Help Build The New Weebly Community

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In an increasingly online world it can make good sense to look at how your nonprofit website might help to build that community.” Your website should be the “mothership” of your organization’s online community – so information shouldn’t just flow out to members, you need to promote two-way communication opportunities as well. Weebly is, without a doubt, a good website builders, with a set of excellent tools that help users to create complete and professional websites. It features a modern editor and supports multiple languages, which is a very strong positive aspect of this builder. Weebly also lacks the sophisticated design options of e-commerce heavyweight, Squarespace, which has over 100 customizable web themes to choose from. All told, Weebly is a solid option for beginners but its design options may frustrate those with web design experience. Weebly’s services. Here’s what Weebly can help you do.

Addition of website-building company will enable sellers to easily start or grow an omnichannel business with one cohesive solution

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – April 26, 2018 – Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Weebly. Square will pay a mix of cash and stock of approximately $365 million, which includes Square restricted stock units for Weebly’s founders and employees that will vest over four years subsequent to closing. This consideration includes Weebly’s estimated net cash. Weebly is a San Francisco–based technology company that provides customers with tools to easily build a professional website or online store.

Square and Weebly will give sellers one cohesive solution to start or grow an omnichannel business. Today, it is important that sellers can reach buyers as they move between channels (in person, online, in apps) during discovery, purchase, and even returns and exchanges. An integrated suite of services will make critical business tasks like engaging with customers, managing orders, growing sales, and making informed business decisions easier than ever for sellers.

“Square and Weebly share a passion for empowering and celebrating entrepreneurs,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square. “Square began its journey with in-person solutions while Weebly began its journey online. Since then, we’ve both been building services to bridge these channels, and we can go even further and faster together.”

“Omnichannel commerce is our top focus area in 2018,” said Alyssa Henry, Seller Lead at Square. “From managing orders, appointments, and payments to building a website, running a business is complex, and entrepreneurs around the world want powerful and intuitive tools. Whether they’re an artist, a winemaker, or a hairdresser, with Square and Weebly sellers will have one cohesive solution to build their business.”

“Entrepreneurship gives an opportunity to people who were never given one,” said David Rusenko, CEO of Weebly. “Weebly has created technology that helps people bring their business idea to life online. Now, we will be expanding that vision to help entrepreneurs succeed beyond their website. I’m excited for Weebly to join Square and help build the future of commerce together.”

Weebly will expand Square’s customer base globally and add a new recurring revenue stream. Weebly has millions of customers and more than 625,000 paid subscribers. Square will provide Weebly customers with access to the company’s ecosystem of managed payments, hardware, and software, which complement Weebly’s services, which include free website hosting, premium (paid) website design and hosting, online store, and marketing tools. Nearly 40% of Weebly’s paid subscribers are outside the U.S., which will help accelerate Square’s global expansion.

Square will continue to provide an open platform to offer sellers the flexibility to select and integrate the third-party solutions that are best for their business. Square offers more than 100 partner integrations across a range of third-party apps, including points of sale, accounting software, and other back-office systems.

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The completion of this transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals. The parties expect to close the transaction during the second quarter of 2018, and until close the two companies will continue to operate independently. Square was advised by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Weebly was advised by Cooley LLP and Qatalyst Partners.

As a reminder, Square will release financial results for the first quarter of 2018 on May 2, 2018, after market close.

About Square, Inc.
Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) creates tools that help sellers start, run, and grow their businesses. Square enables sellers to accept card payments and also provides reporting and analytics, next-day settlement, and chargeback protection. Square’s point-of-sale software and other business services help sellers manage inventory, locations, and employees; access financing; engage customers; and grow sales. The Cash App is an easy way for businesses and individuals to send and receive money, and Caviar is a food-ordering service for popular restaurants. Square was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and the UK.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking, including, but not limited to, statements regarding future product offerings of Square, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (the Company), the proposed acquisition of Weebly, the Company’s plans, objectives, expectation and intentions, anticipated customer benefits, anticipated expansion of the Company’s customer base, expected new recurring revenue stream, the Company’s expectations regarding the provision of its products, product features and services, and general business outlook. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as “may,” “will,” “appears,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. Such statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied in this press release. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance.

Risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include, among others, the possibility that the transaction will not close or that the closing may be delayed; the Company may not be able to secure required regulatory approvals or otherwise satisfy other closing conditions in a timely manner, or at all; the proposed acquisition may not advance the Company’s business strategy; the ability of the Company to retain the customers and partners of Weebly; the ability of the Company to integrate Weebly and realize the expected synergies of the acquisitions in a timely manner, or at all; the ability of the Company to realize the expected benefits from the acquisition in the expected time period, or at all; disruptions from the acquisition on the Company’s ongoing operations and diverting management’s attention; the Company may incur significant acquisition costs and transition costs; unknown, underestimated, or undisclosed commitments or liabilities, including actual or threatened litigation; and the possibility that the Company, Weebly or the integrated business of the two companies may be adversely affected by other political, business and economic conditions, as well as other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company listed or described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, which is on file with the SEC and available on the investor relations page of the Company’s website. All forward-looking statements are based on information and estimates available to the Company at the time of this press release and are not guarantees of future performance. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update any of the statements in this press release.

