Creating a nonprofit website is no easy feat, but it's hugely important to the success of your organization. It's our hope these tips will help you make a better website for your nonprofit that not only looks and works great, but truly helps you do more good in the communities you serve.
For more on developing a website for your nonprofit, check out out blog: http://wiredimpact.com/blog/
1. The Foundations of a
Great Nonprofit Website
David Hartstein & Jonathan Goldford
Wired Impact
2. Wired Impact
We make websites for nonprofits
David Hartstein Jonathan Goldford
Content, Measurement Programming, Usability
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 2
3. What We’ll Cover
Setting website goals
Creating great website content
Driving traffic to your website
Increasing conversions
Measuring outcomes
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 3
5. What We’ll Cover
The why of creating website goals
Starting with organizational goals
Creating connected website goals
Making website goals concrete
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 5
6. Why Create Website Goals?
Lots of tools, systems and opportunities:
Only so much…
Time & Money
So…
We must be able to track success to invest effectively
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 6
7. Start with Organizational Goals
Increase Increase
New Repeat
Donors Volunteers
Provide More
Health
Improvement
Information
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 7
8. Create Connected Website Goals
Increase Increase
Number of
New Online
Donors Donations
Increase Increase
Volunteer
Repeat Form
Volunteers Submissions
Provide More Increase
Health Downloads of
Improvement Health Related
Information PDF
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 8
9. Make Website Goals Concrete
Increase Raise $1,500
Number of Online Per
Online
Month
Donations
Increase Sign Up 10
Volunteer Volunteers
Form Online Per
Submissions Month
Increase 30 Downloads
Downloads of of Health
Health Related Related PDF
PDF Per Month
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 9
10. Website Goals Should Be…
As concrete as possible
Based on a timeframe
Initially somewhat arbitrary
Numerous, then prioritized and limited based
on constraints
Ambitious, but realistic
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 10
12. What We’ll Cover
What’s the point of website content?
General tips for better content
Nonprofit-specific tips for better content
Some examples of awesomeness
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 12
13. What’s the Point of Content?
Not just story time…
… need to compel visitors to act
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 13
14. Your Mindset
Always think like your website visitor(s)
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 14
15. General Content Tips
1. Specifics work better than generalities
2. Stories are more engaging than statistics
3. Photos and videos promote emotion
4. Avoid jargon
5. Write how you speak
6. Use lists and headings
7. Give visitors a reason to check back
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 15
16. Nonprofit-Specific Content Tips
1. Illustrate your impact with first-person
accounts
2. Give multiple, specific ways to get involved
3. Be transparent (build trust)
4. Establish authority
5. Clearly state the problem
6. Inspire hope
Better content means you can ultimately
do more good
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 16
17. Video Example
What moments do you find most moving?
What sticks with you?
Rachel’s Gift
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 17
19. Driving Traffic to Your Website
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 19
20. What We’ll Cover
Where does your traffic come from?
What do search engines care about?
How can you boost traffic to your website?
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 20
21. Where Does Your Traffic Come From?
Organic search (branded vs. unbranded)
Paid search
Referrals from other websites
Social media
Email newsletters
Direct traffic
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 21
22. Organic & Paid Search
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 22
23. What Search Engines Value
Relevance
Search vs. Website
Popularity
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 23
24. Tips for Getting More Traffic
1. Use words people will search for
2. Produce fresh, interesting content
3. Involve your community
4. Build relationships on social media
5. Think about building links
Is it the “right” traffic?
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 24
26. What We’ll Cover
Defining a conversion
Examples of different types of
conversions
Tips to improve your conversion rate
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 26
27. What is a Conversion?
A Conversion is a
specific, beneficial action a
visitor takes on your
website.
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 27
28. What Types of Actions?
Downloading Signing up to
Viewing a volunteer
page, story, or blog
post
Donating Commenting
Sharing via social media
Signing up for your
RSVPing for event email newsletter
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 28
29. How About Some Examples?
Besties with Testies
StillPointe Llama Sanctuary
Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York
Global Advance
Oxfam America
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 29
30. Your Website Must Load Quickly
40% of Users Abandon a Amazon Increased Revenue
Website That Takes More by 1% for Every 100
Than 3 Seconds to Load Millisecond Decrease in Load
Time
5%
Revenue Increase
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
100 200 300 400
Decrease in Load Time
(Milliseconds)
Sources: KISSMetrics, Mashable
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 30
32. Everything Must Be Easy
Have you ever had that feeling of confusion?
