Lesson 4a – Making Your Online Presence

Getting your moms group online is the best thing you will ever do for your group!
Having your group mainly online has many benefits. It will make organizing the group much simpler. The calendar, databases, forms, messages etc. will all be online for the whole group to see!

Sometimes moms just can’t make in person meetings, so having your group mainly online will make it possible for those who want to be involved, but can’t necessarily make an in person meeting, feel like they are a part of the group.

You will be able to reach more women online than if you just have a completely in person moms group. So as you can see hosting your group online has many benefits. Below are some places online that you host your moms club at:

Yahoo Groups
Yahoo groups comes with a calendar, database, a place for pictures, a files section where you can upload word or text documents explaining the rules of your group, and Yahoo groups even comes with a place for you to conduct polls for all the members.

MSN Groups
Comes with all of the great features that Yahoo has, except the calendar. With MSN groups you can even make topic boards for more of a message board type look!

Meetup
Now with Meetup you cannot host your group for free, but membership is only $15.00/year! With this fee you can create your own group and use their tools like message boards, polls, etc. It is a lot like Yahoo Groups except you have to pay a fee. The only reason why I think the fee may actually be reasonable and worth paying is that they do receive a lot of traffic and could bring a lot of potential members to your group!

Google Groups
Not as fancy as MSN and Yahoo groups, but getting there. They are very similar as the places mentioned above but as of right now they do not have as many features.

Message Boards
There are several places where you can get a message board hosted for free! Having your group hosted on a message board might actually make planning and chatting a little easier.

Both Group Website and a Message Board
If you like the idea of having a message board and a group area where you can store information in the databases, files section, and even the calendar then having both might actually make things run smoother! You could use the group for more organizational tasks and then the message boards for chatting!
I personally do not have a favorite, they all come with their perks and their downfalls, but they will all help you keep a more organized and chatty little moms group!

Homework:
Decide on a place to host your group online, if that is the way you choose to go. Pick a place and then go through the set up process. Be sure to have your group setup before the next issue!