A Website to be Envied

The better part of my first month was dedicated to updating the website.  http://www.lutherlyn.com/ has become very familiar to me during this time.  Last year there was a transition between webhosts and little has been done since the transition due to the complexity of schedules.  So, taking over advertising responsibilities, it was appropriate to take the reigns of our web presence. 

Two elements that I knew had to be addressed were consistent updates and completeness.  I have been making huge efforts to make the site as complete, comprehensive, and easy to navigate as possible.  To date, we are still not there, but getting there.  I believe we have made huge strides in making the site a very informative site full of pictures and useful links. 

One of the biggest issues I wanted to tackle was the lack of traffic to the site. I was sure that just having a complete store of information was enough to drive the numbers up.  Still, there needed to be a consistent attention getter that kept people coming back.  For this I  have employed the network of Facebook to enhance website traffic.  I attempt to make a daily status update highlighting a new addition to the site or maybe an unknown area that could use some more attention.  Many times I have changed the homepage to highlight an area in a spotlight. 

I am happy to report that the traffic for the month of January had tripled when compared to December! 

A challenge that was given to me was to somehow make our web presence one that helps people to experience camp throughout the year and tie in each summer.  I have yet to develop an intentional strategic plan for this, but I have at least discovered a starting block.  My goal is to get camp to to be on the daily consciousness of people. 

The way I found was a creative, yet fun tool to accomplishment is the initiation of the "Lutherlyn Past Photo of the Day."  In my new office I discovered a variety of historical photos, postcards, yearbooks, preserved newspaper articles from the very founding of camp until the present day.  It was so much fun going through all these photos for the first time and seeing the campers and staff members, what had changed, and what has remained the same.  This was something that should not be left in boxes, but shared. 

So, each day I post a new photo to Facebook from the archives of Lutherlyn.  Each day will be a different decade spanning from the 1940s to the 2000s.  There have been many positive responses, "likes," and comments that I will continue this indefinitely.  Here are some of the recent ones I have posted since starting: 

It serves a a little bit of a daily devotional.  Plans will hopefully be for this to become more of an interactive piece and an asking of friends to share their stories and their photos as well.  It is an exciting addition to our web presence.