The OEC will be developed on 210 acres in the heart of Orange County. The property was dedicated and conveyed to the Orange County Council by The Irvine Company with the understanding that the council will design, develop, operate, and maintain the camp at no cost to the county or taxpayers, and that the camp will be available to all Orange County youth groups.
There are many reasons for developing this property. In Orange County, there is only one small public campground, and few small private facilities available: The 62,000 youth enrolled in Orange County's Scouting program need a location to camp and to experience outdoor education at its finest.
Although it will not be a traditional Boy Scout camp, the OEC will greatly expand BSA's presence, making us synonymous with leadership in outdoor programming. It is our goal and duty to deliver quality programming to meet the local needs left by governmental budget cuts. The Outdoor Education Camp will allow easy, inexpensive access to youth of all communities and economic backgrounds.
To develop this piece, the chairman of the board, chairman of the campaign, Scout executive, former Scout executive, director of marketing and director of finance met to determine influential community leaders who could give endorsements and to discuss themes, the process of getting endorsements, sections, copy, and a timeline.
A clean format, photos of the location, a fly-over view of the property, clean and concise copy, and an outdoorsy feel were the goals in this Web site design. Front-page photos rotate through a sequence, and construction photos will be added throughout the process.
We have determined that this generation and future generations of the Web site need to be easy to navigate, offer the most up-to-date information, and present a clean front-page appearance. All staff are able to provide people with information quickly and efficiently either on the Web site or by simply telling them about the site.
The Web site provides a huge impact for our customers. The flyover video gives visitors to the Web site a better understanding of the beauty of the property and its proximity to residences. We received positive feedback on the look of the site. Our donors and future customers are seeking more and more information, and programming and curriculum material will be added as it is developed.
Ultimately, there is no ending point with a Web site. The site's main template will be redesigned to include a registration component and to take on a more youthful appearance during the summer of 2006.
The site needs constant attention, and even after six months of a design, we are reviewing new options and new graphics with which to update the site. The flyover video has been a very important tool to show donors unable to visit the property what is available. A webcam has been purchased, and images from it will be added to the site when electricity is available.
A key area for development in the last Strategic Plan (2001—2005) was the council's Web site. Volunteers and professionals agreed that the Web site had enormous potential for disseminating information and marketing its programs to a wide range of audiences.
One area the council tried to enhance was communicating Scouting's core values, particularly the value of service. Our focus was to place information on the front page of the Web site that emphasized helping others.
The Web site uses Microsoft's Content Management System. The interface is very similar to that of Microsoft Word. Therefore, we wanted to utilize the simplicity of the input to enhance the timeliness of our communications. Professionals and volunteers worked together during various operating committee meetings to discuss what content should be emphasized and highlighted. The teamwork enhanced our promotion of some events. When a tragedy occurred, content on the front page was immediately updated to reflect how it pertained to Scouting. Two notable events were the fatal accident at the national Jamboree and Hurricane Katrina.
More than 935,000 pages were viewed on the site in 2005. The following table shows an annual comparison:
| Category | 2004 | 2005 | Change |
| Avg. visits per month | 11,223 | 13,476 | +20% |
| Avg. visits per day | 367 | 443 | +21% |
| Avg. length of visit | 5 min. 11 seconds | 4 min, 48 seconds | -23% |
| Avg. page views per day | 2,224 | 2,562 | +15% |
Terms:
Visit: A visit is a series of actions that begins when a visitor views their first page from the server, and ends when the visitor leaves the site or remains idle beyond 30 minutes.
View: A page view is a hit to any file classified as a page. This is more accurate than measuring hits, since there can be several hits on each page.
Changing the content on the front page to reflect current events—the tragedy at the National Jamboree or Hurricane Katrina—helps the council to engage with its Web site visitors. The council's professional and clerical staffs continue to report a decreasing number of telephone calls with requests for information. Although some of our success can be attributed to more households having broadband Internet connections, our usage reports still reflect that our content is being downloaded and viewed at high levels.
Our membership marketing campaign objective was to increase growth in traditional Scouts, with a focus on Cub Scouts. Our goal in modifying our joinscouts.net recruitment Web site was to help our council attain membership growth and to get new potential customers connected with Scouting quickly and easily. (We have a 48-hour response policy).
Our Council Marketing Committee determined that the easiest way for new families living in the greater Seattle area to find out about Scouting is through the Internet. Our council Web site is a very effective tool for our current customers, but our joinscouts.net site is simpler and more user-friendly for our potential customers. To strengthen the message that Scouting will teach your boy values and will give him skills to go far in life, we decided to add Scouting videos as well as photos/bios of some of our Eagle Scout adult community leaders.
Through the use of the joinscouts.net Web site, the Chief Seattle Council attained the objective of balanced membership growth with a .6 percent gain in traditional membership and .6 percent growth in Cub Scouts. We have received hundreds of responses from families interested in joining Scouting, and we have been able to respond to their requests and comments within two days.
By looking at the market research that was compiled from this Web site, our council learned that people visited our recruitment Web site at all hours of the day and night. Interestingly, the majority of the visitors completed the Join Us form, which enabled us to get them connected with a Scout group in their area.
The Merits of Marketing (marketing.scouting.org) is a resource for local
councils, developed by the Marketing &
Communications Division of the National Council, Boy Scouts of
America.