The BowlsChat Directory is tailored to suit the Bowling Community and has a flexible structure to allow detailed listings in any category required by our members, with the current categories as follows:
International Bowling Associations
National Bowling Associations
Bowling Associations
Bowling Clubs
Bowling Services
We aim to provide the most comprehensive directory of bowling information available online, either publicly sourced and updated by BowlsChat or controlled directly by a suitably authorised member of the Bowling Club, Association or Organisation that has claimed the listing.
Sections Below
Content
Privacy
Structure
Claim a Listing
Reviews
Search
External Resources
Public and Private List
Call Direct
Widgets
Update a Listing
Content
All content in the Directory listings is sourced from public information available online and where possible we look for more than one source to verify accuracy. We do not upload a mass of data but add listings individually following a structured six step manual process (see below).
All new listings that have not started the process will have TBC (To be Confirmed) shown in the address area, indicating the content only has one source of public information (usually from an Association) and will be updated as soon as details can be verified.
All 4000+ existing listings are being individually updated during 2022-23 to match the process in this guide.
We try to be as accurate as possible but if you do see anything that is not correct and needs to be changed or removed, please use the Listing Request Form and we will adjust it as soon as possible after notification is received.
Privacy
We are conscious of the balance between providing enough information in a listing to allow people to contact the Club, Association or Organisation and the right of an individual to privacy for their personal details.
We only add contact details that are publicly available on a Club, Association or Organisation website and have no problem removing any contact information following a request to do so.
The details we add are in line with the GDPR requirements about using personal data available in the public domain.
Structure
Following extensive testing of different options and an assessment of the feedback from visitors and members involved in the process, the current structure for Directory listings was created.
We examined the information required on bowling listings, the most efficient way to input, update and access content for listing owners and the best way to display that content for a quality user experience on all devices.
The result is the most detailed format for addition of bowling content in any directory listing in the world, allowing the bare minimum of information up to a complete 'mini website' to be created, while keeping the level of user interaction to a minimum for the initial listing and future updates.
Every area of the listing contains flexible input forms designed for the bowling community and contact details can be added in a few minutes, with annual updates for changes in details for officials taking the same amount of time.
The type of information available for each listing is shown below and we are using a six stage process to add listings of all Indoor, Outdoor and Short Mat Bowling Clubs, Associations and Organisations in the world onto the BowlsChat website.
Process
The process for each listing is as follows:
Stage 1 - Add Name, Address and exact Map Location
Stage 2 - Complete the Area, Connection and General Tabs
Stage 3 - Add Secretary Contact Details
Stage 4 - Add Key Details including Website and Social Links
Stage 5 - Add any other details about the listing
Stage 6 - Add Images and media
The primary aim for all listings is to complete Stages 1 and 2 at initial publication before moving to Stage 3, with Stages 4 - 6 being added by BowlsChat and/or Listing Owners to tailor each listing to the requirements of the Club, Association or Organisation.
Stages 1 and 2 allow all clubs to be linked to the correct Associations and provide the right structure on BowlsChat for all searches and links within the listings.
Stages 3 - 6 are for information and activities relevant to the listing within the structure put in place by Stages 1 and 2.
Contacts
There is room for an unlimited number of contacts and the following title fields have these default roles with each section using the same title sequence:
Contact 1 - Secretary
Contact 2 - Match Secretary
Contact 3 - B Team Secretary
Contact 4 - Midweek Team Secretary
Contact 5 - Midweek B Team Secretary
Contact 6 - President/Chairman
Contact 7 - Director
Contact 8 - Other Officers
Contact 9 - Administration
Contact 10 - Delegates
Contact 11 - Secretary (Ladies)
Contact 12 - Match Secretary (Ladies)
Contact 13 - B Team Secretary (Ladies)
Contact 14 - Midweek Team Secretary (Ladies)
Contact 21 - Secretary (Veterans)
Contact 31 - Secretary (Indoor)
Contact 41 - Secretary (Short Mat)
Features
The individual listings are allocated to Categories and have the following core features:
Custom Fields to allow extension of Listing and Review layouts
Claims, Enquires, Favourites and Comparison options available
Unlimited Rating Criteria and Scoring
Include Videos, Photos, Audio and Attachments in Listings and Reviews
Advanced Search with multiple choice to quickly locate any listing
Quick links to find listings of a similar type
Related listings with proximity search
Map location with Directions option using Google Maps
Integration with the BowlsChat Community
Sections
The sections within each listing are as follows:
Category - The relevant Category for the Listing
Title - A Title for the Listing
Location - Address, Country, Post Code, Latitude and Longitude as well as TBA/TBC if no address is or full address is not available*
Details - Information about the listing, including League/Competition/Event Tables in relevant listing types
