Plugging Into a Community That Clicks

For those who prefer to do things in-house, Boulter said, "Now there are automated ways to design Web pages if you don't know hand coding." Programs such as Dreamweaver or RapidWeaver walk you through the process.

At Hallcrest Heights in McLean, Clark Tyler, the civic association president, hired a high school student to design the initial Web site. Tyler and other volunteers maintain the site within the community. Boulter is retired but has a background in Web design and has handled Virginia Hills' site since 1999.

Retaining the option to update the site in-house is important so information can be kept timely.

Once a site is designed, it needs somewhere to live. To put it in housing terms, Heller said, a professional Web designer is like the home decorator. "I'm like the landlord," he said of his Web-hosting business.

Web hosting can cost as little as $10 a month. Chamberlain said Hillcrest uses Earthlink for about $250 a year.

Plan ahead and consider what happens if your trusted Web designer/host/volunteer moves, travels extensively or becomes too busy to follow through. Heller suggested that you always have several folks involved in the process, so that all that information isn't residing in just one brain. Tyler advised that you get all instructions written down so when the original person moves on, others can take over.

Keeping It Current

Nothing says "this community doesn't care" like an outdated site where the last meeting notice is from 2004.

Don't put more on your site that you are willing to update. That requires checking all sections on a regular basis. For example, are your links to public officials accurate? Several community sites in Virginia still list George Allen as a U.S. senator, even though he lost his 2006 reelection bid.

"If you are going to commit to a community Web site, you have to keep it up-to-date," Chamberlain said. She spends about two hours a week on the Hillcrest site. "You don't have to make this complicated. There are other people in the community who do the documents, minutes and newsletters. I just put the information up on the site."

What About the Newsletter?

Not necessarily. Many associations see the online posting of their news as a big cost saver, especially if newsletter postage is a factor. However, Boulter said that hand-delivering his community's newsletter, the Echo, to its 840 homes is a break-even proposition.

"As long as we have delivery people," he said, "we will continue with the hard-copy version." It takes 20 volunteers about an hour each to cover Virginia Hills' 17 routes.

Many residents like to have their newsletters in hand and to save them for reference. And many older residents don't use computers.