New Website Update
New Website – project background and update:
In early 2022 member Tom Hudock spearheaded a member survey in an effort to gain a better understanding member’s perceptions about the VMC, our ‘brand’ so to speak. What are the good points, the strengths and what were our weaknesses? One of the recurring comments was the website was old looking and difficult to navigate. There were also a range of negative comments received about the club being old & stodgy, cliquey with some even noting a friction or divide between riders based on different bike types. Others said that they appreciated VMC for its history, Cycle Part for its unique beauty and the opportunity to ride off-road so close to home.
Following a lengthy review of the original survey results, member Bobbi Bjornholt scheduled Member Forums to explore ‘User Wants and Needs’ of a new website. From this it became clear of a desire for a modern looking, updated website with enhanced member functionality. One of the most repeated asks was to allow membership renewal on-line and pay annual dues directly using a credit card right on the website. Another common ‘want’ was to pre-enter and pay entry fees and submit waivers on-line. All of this is in keeping with current practices and wasn’t a huge surprise. We also learned more about security risks and urgent steps need to simply secure ownership of the VMC domain to avoid it being hijacked (which I learned is a real thing).
We carried on exploring options and costs and eventually agreed on contracting with a Vancouver based website studio to design and build an all-new website that would include a host of new attributes and added member services. At the same time, we also did not want to lose any of the club’s history when migrating to the new site. The further we looked at this, the more complex the design became.
Priority One (Phase 1) was to offer our member’s ability to login to their own account and renew their memberships each year. It was decided that Phase One would be followed by the ability to sign up and pay entry fees online. An annual ‘waiver’ was to be included when renewing which would be satisfactory for the entire season.
Finally, after months of delays and mis-steps, it became clear that the design studio we had selected failed to comprehend the VMC’s actual needs. Later it became clear that they had neither the experience or expertise required to build the complex platform we contracted them to do. They we over 6 months late completing Phase1 of the project and it was incomplete and not fully functioning.
When the site was launched on November 1st clearly there were a number of hiccups straight from the gate, with ongoing bugs and glitches encountered. We were forced to terminate that design & build contract and started dialogue with three other potential new web designers to fix the bugs and move this project forward to a positive conclusion. Fortunately, we were referred to Dillon, son of a VMC member. Dillon lives away from VI and works in this world every day. After his in-depth review of our site and drilling into the list of issues we identified we executed a new contract with CTS to repair the issues identified and prep a move forward to improve the overall user experience when logged in to the website. His effort is currently underway with the first update expected to be launched on or about February 1st.
The VMC’s website as it sits today (01/10/2025) is working well for the most part. As of this writing over 200 members have logged in to their account and updated their personal profile with about 150 successfully paying the annual dues directly on the site. To this end, the previous dues payment options remain available. For those that don’t like navigating websites, e-transfer remains the next easiest and safest option.
Detailed member feedback is welcomed as we progress down the path of debugging and generally improving the site. To fix glitches the Tech Man needs have detailed information of what exactly happened, when and where. Then we can replicate the problem necessary in trouble shooting. Anyone member in need of assistance navigating the site can should committee member Peter Grant text 9053209480.
One thing we Peters2 have learned is a new website build is never ‘done’. There are continued upgrades to be reviewed and added paired with regular maintenance. The world of websites is indeed mired in code words and phrases which are mostly an unknown language for regular mortals.