Key Data - All key information for the listing including Phone, Fax, Email, Social Media, Facilities, Type and a lot more
Area - Any other type of area the listing is in, from the largest to smallest
Connections - All Affiliation, Association, League, Competition and Event Links
General - Anything about the Green/Carpet/Short Mat and related activities
Status - Roles undertaken or achieved in various levels of the game
Lists - A List of Associations (for use with any National or International Listing), a List of Clubs (for use with any Association Listing) and a List of Leagues, Competitions or Events for use with any International, National or Association Listing
Contacts - Title, Name, Address, Home Telephone Number, Mobile Number and Email Address for any important contacts. All fields are optional and can include more than one number and/or additional details
Structure - The Name of all Officers, Officials, Committee Members, Committees, Selectors, Past Presidents, Coaches, Staff and Auditors and many more can be added into a range of 200+ available fields with the relevant title, as well as the current season and date of the next AGM
Coaching - Details about Adult and Junior Coaching including an Overview section
Umpires - Details about the number and level of umpires in the Club or Association
Partners - Details of all types of Partners in relevant section (Funder, Partner, Sponsor etc)
Fees - A list of all fees for the season and a section for notes
Directions - Details of how to reach the address of the listing
Links - Other listings, Unofficial Facebook Pages and any other General External links relevant to the listing
Resources - A link to any external news item relevant to the listing
Photos - A Logo, Cover and Main photo as well as a Galley
Audio - Any audio relevant to the listing with options to download
Videos - Any video relevant to the listing can be uploaded, linked to or embedded
Maps - A full featured, detailed, interactive Google Map with a Directions option that can be viewed, printed or downloaded
Reviews - A Review system and interactive comments section.available for both Guests and Members
Related Listings - A comprehensive list and link to other listings, split into all relevant groups for the listing
All content can be viewed in a user friendly responsive environment on any desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile device.
*If there is no headquarters for an assoociation, the address for the secretary is used (or other official if not available).
Claim a Listing
There are two key benefits for claiming a listing in the Directory and there is no additional burden on the members involved in the administration of a Club, Association or Organisation:
Direct Enquiries
Control of Content
Direct Enquiries
We have been helping bowlers around the world to get in touch with each other for some time and BowlsChat has evolved from that manual process as a project to build a global community with free access to a range of services. The aim is to make contact easier, help to promote your Club or Association and increase membership as well as awareness of the sport.
We add the initial content of all listings and pass on any enquiries received for a listing to the relevant official of the Club, Association or Organisation.
However once a listing is claimed, all enquiries go direct to the email address of the person appointed by the Club, Association or Organisation to be owner of the listing, not through BowlsChat, giving you complete control of the process.
Control of Content
The detailed structure and flexibility of our listing design allows more information to be easily added up to the level of a mini website (you need to be logged in to add/edit content using the gear icon).
We suggest a few minutes a year as a minimum to keep the contact details up to date, especially after each AGM, but you can add as much or as little as you like depending on time available and if you wish to leave the initial content and just use it for direct enquiries, that is perfectly fine.
How to Claim
We only allow anyone authorised by the Club, Association or Organisation to Claim a Listing (for example an official or person who looks after their website) and they must be a member of BowlsChat.
Log in to BowlsChatGo to the listing and click on the 'Claim a Listing' button
A pop up screen will appear asking for any details that would allow us to verify your claim (for example 'I am Secretary of the Club and have authorisation from the Committee')
Add the information and submit the claim
It only takes a few seconds to claim a listing and you can change the owner at any time or cancel ownership if it is no longer required.
Reviews
All Directory Listings are available for Review by Guests and Members as soon as they are published (even if it is only a title for the listing) and all reviews may be viewed in the Reviews Menu as well as the listing.
All Guest Reviews go through a short moderation process, all member reviews are automatically published.
If you are a member of a club, association or organisation, have visited a club, played in a league, competition or event, know any of the contacts or have used any services, please take a minute to add a review to their listing in the Directory and let everyone know about your experience. It will be useful for for visitors and a good reference point for anything we can do to help increase awareness and membership for the listing.
Process
To write a review, just click on the 'Write Review' button and follow the short process before clicking on 'Submit' to finish. The review will appear below the listing.
You will be able to add a title, contents of the review and grade none, some or all of the following:
Access - How convenient is car parking and disabled access?
