The purpose of a team web site is for organization and communication. You may lead a team, be it a gaming team, bowling team, soccer team, etc. and are in need of a central location for all team activities. A web site takes care of that. So the next time a member needs any information about anything going on with the team, you point them to the site.

These are my tips on creating a team web site that will work for you and your team.

The site itself

This does not need to be a dot-com or even a domain for that matter. It can be something as simple as a group-style site or a forum, both of which are freely available.

Example group sites: Yahoo! Groups, Google Groups, Windows Live Groups

Example free forum sites: ForumUp, Boardnation, Proboards (and there are many more besides these)

Which should you pick?

This is dependent on what type of team you have.

Gamers for example typically prefer forums over group sites. And if your team only requires a place to discuss things, a forum will do just fine.

Group sites are better suited for teams that have need for more than just a discussion forum. Group site providers offer calendaring, bulletin posting, to-dos, integrated instant messaging, and so on.

Bear in mind that for group sites you should pick the service that more of your team members use. If most use Hotmail and the Windows Live Messenger, it would be better to use Windows Live Groups. If most use Yahoo, use Yahoo Groups. You get the idea. Pick the one that best accommodates what the team already uses. This will make it much easier to convince them to actually go to the site and check for updates.

Bulletins – Email or Instant Messaging?

Posting bulletins is a big part of running a team site. Team members must stay informed as to what’s going on.

Email is the easier of the two to send out bulletins because you can mass-send. With IM it’s not as easy. Some allow it while others do not.

Group sites and most forums allow to send broadcast messages to all members which is another reason why email is easier.

Perk of a group site: You can actually send a bulletin to both email and IM at the same time. Since the service is integrated to the messenger, members will receive notices on both mediums.

Convincing your team members to start using your team site

You’ve put together a site, be it a group, forum or whatever else you decided to use. Now you’ve got to convince your team to actually use it, and yes, this is always the hardest part.

If your team is a bit on the lazy side, make the team site sound "cool" and interesting to use. Send an email to the team stating something like, "HEY, GUYS! Just put together a brand new team site! It’s here [insert web address here]. All future team bulletins will be posted at that place, so see you there!"

Alternatively you can just be a dictator and say, "Use this site I made or you’re off the team, bucko." But that really doesn’t promote team spirit.

Communication is key

We’ll say Lady Luck is on your side and all your team members start using your site. Very good.

Now it’s your job to keep it updated.

The deal is that if you convince everybody to start using the site, and then you don’t use it yourself, this makes you look bad, and you don’t want that.

Keep up communications with the team site. You wanted it, after all. If there comes a point where you’d rather have someone else post news and bulletins, elect someone in the team to do it.

Have you ever run a team site?

What advice would you give? Let us know in the comments.