No More Clubspaces. Now What?

We understand that many of your Region websites are on the Clubspaces platform, and now that is going away. What to do? We have suggestions of alternate FREE website options for our Regions to switch to. We’ve had some questions come up already, so I wanted to address some of them here in the blog (since they’re common and I’m sure others of you are having the same issues).

Setting Up a New Website
There are a few site platforms that have been suggested.

eTeamz is one option and possibly the easiest. It is free (with a coupon code – email sheam@ayso.org for the coupon) and they will migrate the site for you directly from Clubspaces, so there is little work involved on your end.

Blue Sombrero is another that has been suggested. It is also free and has some of the scheduling modules that were available on Clubspaces. With this site, you will have to migrate your own content. This can be as simple as copy and paste from the old site to the new site. Region 68 in Camarillo, Calif., has been working with Blue Sombrero to migrate their website and they are impressed with their services.

Active Youth Network is another youth sports site provider. This one offers advertising support but is another one where you will have to migrate your content. This provider is free as well.

Google Sites has been recommended as a site provider also. This platform is free and can be set up with a Google account. Sites can be set to private or public, depending on which settings you choose. For a simple layout, this can be an easy choice to move to. You will have to migrate your content to this platform, but again, it’s as easy as copy and paste.



Links
When migrating to a new system, please remember to update your links, as those will be completely different (unless you use a domain name). If you use a domain name, you can try to create your new site in the same structure as your old site. That way, your links will maintain and you won’t have to go through and change them all.

Domains
Transferring your domain name is fairly simple. First, create your new site. Transfer all of your existing content to the new site and make sure everything looks the way you want it to. When you’re satisfied with your new site, go into your domain management and change the DNS servers and the CNAME attributes on your domain. This will point your domain to the new site location. Sometimes this can take a little while to propagate, so don’t worry if it doesn’t happen instantly. If you need help moving your domain (or you don’t know which DNS or CNAME to use), contact the new service you are using or browse their help database. They will be able to get that information to you.

Search Engines
If you don’t have a custom domain, it will take a few days for your new website to show up in the search engines. It’s advised that you put a re-direct or a note on your old site alerting people that your site has moved and is in a new location. Provide a link to your new website. If you need a re-direct code, I can provide you one. If you have a custom domain, the search engines should not be affected, as your domain is already listed as the point of entry for the website.

If anyone has any more information on any of the suggested providers, please feel free to comment below. Any feedback at this time will be useful to other Regions trying to migrate their websites.

As the Manager of Digital Media and Graphic Design, I’m going to go through and learn each of these platforms and give you my personal feedback in future blog entries. I hope these will help you choose a platform to migrate to. Some of these platforms will include Google Sites, WordPress, Weebly, Blue Sombrero and Active Youth Network.