Home Page Review & Redesign Recommendations
Executive Summary
The FC Robotics website contains strong content — well-written pages, a clear mission, and a genuinely differentiated approach to team structure. The core problem is that the home page fails its most important job: welcoming and orienting a first-time visitor. A new parent, prospective student, or potential sponsor who lands on the home page today is immediately dropped into an internal team-structure article with no context for who this organization is or why they should care.
The recommendations below focus on replacing the current home page with a proper landing page, simplifying navigation, and ensuring each of the three primary audiences (students, families/mentors, and sponsors) can quickly find a path forward.
The site’s content is genuinely good. This review is not about rewriting — it’s about restructuring the entry point so visitors can actually find the content that already exists.
Proposed Home Page Layout (Wireframe)
— Suggested redesign, section by section —
Build robots. Lead teams.
Change your future.
A nonprofit FTC robotics team open to students ages 12–18 — and the families, mentors,
and sponsors who support them. No prior experience needed.
Two teams. One robot. Every role matters.
⚙ Left Brain
- Java programming
- CAD & 3D printing
- Mechanical building
- Robot driving & testing
- Systems & electronics
◈ Right Brain
- Engineering portfolio
- Judges’ presentations
- Social media & brand
- Sponsor outreach
- Finance & logistics
Who should join?
Students (12–18)
Public school, homeschool, or otherwise — all are welcome. No tech background needed for Right Brain roles.
Parents & Mentors
We need non-technical mentors just as much as engineers. Writing, logistics, and photography all count.
Sponsors
We’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations are tax-deductible and fund students who otherwise couldn’t participate.
Ready to build something?
Reach out and we’ll walk you through what joining looks like — no commitment required.
Issue 1 — The Current Home Page Is the Wrong Page
The site’s home page (fc-robotics.org) is currently set to display the “Left Brain vs Right Brain Roles” article. This is an internal team-structure document — useful, but it presumes the reader already knows what FC Robotics is, has decided to join, and is trying to understand their role options.
A real home page must answer, within about five seconds, three questions every first-time visitor has:
- What is this organization?
- Is it for me (or my kid)?
- What do I do next?
None of those questions are answered by the current entry point. The “Left Brain vs Right Brain” page should remain on the site — it just shouldn’t be the home page.
Fix: Create a proper home page (see wireframe above). Move the Left/Right Brain content to its current URL (or link to it from the home page’s brain split section) so it stays accessible without being the first thing a visitor sees.
Also worth noting: the current meta title for the home page (the text that appears in Google search results and browser tabs) reads “Left Brain vs Right Brain Roles — Forgotten Coast Robotics Alliance.” This is what potential recruits see before they even click. It should read something like “Forgotten Coast Robotics Alliance — FTC Robotics, Apalachicola FL.”
Issue 2 — Navigation Is Overloaded and Inconsistent
The current top navigation has eight visible menu items, several of which have their own nine-item sub-menus. Visitors arriving for the first time encounter choices like “The Most Important Document,” “What is Coopertition®?”, and “Join Open Alliance” with no scaffolding to explain what any of those mean.
Additionally, the navigation structure is different between the home page and the inner pages — some pages show menu items that others don’t.
Recommended structure
| New top-level item | What folds into it |
|---|---|
| About | Why FC Robotics, Meet the Founders, Why “Forgotten Coast,” Goals for the season, AeroCoast League |
| Join | Open to Everyone, Assoc. vs Full Member, Team Roles, Costs & Time Commitment, Not a Drop-Off Program, Meeting Locations, How to Get Started |
| Learn | What is FIRST?, Why FTC?, Left Brain paths (Java, CAD, 3D Printing, Mechanical), Right Brain paths (Portfolio, Judges, Outreach), Coopertition, Judges & Scoring, Award-Winning Portfolios, Youth Protection |
| Blog | Team Members Area, External Blog posts |
A “Get Involved” button in the nav header acts as the primary CTA for all three audiences (students, mentors, sponsors).
Issue 3 — No Visual Identity on the Home Page
The site has a logo — it’s visible on some inner pages — but it does not appear on the current home page. There’s no hero image, no tagline, no color treatment that says “this is a team.” The site’s Elementor theme and GeneratePress framework are capable of rich layouts; the inner pages demonstrate this. The home page should reflect the same energy.
Key visual elements that should appear on the home page:
- The organization logo (currently missing from the home page entirely)
- A one-line tagline (suggestion: “Build robots. Lead teams. Change your future.”)
- A geographic anchor (“Apalachicola Bay · Aero Coast FTC League”) so visitors immediately know this is local
- A visual representation of the Left Brain / Right Brain split
Issue 4 — Three Audiences, No Targeted Paths
Three distinct visitor types arrive at this site with very different questions:
- Students want to know: Is there a place for me? Do I need to know how to code? Can homeschoolers join?
- Parents and potential mentors want to know: Is this organized and safe? What does it cost? How much time does it take? Can I help even if I’m not technical?
- Sponsors and donors want to know: Are you a real nonprofit? What does my money support? Who is running this?
The current home page serves none of them. The three-card section in the wireframe gives each audience an immediate path to what they need. This also reduces pressure on the navigation — visitors don’t need to scan eight menu items because their answer is right in front of them.
Additional Issues Found Across the Site
| Issue | Where | Priority |
|---|---|---|
The “Meet the Founders” page has noindex, nofollow in its meta tags — search engines cannot see it |
fc-robotics.org/meet-the-founders/ | High |
| Home page meta title reads “Left Brain vs Right Brain Roles” — poor for search visibility and first impressions | fc-robotics.org (home) | High |
| Meeting location page says “still being finalized” — once confirmed, surface the location prominently everywhere, especially the home page | fc-robotics.org/meeting-location/ | Medium |
| Navigation structure differs between home page and inner pages (different items appear/disappear) | Site-wide | Medium |
| Some video links in “Why FTC?” appear to point to internal Claude.ai URLs rather than the intended YouTube/external links | fc-robotics.org/why-ftc/ | Medium |
| The home page currently has no logo, no color branding, and no hero — inner pages have significantly more visual polish | fc-robotics.org (home) | Medium |
| No contact form or email address is immediately visible — a “Contact” link exists in the nav but not on the home page itself | fc-robotics.org (home) | Low |
What the Site Does Well
It’s worth being clear about what shouldn’t change:
- The writing quality is high. Pages like “Why FTC?”, “Open to Everyone”, and “Meet the Founders” are clear, honest, and well-structured. Don’t lose that voice in a redesign.
- The Left Brain / Right Brain concept is genuinely smart and makes the team accessible to non-technical students. It should be front and center, not buried.
- The content depth is excellent. The learning paths, the FTC comparison table, the awards and scoring pages — this is more documentation than most new teams produce. It signals seriousness to parents and sponsors.
- The mission is clearly articulated across multiple pages. The “Meet the Founders” page in particular does a beautiful job explaining why this team exists. That story belongs on the home page, at least in summary form.
Suggested Next Steps
In order of impact:
- Set a proper page as the home page in WordPress (not the Left/Right Brain article). A simple, clean landing page with the sections shown in the wireframe above is sufficient.
- Fix the meta title on the home page to reflect the organization name and location.
- Remove the
noindextags from the Meet the Founders page. - Simplify the top navigation to four items as described above.
- Once the meeting location is confirmed, add it to the home page and all relevant pages.
- Fix the broken video links in the “Why FTC?” page.