Troop Webmaster Training

Overview

As the Troop 26 webmaster, you will be responsible for updating the Troop Events calendar, posting troop news and stories to the site and sending out the monthly newsletter.

This page provides instructions on how to be successful in your leadership role.

Uploading a Video

Follow the instructions outlined in this Tutorial. If you experience any difficulties, do not hesitate to contact the previous webmaster.

Video Tutorial

Creating a Photo Upload

1.) Go to Google Photos

2.) Create a new shared album

3.) Under “Share Album” (accessed by clicking on the three dots), make link sharing available and copy the link

4.) Under the page “Photos Upload” add the link (see below).

Adding a Link

1.) Copy and Paste the following HTML code into the doc:

Webmaster-Resource_Doc_Link-Snippet

Updating the Troop Website

Step 1: Obtain a user name and password to log in to the Troop 26 website. You can ask the Scoutmaster to help you get this login information.

Step 2: Go to troop26.net/wp-admin and enter your user name and password.

Step 3: If you are adding a news item to the site, follow these steps.

3a: Once you log in to the site, you should see a navigation bar on the left side of the screen. Near the top, look for a thumbtack icon and the word “Posts” immediately to the right of the thumbtack. Click on the word Posts.

Note: Posts are used to post trip reports, news and announcements.

3b: You will be taken to the Posts page and you will see all of the posts that have ever been published to the site.

Click on the “Add New” button at the top of this page.

3c. Write the post that you wish to publish and keep the following in mind before hitting the Publish button.

  • Enter a descriptive title, but do not make it too long
  • Make sure you select and check the box for the relevant category that this post should be included in
  • Only select one category
  • You can add a tag if you’d like. Tags are added under the Category section and are used to provide additional information. An example of a Tag would be the name of a hiking trip or other outing.
  • When writing your post, use the main editor area which is directly below the Title field.
  • If you are unable to finish your post before publishing it, be sure to click the Save Draft button

Example Elements for a new Post

For example, if you were posting the notes from the Committee Chair about the January 2016 committee meeting where they discussed the budget and buying new equipment, you might use the following information for the Title, Category and Tags when creating a new post.

Title: Month 2022 Committee Corner
Category: News
Tags: Parent Committee, Budget, New Equipment

Adding an Event

Step 1: After logging in to the Troop website, click on Events in the left navigation bar.

Step 2: Click “Add New”

Step 3: Just like when creating a new Post as described above, fill out the form with the relevant information. Giving the event a title, description, selecting ONE category and then enter the start and end dates and the venue location.

Step 4: Click Publish when you are finished.

Events can be edited if needed. Just click the Edit link under the event name when you are viewing the entire list of events.

Sending an Email to the Troop

The Troop uses a service called MailChimp to send emails to the troop mailing list.

Contact the Scoutmaster to get the login details for the Troop MailChimp account.

How to send an email to the Troop.

Step 1: Log in to mailchimp.com

Step 2: Click on Create Campaign. This button should be in the upper right-hand corner of your web browser.

Step 3: Choose “Regular campaign” as the campaign type.

Step 4: Select the list that you want to send the email to. Typically, this is the “Whole Troop” list. After you select the “Whole Troop” list, you’ll see some additional options. Selected “Send to entire list” and then click Next.

The Next button is in the lower right hand corner of your web browser.

Step 5: Fill out the Campaign Info section.

  • Give the campaign a name. This name will not be displayed to the email recipients but rather is used to help us know what the email was about.
  • Change the email subject. It should be short but descriptive so your audience knows what the email is about. For example, you might pick “Troop 26 January 2022 Newsletter” or “Troop 26 – Camping Trip Details”.
  • Change the “From name” to be “Troop 26 Webmaster”
  • Change the “From email address” to be “[email protected]
  • Leave all other boxes either checked or unchecked. There’s no need to modify anything else.

Click the Next button in the lower right corner of your web browser window.

Step 6: Select a template.

  • Click on Saved Templates
  • Select the template called “Newsletter 20XX”

You can then edit the contents of the template by clicking on a section and adding your text.

The template includes six sections for different news items by default. However, if you do not need all six, you can delete any of them by hovering your mouse over the section you wish to remove and clicking on the Trash can icon.

When you’ve added your information, click Next in the lower right corner of your web browser.

Step 7: You’ll see a confirmation page at this point. If there are any errors, you’ll be prompted to go back and fix them.

If there are no errors, click the Send button in the lower right corner of your browser window.

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