TEST

[Bruce DeAngelis]

Hi guys,
I read all your posts and agree with a lot of them.
I’ve always said that our website is the information and face book is the chatter. Now, in present day social media, our FB page has become the easy go to source for instant information. As Lee said we have over 7,000 people viewing it. That is a number I can’t ignore, and a number I want to take advantage of.
I think your right about getting more people to check out the website, and this is an area we should work on promoting. How do we do this?
Whenever I’ve written ‘A Note from the President’ I’ve posted it on both the site and FB. I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and stear or force people to choose one or the other. I like going in the direction of putting the information and the links out there and letting them explore. If we talk up the website (with the link), on FB, the people who are truly interested will look at it, and be potential members.
When I came in as President, I felt the sense of new people not wanting the commitment of a structured club with dues and scheduled meetings. They wanted more of the informal gatherings. This is what I played off of, with the intent they would join after they discovered what we were really like. I like the idea of promoting the site with all the information available, but still keeping our second or main source of contact.
On our FB page, Tim Taylor, T Odd, and Darr monitor it and accept who can join, and what is posted. We’ve been keeping it a clear and pure T bucket only related page. This is a good policy to stay with.
The more detailed information we put out there about our FB page and website, people should understand it, and know which pages to go to and decide their preferences accordingly. Our job is to promote both so we get the traffic on both.
I feel we’re going to get a boost in membership next year after COVID is over. Their ready to cruise! I would like to be lined up to take advantage of this. Hyping up the events for next year, checking out the website, promoting smaller events in your areas, generally promoting the NTBA club and family is something we all can do. As a side note, I think NATS is going to be bigger that it would have been this year!
The NTBA is a big nationwide club! It’s got the feel and image of something big and has the very real potential to explode through our social media. We just have to be smart enough to grab onto it. Let’s put on our thinking caps together and see what we come up with!
Bruce DeAngelis
NTBA President

[Grant Tolbert]

As a 22 year IT Professional, here's my opinion worth about .02.

This site needs an update, its old. Its using old technology. It doesn't follow any best practices for website design. It lacks a mobile version, which is where Facebook(FB) and other social platforms strive. The younger generation doesn't know anything about forums. Nearly everybody that doesn't like FB is over 50 years old.

I also think the NTBA FB group should have been for members only, or have one for everybody and one for members only. Ever wonder why there's so many T-bucket FB groups? People are looking information, and it's easy to find by posting on FB via their cellphone or tablet. I think I'm following 3 or 4 right now.

If you want to grow the NTBA and reach the next generation, you need to have a presence on FB, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube. etc.
And this website needs to be less dormant and more Agile in it's updates.

Compare this website to these.

https://www.kindigit.com
https://martinbroscustoms.com/
https://nsra-usa.com/
https://www.good-guys.com/
https://www.mtfca.com/

It's time for an update.

[rbsWELDER]

I stated that we should have a presence on fb, but just a link to this website! Second we need to make sure that people know that joining our fb page is not joining the NTBA!

I like Grant's comments about our site being old technology and not cellphone friendly. And we have had an on-going conversation about loading pictures. We need improvements. I think that cleaning up our own house is first. Then, I will, again, suggest just having a fb link to this site and maybe the 'member of the day's T-Bucket'. So we have the fb presence AND we drive people here to see the content!

I am off my soapbox!

[Jim Diehl]

Grant. I think you are on to something. I can turn on a computer, work Quick Books, Word, Power Point and Excel. But that is it.

I would love to help, but not educated in computers.

[Indycars]

I agree that a better, more up-to-date website is needed. I have plenty of technical content to post, but it doesn't make sense when the photos/graphics come out in a random order and it's text is somewhere else. Very confusing for the reader and frustrating for the person posting, I gave up trying !

I would recommend Xenforo software and have some experience with it's Admin Control Panel. Let me know if I can help!!!

[rbsWELDER]

Thought!

Bruce - When there is an important announcement, post it here. On fb, post a message that says "Important Announcement on the NTBA website, regarding..." and a link to the announcement. No one is "forced" here, but the curious and interested will follow the link.

Just my two cents.

[Jim Diehl]

Mark,

I like your idea. Hope somebody will do that.

[rbsWELDER]

Thanks Jim! Seems simple enough!

[Rolla Hessel]

Guys trust me when I say this topic is discussed more than anyone will ever believe. Regardless of how we go, we will never get it right, in some folks opinion and that’s just the way it is. We all agree we need to update the page again, no doubt. Regarding it not being cell phone friendly, totally not true. That is how I keep up with it 90% of the time. Technology is there, knowledge may not be in some cases. I agree with many of the comments on here as well and as Bruce stated, we are committed to keeping the Website alive, we just need to improve the efficiency and ease, then better engage our members!! With over 7700 members on our FB page, I don’t think anyone will deny it is a viable means of communication and Kudos to Tim, T-Odd and Bill for the work they do on our behalf!!

Let’s work to improve and move forward, not go backwards!! Stay safe !!