Before you jump into building your new website, take some time to get organized.

In broad terms this means:

• Establish your goals
• Assign tasks to other leaders
• Pull together the needed information

At your next troop committee meeting, discuss how you plan to use your website.

• What should your Home Page say about your troop to the general public?
• Will you post photos and/or videos of troop events on your website?
• Can you export data from an existing system to populate your TroopWebHost site?
• Will you allow scouts to request sign off on requirements through the website and mobile app?
• Will you allow adults to request expense reimbursements through the website?
• Do you want to accept credit card payments through the website and, if so, who will pay the credit card fees?
• If you have both a girls troop and a boys troop, will they share one site or have separate sites?
• How soon do you want to have the site ready for your scouts and parents to use?

Once you agree on your goals, it's time to assign responsibilities. Who is going to...

. . . Edit the Home Page and About Our Troop page?

. . . Enter upcoming events into the troop calendar?

. . . Upload photos and videos from recent events?

. . . Load the troop roster and keep it up to date?

. . . Record requirements earned toward merit badges and rank advancement?

. . . Maintain troop accounts and enter monetary transactions?

. . . Manage fundraisers and sales of troop merchandise to members?

. . . Track troop inventory and library materials?

. . . Set up users and assign permissions?

Now you're ready to prepare a checklist of tasks to bring your website up to speed.