Wordpress helps the Monarch Butterfly
The Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust finds WordPress the easiest of the CMS options to make improvements and changes to. It is a real learning process, but once you're into it, and using it, it's really easy. You actually get hooked!
The Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust was established to encourage the protection and promotion of the Monarch Butterfly throughout New Zealand.
Miraz Jordan asked how they set up their website.
Q] Why did you decide to get a website? What goals did you want to achieve with it?
We needed to publicise our aims and objectives but also ways and means that people all over New Zealand could help the Monarch butterfly and the flora and fauna in their own backyard. The majority of people that I come across identify with the Monarch and it's fast becoming a NZ icon.
Once they realise how they can help the Monarch, they then realise the importance of organics and improving the biodiversity in their very own backyard. The Monarch is really a cool learning tool!
So we needed a site where we could let members and other people source information at their own pace, and also leave messages for us. This works really well.
Q] I noticed you're using the Wordpress system, a particular favourtite of mine. How did you hear about WordPress?
blog.greens.org.nz (the Green Party blog) runs WordPress, and Chris Burgess, our web person, was asked to make assorted modifications and extensions for it during the election campaign.
Q] What options did you look at apart from WordPress?
The Trust liaised with Chris, and he recommended it. He considered several open-source options, including Drupal, Mambo and WordPress, all of which he had had experience working with in his contracting for various clients.
Q] Why did you decide to use WordPress and not the other options?
Chris says that at first he didn't "get" WordPress, but all in all he found it the easiest of the CMS options to make improvements and changes to.
Once I'd worked with it a little while, I decided it was ideal for some commercial uses because of the way it simplifies the interface, although the workflow is very blog-oriented.
And I agree with that. It is a real learning process, but once you're into it, and using it, it's really easy. You actually get hooked!
Q] How long did it take to set up the WordPress site? Was it hard?
According to Chris, it's not at all hard, it's quite easy. The install takes the five minutes they claim it does. I think the template design for monarch.org.nz took about an hour of Photoshop work (mostly the clipping path for the butterfly background).
Q] How many people are in charge of keeping the web page up-to-date? How often does your group update?
Gill Jackson and I (both Trustees of the Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust) are the main administrators. Sometimes other members contribute things like photographs, but quite often they will email them to Gill and I and we will put them on the site. So basically, we update it when it's necessary.
Q] Does it take long to update it?
How long is a piece of string? It depends on what we want to do — but the material we're contributing is not necessarily time-related, it will be there for all time, so that's not a problem.
Q] Is it hard to update it?
Not at all.
Updates are made either via email (Chris has amended the wp-mail.php so that it can handle multipart mails and a/strongs attached files to the site too, as well as accepting HTML formatted emails) or via the web interface. It seems easy enough for non-expert users to get things done.
Q] Have you seen any benefits from having the site? Had any feedback on it?
Yes, had excellent feedback about our website, and people sure are using it! Chris has had some excellent feedback on other similar projects too.
Q] Is there any advice you'd give to other groups (about websites / WordPress)?
Get a website. Find a simple domain name. Build up a strong relationship with a superb software developer like Chris Burgess. Use WordPress if you have a "chat" element that you'd like to use, e.g. if you're a club, and want input from your members or constituents (e.g. MPs), or feedback on your business (e.g. tourism) etc. Make sure your website is user-friendly, and keep it simple, and up to date. And then plug it everywhere you can. See our T-shirts and bumper stickers here:
http://monarch.org.nz/monarch/about-how-this-works/saleable-items-oct-2005