I hear this a lot from club committees in the Peterborough area: "We're doing fine on Facebook" or "Everyone knows about us already, why bother with a website?"
It's a fair question. Facebook is free, easy, and your regulars are already there. So why bother?
Here's the thing. Facebook is fine for chatting with current members. It's not how new members find you, it's not how prospective parents check whether your junior section is real, and it's not how anyone renews their subscription. Let me explain, with some specifics for the clubs and member organisations across Peterborough, Oundle, Thrapston, Stamford and the wider Nene Valley.
Peterborough Sports Clubs This Covers
Peterborough and the surrounding area have an enormous range of clubs and member organisations. Some that come up in this conversation regularly:
- Rowing clubs (Peterborough City, Nene, plus our own clients at Oundle Town Rowing Club and Middle Nene Sailing Club)
- Cricket clubs across the Peterborough League
- Rugby clubs at Peterborough Lions, Old Peterburians and Oundle Rugby
- Tennis clubs from Peterborough LTC to village clubs in Werrington and Hampton
- Football clubs, junior and adult, from the city to the surrounding villages
- Hockey, netball, athletics, cycling and bowls clubs
- Scouts, Guides, Brownies and Cubs groups across the city
- Rotary clubs, Women's Institute branches, choirs and music societies
- History societies, charities, U3A groups, community associations
All of them face the same digital problem and all of them benefit from the same fix.
1. Your Club Doesn't Own Facebook
This is the one nobody thinks about until it's too late.
Your club's Facebook page, Instagram account, WhatsApp group - the committee doesn't own any of them. You're using someone else's platform, playing by their rules, and Meta can change those rules whenever it likes.
Real things that happen to UK clubs:
- Pages suspended without warning because an automated system flagged a post
- Algorithm changes that quietly tank your reach to 5% of followers
- The committee member who set it up has left and nobody else can get in
- "Suspicious activity" lockouts with no real appeals process
Imagine the renewals chair losing access to the page two weeks before the season starts. It happens more often than you'd think.
Facebook is like renting a function room. Your website is like owning the clubhouse. The committee controls it, the club owns the content, and nobody can take it away.
2. New Members Find Clubs by Googling
Think about how prospective members find a club to join. A few ask friends. A few see something in the local paper. Most Google it.
"Rowing club Peterborough"
"Junior cricket Oundle"
"Choir to join near Stamford"
"Scout group Werrington"
When someone searches like this, what comes up? Websites. Google shows websites in local search results, not Facebook pages. If the club doesn't have a proper site, you're invisible to the people most actively looking to join.
The clubs winning recruitment in the Peterborough area are the ones that turn up first for these searches. They tend to have proper websites, Google Business Profiles, and a few honest reviews from members.
3. A Club Website Works 24/7
Your committee meets monthly. Your website never sleeps. At 9pm on a Wednesday when a parent is deciding which junior section to enrol their child in, they want to find out:
- When you train and where
- What it costs to join
- What a typical week looks like
- Whether you take beginners
- How to get in touch
A proper website answers all of that without anyone on the committee needing to be available. It also handles online renewals from existing members at 11pm on a Sunday when they suddenly remember.
4. Credibility With Parents and Members
Be honest: when you're deciding whether to trust a club, what do you check? The website.
A proper website signals that you're a legitimate, established club. It says you've put effort into how the club presents itself, you take yourselves seriously, and you'll still be running next year. For parents enrolling juniors, that's not a small thing - they're trusting you with their kids.
A Facebook page alone doesn't quite cut it any more. Too many casual groups rely only on social media because it's easy to set up and easy to abandon. The clubs that look established have websites.
Industry data on consumer trust consistently shows the same thing: people trust an organisation with a professional website noticeably more than one without. For clubs taking subscriptions and looking after juniors, that trust gap matters more than it does for a passing retail purchase.
5. The Committee Controls the Message
On Facebook your content is surrounded by distractions. Adverts, notifications, posts from friends, suggested groups - you're fighting for attention in a noisy environment.
