An advert has just gone online to recruit a designated editor for the Conservative Party's official website. A £22,000 salary is offered. If you're interested please click here. Please use the thread below to suggest how conservatives.com might be improved. CCHQ's new 'internet guru' - Sam Roake - has promised to read your comments...
If the partys' website is to be a success it must be more interactive with a comment section to encourage repeated use.Comments could be moderated as Iain Dale does very successfully.
I would like to see coverage of the work of our more 'unsung' Shadow Cabinet members and also a section where local associations can pass good ideas to each other.
It would be naive to suggest that this website could ever be critical of the party as Conservativehome sometimes is but a forum for debate and openness would be very welcome.
Posted by: malcolm | June 20, 2006 at 12:27
I have Conservatives.com RSS feed on my website, along with a feed from the Limp Dums (Labour don't seem to have one)
I can't help noticing that the Lib Dems update their news more regularly.
Posted by: Serf | June 20, 2006 at 12:28
Serf - Lib Dems pile out press releases several times a day and they don't get reported in the wider press. CCHQ sticks to one or less a day to retain focus.
Even as a poltical obsessive I've stopped paying attention to the Lib Dem news feed.
Posted by: Zhukov | June 20, 2006 at 12:42
Why don't we issue press releases/update the website at the weekends? We live in the 21stC for goodness sake!
Posted by: Justin Hinchcliffe | June 20, 2006 at 12:56
£22,000 isn't much, is it?
Posted by: Justin Hinchcliffe | June 20, 2006 at 12:58
"£22,000 isn't much, is it?"
It is if it is a monthly figure.. :-)
Posted by: Chad | June 20, 2006 at 13:05
£22k a year is a joke surely.
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | June 20, 2006 at 13:06
I agree that a bunch of news pushed out over RSS is not really that helpful. I too have given up on the LD newsfeed -there is only so much "Lib Dems demnad action on dog poo" I can put up with.
I hear all this stuff about making the site more interactive but am really troubled by what that means. In the US the GOP has started a new initiative called mygop. I think we should give something like that a try.
http://www.gop.com/mygop/
Posted by: Kevin Davis | June 20, 2006 at 13:11
They wont attract much interest with that salary. Have a look a the Canadian Conservatives web site. I like their idea of the video section.
Posted by: Nelson, Norfolk | June 20, 2006 at 13:35
What's missing from Conservatives.com is the catalogue of Labour cock-ups; the official version of the Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze (for which there was such great demand that it sold out within 36 days.)
Posted by: Mark Fulford | June 20, 2006 at 13:45
One of the things I would do is make sure all target seat local associations have websites and a point of contact. Perhaps by having regional website directors to keep content up to date.
Also MPs and candidates need their e-mail addresses professionalising. Having Pamela anderson as an advertised e-mail address looks rather amateurish.
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | June 20, 2006 at 13:54
My view is that there are two distinct audiences here. The party website cant do somet things that say a ConservativeHome site can do. There are some things the party site could do better. As a candidate I often found it tricky to find things I was looking for in the midst of an election.
I would suggest that whoever is in charge has a think about what the purpose of the website actually is, and look at a restructure so that you don't need to go through several clicks to find what you are looking for.
On a similar subject whatever happened to Conseravtivesdirect?
Posted by: Jonathan Sheppard | June 20, 2006 at 13:56
The key thing is ease of use and the ease by which one can find information.
Seems at the moment that there is no coherent "route" one should take to find information - for example what is really the difference between "Campaigns" and "Challenges" - should they not be more or less the same.
A coherent structure should have sections to a.) Identify the problem b.) Offer our solutions to change c.) Offer a section for direct feedback and comments d.) Offer a well organised section of resources for campaigners and candidates (this may need to be password protected).
Certainly is pleasing to see that the party is identifiying a slick up todate and user friendly site as critical to modern campaigning.
Posted by: Chris Berryman | June 20, 2006 at 14:19
"£22k a year is a joke surely." It's not great money if the applicant has to be based in London. Up here (as you will know, Andrew) it is positively MEGA-bucks!
Posted by: comstock | June 20, 2006 at 14:39
True Comstock. Can't see many IT specialists wanting to work for that money in London though.
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | June 20, 2006 at 14:45
Can the job only be done from London?
Posted by: David Belchamber | June 20, 2006 at 16:44
The Conservative party is a London party. They don't want yokels and provincials from beyond the M25 disturbing their metropolitan mindset.
Posted by: John Coles | June 20, 2006 at 16:50
What would be helpful - and very refreshing - would be the addition on the website of an accurate and authentic briefing note to any important topic, including any independently verified stats and figures available.
I am sure that we are all thoroughly fed up with Blair - and Brown even more - parroting facts and figures in order to avoid answering the question asked, when so many of the figures are half-truths at best.
We are not always going to get it right but let us at least strive to have honest and rational debates. I think we already have better arguments than Nulab, so those should prevail in the end.
It all starts with policies that are based on principles acceptable to the majority.
Posted by: David Belchamber | June 20, 2006 at 16:53
David, the Research Dept make a lot of those kind of factual briefings internally anyway - I suppose there isn't much harm in making some of them public.
Posted by: Deputy Editor | June 20, 2006 at 18:08
"£22k a year is a joke surely."
Steve Hilton gets 13 times that much for his part-time post.
Unless of course the Conservative Party has "regularised" it in the meantime. Strange they haven't said anything. Probably takes ages and ages to "regularise" these things.
Posted by: AlwaysAmazed | June 20, 2006 at 18:13
Personally I think they should save the £22K and just re-direct the website to here, a lot more useful!
Posted by: Gregor | June 20, 2006 at 19:06
"Also MPs and candidates need their e-mail addresses professionalising. Having Pamela anderson as an advertised e-mail address looks rather amateurish. "
She sometimes posts here....in the GoldList section she told me off because I called Greenway "Greenwood"!
Posted by: Andrea | June 20, 2006 at 19:14
Fair enough Andrea. I still stand by the point that all e-mail addresses should be [email protected]
Sorry Pamela if you are reading.
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | June 20, 2006 at 19:23
That really is an awful salary to offer: pay peanuts, get monkeys...
Maybe the editor can get 25% of any advertising revenue the site generates as an incentive?
Posted by: Donal Blaney | June 20, 2006 at 19:40
Andrew, I understand what you mean.
Posted by: Andrea | June 20, 2006 at 20:20
Here's what I would do;
1. Complete redesign
Something more stylish, minimalist and modern. Maybe something like the Canadian's http://www.conservative.ca/ website.
2. Localism
Have a default 'mini site' for each local association. The header image, welcome paragraph from candidate etc would change depending on constituency, but all would be the same format for ease/speed/cheapness - plus not needing many skills. Each would have a blog to be updated weekly at least. All hosted on conservatives.com main site, so fully integrated. Roll this out for MEPs, Lords, councillors, in the end everyone basically.
3. Tory TV
Video on demand downloads.
4. Comic
A 'lighter side' feature, including video downloads and joke emails to be sent on to people.
Posted by: DavidB | June 20, 2006 at 20:58
I second almost everything above. Not least what Justin H says about a weekend service. Conservatives.com must also get a lot quicker. At the time of this comment, for example, the full text of David Cameron's family speech still hasn't been posted.
Posted by: Editor | June 21, 2006 at 00:06
Speed, less clutter & more easy interactivity to be contacted about specific issues/areas of interest to allow more focussed contact by the party with its supporters.
Posted by: Edward | June 21, 2006 at 12:24
The salary in the ad has been upped today from £22K to £22K-£26K. Someone is paying attention to your views!
Posted by: Editor | June 21, 2006 at 14:47