Improve your club website and social media in minutes

As you might expect, I spend a large part of my year looking at club cricket websites and social media channels.

It helps with research, statistics, interview ideas, club visits and forms the basis for the articles we write here about Cricket Yorkshire.

I thought I'd come up with a few top tips for each cricket club to quickly check their website and social media.

You're all busy, you have to juggle a lot of jobs, you already give your time generously to basic cricket and sometimes things get missed.

Or you haven't gotten around to it yet.

So no task here takes longer than a few minutes. It's all about quick wins.

Let's dive right in.

1. Update Play-Cricket header

Quick question: Who is the most famous person in recreational cricket?
Answer: The man bowling in the stock photo on many Play-Cricket websites.

Over the past year I've seen him everywhere. I believe there is an ECB library for clubs to choose from.
I understand why clubs do that, but they are missing a trick.

Your homepage header image is the first impression; it's what you see before you scroll.

It has to be a photo of your club, because why wouldn't you?! This could be a nice shot of the grounds, a match in progress, sponsorship, a group photo or whatever you want.

If you don't have a photo to hand, take one and upload it to Play-Cricket.

How to edit your homepage on Play-Cricket.

Canva is a great, free tool that helps you create a compelling image.

Quality is key here, no blurry photos on your phone.

2. Update your contacts page

You might be surprised how often I contact a club, and it's harder than it should be.

Clubs have lost coverage on Cricket Yorkshire because I think I'll do it later and eventually go a different route.

Whether it concerns Play-Cricket, Pitchero or a customized club cricket website: can your volunteers be easily contacted?

It's so important to show who the key contacts are and how to get in touch via email and phone. If you can, use photos as they stand out and are friendlier.

(Personally, I hate generic contact forms. Email feels more personal and I get more responses.)

I suspect that contact forms more easily end up in a club volunteer's spam folder.

Here is my About/Contact page. Not perfect, but easy to email me (feel free if you have any ideas about this article!)

So check your contact page on your club website.

Have people left? Are emails still current? If you're comfortable showing phone numbers (some aren't, and I understand), please do so.

Your next media spotlight, superstar player, volunteer or coach might want to contact you.

3. Update your website on social media

Social media bios are a one-off, but that's not the case. You fill it out when you create a Twitter, Facebook or Instagram account, but it's worth checking in.

Maybe your club has a new domain name. Or you do everything now on Play-Cricket. Or designed a fancy new website.

I see quite a few broken links on the club's social media accounts, so check that you haven't mistyped a web address. Easy to do, I always do it.

There's always a chance to leave a website address as part of a social media bio – so check out yours or add one if you haven't already.

You can even get three bites of the cherry by having two web addresses in the bio and another as a pinned post that readers always see first.

If you 'pin' posts at the top of your feed or on a club website, remember to unpin them once they're out of date.

There you go. A piece of digital housekeeping.

It will not be long. Although it costs a little more if you use Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn, but it's worth it!

A shoutout to all those wonderful volunteers who write match reports, update Play-Cricket, maintain websites and manage social media accounts for clubs.