Hi. Our sqn currently has no website, and as a cadet who understands tech and website design etc, I was wondering if i could create a website for the sqn, if staff permits it of course. I was also wondering if it would have to undergo wing/regional/corps approval, or is there a policy in place about this? I have seen some SQNs with amazing websites and they seem really successful, so I was wondering if it would possible. Thank you!
Honestly, I wouldnât bother.
submit your news to the national team and they can pin stuff to your central profile. Share your national page and save yourself a good amount of time and money annually.
As good as ours is, I intend to draw it down. Iâm just hoping it might be possible to preserve a little bit of historical info and current facilities photos on our national page, and then thereâll be no reason to spend so much on a local website.
It also means everyone is competing with the national website.
One of the big issues with local pages is that you then need to make sure you keep them really up to date, otherwise it looks like youâre closed.
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Thank you Sir. I was just having a look at your website and it seems well put together, its a shame to get rid of it. I agree that it will need to remain high maintainance, and when I leave cadets it will probably just waste away. Thank you for your advice Sir! I guess I could ask the media team
Push to your Wing and Region Media Officers, thatâs if they do anything 
I did this for our squadron using WordPress as the website we had was atrociously bad back when I was a first class cadet as the OC had hinted he wanted it to be addressed in our new year parade night.
It definitely was one of the main reasons that I was noticed by staff and the NCOs as it gave me a project that I could show my âdedicationâ to the squadron and gave me a chance to work with the SNCOs and the OC to eventually create the final project, and this lead to (in combination with my attendance, PTS badges and usual things that sqns look for in potential NCOs) my promotion to cpl.
If you feel like you have the time and the skills thereâs no harm in making a prototype and showing it to your staff, as I now tell to cadets and JNCOs looking to move up the ladder âbe creative and find something that you can own and works with your strengthsâ, doesnât have to be a website but making yours skillset known to the staff can be helpful later on!
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Whatâs the sort of threshold where this is worth doing? There are some things Iâd probably put on a squadron-owned website, but wouldnât think would be worthy of attention on the national page?
Obviously you donât want to spam HQ with every single minor news story you get up to locally. Where do you draw that line?
I would ask your staff to show you a copy of ACP50 and then decide. The organisation doesnât say you canât but strongly recommends Sqns donât run their own website. ACP50 has guidance on content and be careful about the photos you use especially of people.
Either way, your OC has to approve you doing it and they should get the site approved by Wing media before it goes live.
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Canât believe Iâm still being mistaken for a cadet 
Fair point on checking the ACP thoughâŚ
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I shared the Remembrance Sunday ceremony we led a couple of years ago. Iâd say anything that is noteworthy is worth doing as it shows youâre active, though I confess Iâm not really sure if thereâs a cut to make.
I think itâs possible to load something up without it going on the national front page though.
I think this would be a perfect use of WMCOs â sanity-checking and tweaking squadron stuff, from which RMCOs could then select things to be shared via the national social media channels.
Draw down all the random accounts that shouldnât exist, funnel through squadron social media or national social media.
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Thereâs a few funding bodies that look for a website and / or an email address as part of their assessment criteria. They wonât accept a public Facebook page etc.
So it can be worth it just for that but it doesnât have to be complex.
Speak to your CO & if they are up for it crack on.
Local Sqn websites are a great way to boost awareness as the national brand isnât particularly well known and wonât come up in the google search results which are becoming more & more tailored for local services.
Locally we get more cadets join us through our squadron website than those who come to us through the national one (by a factor of about 1:10).
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It could be worth looking into making a page instead of a website.
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Opened after a request
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I wish there was more ability for units to get a bit of customisation on a squadron page on the RAFAC website.
Nothing groundbreaking or brand impacting, but (for example) some units like to share little staff bios or unit specific recruitment info while not all units will want to.
I know that there might be issues there with content on the RAF website being considered as endorsed by the org, but it seems difficult to push against units having websites when there isnât somewhere to really put custom content âproperlyâ.
I think the better route is the sea cadets one where each unit has its own webpage / section that can be updated by the unit.
It gets the local aspect but keeps a common format with the main page.
However I donât think the security permissions for the main air cadet would permit this.
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I looked over the ACP and though it says to reduce social channels does it actually say not to have a website?
would be good to have the reference. As our committee think itâs important we have one.
Iâve always known it as a recommendation than policy
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Maybe we need to split off from the main RAF domain onto a dedicated RAFAC site?
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We used to have a separate website a few years back then it was brought under the RAF main website, which I think on the whole, is a good idea. Our old website was very dated by comparison.