[The following comments were placed on the "Vendors" page when it was originally created.]


This page is likely to soon be the home of links and ads for club-approved vendors.

We are not too keen on having advertising throughout the web site, but we do want to support our hard-working orienteering vendors, so we are working on a policy for helping (via publicity on our web site) orienteering vendors or those that put on orienteering events commercially. Some people have mentioned that having orienteering-specific information on the web site (such as where to buy orienteering gear) is a good service to provide to our members.

Here are some thoughts about how we can modify the web site to support our vendors. None of this will cost them anything, as we're not planning to charge for this service:

  1. Add a prominent link to the navigation bar (the one on the left that appears on all web pages, including the home page), in the "What is Orienteering?" section, under "Training", that is called "Vendors" that goes to a special page (#2 below) for vendors and sponsors (the link is already there on the left now).
  2. Create a special page for vendors and sponsors (this would be the page) where, among others, there can be colorful ad for them, that links to their web site and/or to another page on the BAOC web site (#3 below).
  3. Within the BAOC web site itself, let them place one or more pages of their own content (the BAOC web site is a Wiki now, so they will be able to edit the pages themselves), which will allow them to put up any information of interest to club members, or further promotional information. If the pages contain information that is relevant to other parts of the web site, cross-linking from the other sections to the new vendor-specific content is fine.
  4. Add a notice on the home page for a time (probably several weeks) that publicizes the new vendor link and page, to help people understand the new feature (as it will be of service to club members that they are now able to easily find the information on the BAOC web site).
  5. Add vendor-sponsored or a vendor's commercial events to the schedule, with either a link to their web site for information, or links to new pages they create within the BAOC web site (as in #3 above), the vendor events would be clearly differentiated in the schedule somehow from the club's own events, and this feature wouldn't be turned on until we have a way for vendors to enter the events themselves on the web site, so that the effort required would not impact our web site volunteers (who already spend a lot of time just keeping the web site up-to-date with the club's own events).