On your club's website, visitors focus on the club. No algorithm deciding what they see, no competitor adverts, no cat videos pulling them away.
The committee decides:
- Which information is most important on the homepage
- How to present membership tiers and prices
- What you want a prospective member to do (join, enquire, come and watch a session)
- How the club's identity comes across
Facebook Still Has a Role
I'm not saying ditch Facebook - quite the opposite. It's brilliant for keeping current members in the loop, posting match reports, sharing photos and running internal chat.
Think of it this way:
- Facebook and WhatsApp are for current members and conversation
- Your website is for prospective members, renewals, fixtures and credibility
They work together. Someone hears about your club from a friend, they Google the name, the website convinces them it's a proper outfit, they enquire. The website closes the recruitment that word of mouth started.
Are Club Websites Expensive?
They don't have to be. The traditional model of paying a freelancer £3,000-£5,000 upfront and then begging them for changes does put a lot of clubs off, especially smaller ones with treasurers who guard every pound.
That's why we offer subscription websites from £30/month. No big upfront cost, everything included, designed properly for the club. The £50 tier adds an online member portal with renewals and basic bookings, which usually pays for itself in saved treasurer time within one season.
The aim is to make a proper website accessible to the local rowing clubs, cricket clubs, scout groups and choirs that previously couldn't justify the upfront spend.
Bottom Line for Peterborough Clubs
Facebook is fine, and the committee should absolutely keep using it. Relying on it alone is risky though - it's building the club's digital presence on rented land.
A proper website gives the committee control, credibility, and visibility that social media can't match. For sports clubs and member organisations across Peterborough, Oundle, Thrapston, Wellingborough and the wider Nene Valley, that matters.
If your committee has been putting off getting a proper website because of cost or complexity, it might be easier and more affordable than you think. Happy to chat about it if you're interested - no pressure, just honest advice.
Peterborough Sports Club FAQs
Do we really need a website if we're on Google Maps already?
A Google Business Profile gets the club into the map pack and that's worth a lot, but it's not the whole job. Parents and prospective members tapping the listing want proof you're a real club: photos of training, a typical week, what it costs, who's on the committee, recent news. Without a website to back the Profile up, half of them go to the next club. The Profile and the website work together, not instead of each other.
Won't our Facebook page do the same job?
Facebook is brilliant for chatting with regulars and posting match reports. It's not great as your only digital shop window. Anyone over 40 expects a website, lots of younger people aren't on Facebook, and Google barely shows Facebook pages in local search results these days. The committee also doesn't own the page - Meta does, and they can suspend it without telling you why.
How much do clubs in the Peterborough area typically spend on a website?
A wide range. Plenty of village clubs are paying £1,500-£3,000 to a local agency then £30-£60/month for hosting and changes. Some get a Wix together themselves for £15/month plus 30 hours of evenings. Subscription providers like us charge £30-£50/month all in, with no upfront fee. Most clubs around the 100-300 member mark end up there because it covers a member portal and renewals as well as the public site.
Will a website actually bring us new members?
If it's set up properly, yes - particularly for sports with active Google demand like rowing, cricket, rugby, tennis and junior football. Peterborough city centre is competitive, but the surrounding villages and neighbourhoods like Werrington, Hampton, Orton and Bretton are easier to rank in. A site with proper local SEO, a Google Business Profile and a few honest member reviews usually starts pulling enquiries within 2-3 months.
What if our new members are mostly word of mouth?
Brilliant - keep that going. The website isn't to replace word of mouth, it's to back it up. Someone gets recommended you at a kid's birthday party, they Google your club name that evening. If nothing comes up, they wonder if you're still active. If a tidy site appears with training times, prices and recent photos, they enquire on Monday. The website closes word-of-mouth referrals that would otherwise drift.
Can we start with a one-page site?
Yes, and for plenty of smaller clubs and societies that's the right call. One page covering who you are, what you do, when and where you meet, what it costs, and how to get in touch. Add proper local SEO and a Google Business Profile linked to it and you're 80% of the way there. Larger clubs with multiple sections or competing teams need more pages, but a one-pager beats no site every time.
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