If your small community organisation wants to set up a new free website with supported training and advice, you can now apply for a free place on Superhighways Build my community website in 7 weeks training programme.
Training will bring together a small group of people from 8 to 10 micro charities and community organisations to build their own website, using the free community website builder Voice Online Communities.
The training will run weekly online, 10am to 12pm weekly, starting Wednesday 25 October 2023.
What is Voice Online Communities?
Voice Online Communities CIC is a community website publishing platform. You can simply apply for a website and use the documentation to build it by yourself if you want to, without attending any training.
The social enterprise is currently funded by National Lottery Community Fund to further develop the platform.
Additional running costs are covered by building more complex websites for those organisations with a budget. This means it is free of charge for small charities and community organisations.
Benefits of using Voice to build your website:
There are no ongoing costs
- You do not have to pay for 'hosting'.
- You can upload as many photos as you like
- There are lots of useful functions that you can add yourself e.g. calendar, noticeboard
- you do not have to worry about how many photos you upload, or whether you want to include a video on your webpages.
You will need to spend some time completing and updating your website once the course is finished.
How will the training be run?
Weekly training sessions lasting approximately 2 hours will take place on the same day at the same time each week. You will meet the same people building their own website each time you attend.
There will be an optional 8th training session that you can attend to learn Canva for designing icons or a logo and finding free photos for your website.
You can also have one-to-one additional advice and training if this helps you.
You will learn about:
- Planning your website
- How people and search engines use websites
- Thinking about your site visitor's journey across your webpages
- How to create and edit pages on your site
- Applications you might find useful e.g. calendar
- Best practice tips for writing and creating content
- An action plan for managing your website after the course has finished
What will I need to bring or have?
You will need:
- basic computer skills
- basic internet skills
- use of a laptop or computer to take part in tasks.
You do not need to be a technical expert to attend. This is a beginners’ course and we will guide you carefully through the process of planning and building your website.
When will training take place?
Training starts on 25 October 2023 on Wednesdays. Training is usually 10am to 12pm. It will take place on Zoom.
I can't attend. Will there be other training?
Yes, there is an intensive 2-day course on 2-3 November 2023.
We are likely to run more training at a later date, so please apply even if you cannot attend in October.
How to apply
Apply today for your place or contact Sorrel Parsons at Superhighways for more information.
Funded by
This programme of support is funded by National Lottery Community Fund as part of our Digital Foundations partnership with Refugee Council, HEAR Equality and Human Rights Network and Voice Online Communities.