatsApp groups seem a much better solution than secure web pages – I’ve overheard players raving about them in the (men’s) changing room.

Google Reviews is a way of leaving a great review about our club. We have 4.2 stars (out of 5) based on 38 reviews – one of those was purely about the price of a pint!

Keep calm and carry on enjoying your bowling - at whatever the level(s) you choose!