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Media Contact:
press@squareup.com

Investor Relations Contact:
ir@squareup.com

Finding ways of increasing member/supporter engagement was identified as a top priority for small membership organizations in our recent Small Membership Insight Survey. We also had survey participants ask their membership peers questions such as: How do you use your website to engage members more? It starts with a conversation

One way to build engagement and keep members and supporters coming back to your website, is by creating a sense of community – one that starts a conversation that engages visitors by offering valuable information and ideas.

The February issue of Fast Company magazine offered “The Art of Dialogue” – a series of interviews with iconoclasts on the topic of conversations in the age of information overload. In the article, Ev Williams suggests:

“There’s a word that comes to mind when I think of the word conversation, and that is engagement. When you’re having a good conversation, you become engaged with that other person. And once you become engaged, you can learn something.”

Our survey findings also indicated that the key reason folks join membership organizations is for networking. If your members are anything like our survey participants, they likely have a multitude of questions they’d like to ask their peers. And while this networking can take place through face-to-face meetings and events, it can also occur through two-way communication opportunities on your website. After all, in a conversation, you’re not talking at someone, information flows back and forth. This means finding ways of starting, monitoring and promoting conversations on your website that enable networking and learning rather than simply announcing events or promoting programs and services.

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It means becoming a hub of two-way information sharing

In looking at The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies a while back, we noted that LinkedIn had made it to #30 on this list because “the professional social network “transform[ed] itself into a must-visit hub of information sharing” by “letting members curate daily news roundups to showcase their expertise.” Membership organizations also need to find ways to become the hub of two-way information sharing for their members.

As a post on the IT for Change blog suggests,

“A strong community is built around shared values, engaging discussions, a place to “share”. In an increasingly online world it can make good sense to look at how your nonprofit website might help to build that community.”

Weebly

Your website should be the “mothership” of your organization’s online community – so information shouldn’t just flow out to members, you need to promote two-way communication opportunities as well. And as you look to recruiting and retaining Gen Y’s digital natives, you also have to ask yourself:

  • What does your online community offer that they can’t get elsewhere online?
  • What will create a sense of belonging; a desire to get involved and network on your website?

It involves developing content with value

While we all know you need compelling content to get your member’s or supporter’s attention, the nature and quality of the online conversation is critical in building community. Along with networking, the other top reasons members join organizations were identified (in our survey) as professional development and learning best practices in their field. This means that the content you offer as conversation starter needs to have value for your members to drive engagement and build community.

In her post, Building Community With Value, Mackenzie Fogelson (The Daily SEO Blog) reminds us: “With value, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so you’ve got to know what constitutes value for your audience.”

To keep your constituents engaged, you’ll need to have a keen understanding of their current challenges, interests and passions. But the good news is that once you get the two-way conversation started, you’ll gain additional insight that you can then apply to create deeper community bonds among members.

But Fogelson also cautions organizations to “focus on the customer [member] vs. focusing on you.” To keep members or supporters coming back, you need to be sure you aren’t broadcasting to your audience, but offering valuable information they are interested in engaging around. While your website content needs to include information about the programs, services and events you offer, in the spirit of community and conversation, you also need to enable information exchange and sharing.

Start by looking at whether you can enhance existing web tools to build community

Along with identifying the type of content your members will find valuable and engagement-worthy, you also need to consider their online habits to determine how to best encourage two-way communication. Yet while the tools or vehicles you use will be dependent on your members’ preferences, you might want to start by looking at enhancing the content and capabilities of web tools already in place, such as:

  • Your blog:
    • can you enable comments? If so, are you asking questions that encourage interaction?
    • consider asking members to write posts and share their questions and comments
  • Forum or bulletin board:
    • if you have a forum that is languishing, assign a new moderator and get the conversation started by having a few volunteers share their questions or challenges
    • ask your Board or Communications Chair to become more active on your forum or bulletin board to offer a new member perspective
  • Conduct regular polls or surveys:
    • you can use polls to ask questions and start conversations as well as enable the sharing of information and opinions among your members
    • surveys offer another means of having members provide anonymous comments, questions and information that can then be shared online – and this information can then drive new content elsewhere on the website
  • Enable and promote social sharing
    • while a “like” alone doesn’t build community, you want to be able to share comments and information offered through Facebook posts and Tweets, for example, some website platforms allow you to embed your Twitter feed into your website
    • embed social sharing buttons or widgets (e.g., Facebook “like” buttons, Twitter widgets, Google+, etc.) on your site, so your members and supporters can share information and start conversations via social networks

These are simple ways of encouraging a more active community on your website. And once you get the conversations started, be sure to share and amortize this information across all of your online platforms – e.g.:

  • use a blog post comment to start a forum thread or conversation
  • take the question or comment included on a recent survey to create a blog post or forum message to which more members can respond
  • share a comment from a Facebook poll or LinkedIn post on an online forum – to connect members across the social networks

Find ways to keep the conversation going

Keep the conversation alive by writing newsletter articles and news announcements that lead members back to your online forums and message boards – continuing to build community off- and online.

This article was originally published at http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/2013/03/14/building-community-on-your-website and is reprinted with permission.