WGA Logo Use – Redux – Promotion of Your Association

[Sparse Grey Hackle]

I know it’s opening a can of worms, but there are times when I feel so curious, that I just have to ask (with a slightly adjusted poll).

How do you promote your membership in the WGA?

Do you use the WGA Logo banner with hyper-link on your cache pages (your hides and/or profiles) to promote the WGA and your membership?

Or, perhaps at the very least utilize the scrolling WGA message with hyper-link to promote the association and your membership?

With so much discussion (and continued discussion ) in the forum(s) about the design aspects/selection process, etc. of the WGA logo/logo type, I am curious about how many WGA members actually promote their membership this way?

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

Yes I do. Every one of my cache pages has the WGA logo and link.

[team handstand]

not only do i use the WGA logo on my cache pages, it is also on my facebook page, i actually created a “wisconsin geocaching association” group on facebook, for all of us younger geocachers..

i also like to wear my WGA tshirt around..

[amita17]

I’m still fairly new to this. I don’t think I have a cache page, and if I do, I don’t know how to find it. And if I did, I wouldn’t know how to add the logo to it. I voted no opinion, though, because I don’t think I have a cache page.

[labrat_wr]

After I saw the post, I realized that I had the logo on some but not all of my cache pages. So, I am in the process of checking all my cache pages and adding the logo where it is needed. When I complete it, I will respond to the poll.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[-cheeto-]

The “official” logo, link, message coding is on most if not all of my cache pages and is on my geocaching.com profile page as well. I would hope that doing so has atleast prompted a couple people to discover our group. It’s the least I can do to help continue to grow what we have.

[kansas64]

I have not used the logo on my first few placements, basically because I did not know where it was hidden. Yes hidden, I didnt think searching for 10 minutes to find it was acceptable.
I do not use the scrolling messages as simply I think they are annoying.
The reason I first took the time to find the location is that I have a Earthcache in another state and well I thought it was ridiculous that there was no Earthcache there already so I wanted the fine people of that state to know who placed it. Curiously they have asked that I place the UTAG (Utah Geocachers) logo on my Wisconsin Earthcache (which I am not doing)
Bottom line, regardless of what people think about the logo, I think we need to put it out there to support our group. I have seen ongoing disputes in other regions (I look at the local forums as to where I intend to travel) that have given organizations black eyes

[thepharmgirl]

@kansas64 wrote:

I have not used the logo on my first few placements, basically because I did not know where it was hidden. Yes hidden, I didnt think searching for 10 minutes to find it was acceptable.

Hmmm… I think you’re right. I didn’t have a WGA banner on any of my cache pages, and after reading this post, I decided I would go do that…. and it took awhile to find the link. Maybe not 10 minutes since I could rule out “photo album” and “milestones.” I wouldn’t have thought to look under “Wiki.” I don’t even know what a Wiki is. Although now I see it’s also under “About Us” in small print. Perhaps “How You Can Spread the Word” needs its own paragraph heading there with larger letters? Or perhaps a section under “Hiding a Cache” would be more intuitive? I don’t know if you want to go Link Crazy though.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

I use the logo on my cache listings in Wisconsin. I have not put them on the few we have in Iowa or Minnesota, but after reading Dean’s comment, I can see some value in letting visitors to those caches know where we’re from.

I also am not crazy about the scrolling things, so don’t use that.

[sandlanders]

@amita17 wrote:

I’m still fairly new to this. I don’t think I have a cache page, and if I do, I don’t know how to find it. And if I did, I wouldn’t know how to add the logo to it. I voted no opinion, though, because I don’t think I have a cache page.

Don’t know if anyone answered amita17’s question personally, but a cache page is what the write-up is for each individual cache. It’s where cache placers can write what they want about a cache they have placed for others to find, and they may place photos and links on this page in addition to any description. You have no doubt read lots of cache pages when you have looked up caches to find.

Use of the WGA logo requires that html code be used, and that takes some getting used to. We did it by trial and error, but there is lots of help here, and it wasn’t too hard to do. Adding the logo was the easy part because all the coding is right there (on the Wiki page) to copy and paste.

So, if you have placed a cache, you have written up a cache page. Some people have included the logo, some have not. Clicking on the link on the cache page sends people to the WGA site, where they will hopefully find what they like there. 🙂

[gotta run]

@kansas64 wrote:

I have not used the logo on my first few placements, basically because I did not know where it was hidden. Yes hidden, I didnt think searching for 10 minutes to find it was acceptable.

Agreed. Yes you can find it but it ain’t easy. If I recall the way we put it on the one or two pages we do have it on is by swiping it from the HTML of another cache page that had it!

@sandlanders wrote:

Adding the logo was the easy part because all the coding is right there (on the Wiki page) to copy and paste.

Ok….I give up. Where? The wiki link takes me to a list of links–basically a site tree. The most likely candidate is “Hiding a Cache” but it’s not there.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[cheezehead]

“Help Spread The Word” Link. I agree also. It took me awhile to find it when I first started. I think I have the link on all my caches.

[nohandsgps]

I have a link on my website… does that count?

[Jeremy]

The Past

The WGA logo banner images are already on a bunch of cache pages and they are working to drive traffic to the WGA site. Just a couple stats on its use… in December 2008:

– The “large banner image” was downloaded 80,000+ times in that month. This seems like a lot, but it isn’t a reflection of the number of times it was actually viewed, as web browsers cache the image and don’t request it from our server again. So the actual number of views is probably significantly MORE, maybe a million per month?!

– 9900+ people visited the WGA site by clicking a banner image on a cache page. I’m guessing the people clicking on the banner image weren’t all unfamiliar with the WGA or potential new members … some members may not have the WGA site bookmarked and this is how they get to it. Still this was the most popular way people arrived at the WGA site from another location (via a Google search was the second place method).

The Present

I agree that finding the HTML to add these images to a cache page isn’t exactly easy. Last month I offered to add a direct link to the Help Spread The Word page to the Main Menu block IF someone gave me a shorter / better title. No one came up with anything. 🙁

I did edit the About Us page to make the Help Spread The Word portion / link more visible. I don’t know who suggested this ;), but it was a heck of an idea.

The Future

When we create new WGA banner images using the new logo, we plan to include two new features:

– Dynamic images. You will be able to optionally select a banner graphic that will dynamically / periodically change (this change will be automatic; you won’t touch your cache page HTML). We will use this to “advertise” upcoming WGA events and important activities. Right now, it would probably have something about voting for the Board and Cache of the Year. Again, this will be optional… you will still have the ability to use simple banner images with just the WGA logo that will not change.

– Dynamic WGA link. Instead of having the cache page banner images link to the WGA home page, the plan is to link to a special dynamic page. For non-members (those not logged in to the WGA site), this page would display information about the WGA and link to the form people can use to join. For members, we’d have a listing of important recent WGA news AND have information on how they can add a similar banner graphic to their own cache pages. For everyone, if the visitor clicked on one of our dynamic images “advertising” something, we’d also display information about that event or activity.

[Team Black-Cat]

I had the WGA logo on about half of our caches. I just went back and put it on the other half of them.

[Author]

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