Facilities - How good are the facilities?
Green - How good is the playing surface?
Playing - How enjoyable is it to play there?
Social - How good is the entertainment and social life?
Visit - Would you go back and/or recommend anyone to visit?
You may leave the contents blank if you only wish to use the grading option.
Questions or comments may be posted under a review and the listing owner is able to reply and interact with guests and members in this area.
Guests
There is an option to open an account with BowlsChat by adding a username as you make a review, but it is not a requirement and you may post as a guest by ignoring the username box and only enter a name and valid email address (the email address is only used to automatically acknowledge receipt of the review and not retained for any other purpose).
Search
Map, Drill Down and Filter Search is available for all Directory Listings on any device:
Map Search
Click on the Map Search Menu and a World Map will appear, showing individual listings and group 'clusters' with a numerical value
Click on any cluster to zoom in on that area of the world and see the cluster split into smaller groups and individual listings
Select your listing or click on a smaller cluster until you find the listing you are looking for
The details will be on the right (larger screens) or appear as a pop up on smaller devices
Drill Down
Go to the 'Search the Directory' box at the top of this pageEnter a Keyword, select a category or a country to see a number of listings with full contact details
Select a State and City to narrow down the search and click on the listing you require
Click on any highlighted link to get listings in that group or to send an email to the listing contact
Filter Search
The detailed filter search allows anything used to build a listing to be selected as part of a filter process to narrow down the possible number of listings produced by the search and get to the desired outcome more quickly.
All listings include instant 'Click2Search' options in red text that group similar types of listings together (for example by State/County, City, Type of Facilities and many more).
External Resources
Any type of external resource may be added to a listing in the Directory to increase the information available for visitors and members.
Process
Go to the Resources Tab in any listing and click on the 'Submit New Resource' button in the tab.
Add the following details for the Resource:
Title
URL Link
Description
Type*
Date
*Select from the Dropdown list
The Listing Owner will moderate any Resource submissions before publication is allowed in the listing and a list of all Resources can be viewed in the Resources Menu of the Directory.
Public and Private Lists
There is an 'Add to List' button on every Directory Listing to allow members to include the listing in their Favourites List, any of their other lists or any public list created by members of the BowlsChat Community.
Public Lists
The initial lists set up by BowlsChat are:
Favourite Clubs
Clubs I Played For
Favourite Associations
Create your own Public or Private lists, add relevant listings to other member lists and see all Public lists in the Public Lists Menu.
Private Lists
The Private List Menu in the Directory contains a number of sub-menus with access to all content you created (only when logged in to BowlsChat):
My Favourites
My Listings
My Lists
My Media
My Resources
My Reviews
Call Direct
All local and international phone numbers on listings in the BowlsChat Directory, as well as throughout the BowlsChat website, allow you to call the number with one click.
The number will automatically appear in your mobile ready to make the call or allow you to access installed 3rd party software (for example Skype) on non-mobile devices.to contact the person, club or organisation you wish to speak to.
All fax numbers will allow you to automatically send a fax if you have fax software installed on your device.
Widgets
BowlsChat allows other websites to keep up to date with content from listings in the Directory using our Widgets Menu.
There are currently 12 types of default Widget Available:
Singles Listing - All
Single Listing - Description Details
Multiple Listings - Location and Contact Details
Multiple Listings - Location Details
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - All
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - Secretary
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - Fixture/Match Secretary
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - Ladies Secretary
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - Ladies Fixture/Match Secretary
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - Veterans Secretary
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - Indoor Secretary
Multiple Listings - Contact Details - Short Mat Secretary
The above listings are public, click on the 'Get Code' button, adjust the filters to your desired settings and when finished click on the Blue 'Get Code' button at the bottom of the page to see the required code.
Copy and Paste the code into your website, blog or other online outlet and the information will be automatically updated when it is changed on the BowlsChat website.
If you would like additional widgets with public or private access, just let us know what content you need (either in the forum or send an email to [email protected]) and we will add it to the list of available Widgets in the menu.
Update a Listing
Any Guest or Member may go to the Listing Request Form Menu, add content to the form and click Submit to request an update to a listing. BowlsChat will add the content to the listing following a successful review, or pass on the request to the listing owner for review and action.
The Name, Title and Email Address of the person submitting the form must be included before it can be sent in case any clarification about content is required.
All other fields in the form are voluntary and it is split into Sections with everything needed to update any part of a listing. The form is responsive and may be completed from any device, including mobile.
You may also print the form or save it as a PDF for future reference.