That feeling of “what do I do next?”
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 32
33. Everything Must Be Easy
Usability
How easy is it to use and
how easy is it to learn?
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 33
34. Everything Must Be Easy: Examples
Navigation is very clear and includes search just in case
CAPTCHA is very
unclear and
difficult to use
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 34
35. Provide Many Opportunities to Engage
UNICEF PETA
AARP
Not everyone wants to or is ready to get involved in the same way.
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 35
37. Use an Easy Donation Process
Provide a link to give
on every page
Keep people on your
website
Give them donation
options
Only include necessary
form fields
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 37
39. The Components of Measurement
Your website goals
Tools for measurement
Reviewing your data
Adjustments to goals, website and other tools
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 39
40. Your Website Goals
Raise $1,500 Sign Up 10 30 Downloads
Volunteers of Health
Online Per
Online Per Related PDF
Month Month Per Month
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 40
41. The Tools for Measurement
Analytics Tool Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet can aggregate data across all areas,
not just web analytics.
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 41
42. Reviewing Your Data
When are you going to discuss the results?
Once a month? Once every three months?
Who is going to be involved in these reviews?
Who is going to be the point person?
What do you want to come out of each one of
these reviews?
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 42
43. Adjustments to Goals, Website and Other Tools
Goals should be adjusted depending on success and
outside factors
Test changes to the website and other tools (Tip:
Don’t make changes too often to ensure confidence
in results)
Repeat the adjustment process
Adjustments and changes should be ongoing
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website 43
44. We’re Done
(which is good, because you must be tired)
http://wiredimpact.com
(314) 801-1328
Please ask questions. We are going to cover a lot of content here. Don’t hesitate to interrupt us.
Organizational goals motivate employees and keep people on track.Your website can be much more than an online brochureIt should help further your goals as an organizationIt should be a tool to help you do more good in your communityIf someone were to invest in stocks, they wouldn’t continue to invest in the same stock if they had no idea how it performed. The same should go for your website.
Start with goals as an organizationExamples:Want to increase number of new donors?Want to increase likelihood of repeat volunteers?Want to give out more supplies to members of your community?So how do we connect these goals to the website?
Figure out how the website can help you to achieve your goals as an organizationExamples: Increased first time donors giving online Educating potential donors on what your organization does Repeat volunteers signing up using your website Community members registering through your website to receive supplies
We can’t measure if the goals aren’t concrete
Concrete – You can’t measure something that isn’t concreteTimeframe – Saying you’ll raise $5,000 online doesn’t mean anything if you don’t specify a timeframe.Ambitious – They can also be motivating and excitingWe are going to discuss measuring goals at the end of the presentationDavid to go to the next slide
What is content?TextPicturesVideosAudio Files
Need to tell your nonprofit’s story in a compelling way…But the whole point is cause action on the part of your visitor.Must leverage emotionMany people focus on telling a story without regard for the point of telling the story in the first place
Need to identify types of website visitorsThink of what content they’ll find most compellingWant it to be easy to find what they’re looking for
Get concrete, tell of individual people, zoom in on the detailsPeople react emotionally to stories, not statsCan use stats to support storiesEmotional connect, helps showNo jargonLess formal, use contractions, short sentencesRead it aloudBreak it up, make is easy to scanFresh contentEmail newsletter and social media
Make it easy to feel, see and articulateGives options to your visitorsTrust is key to donors of all ages (acquisition and retention)Builds trust, makes you seem like a solutionMake visitors feel the problemVisitors need to feel like they can make a positive impact through your organizationNo reason to compare to for profits
Ask: How many of you have launched a new site and had no one visit?Website is your city – these are roads leading into your city
Organic is harder to rank for but freePaid is easier to rank quickly (hard to manage) and costs money for each click
Relevance Example:“animal shelter” vs. “safe homes for pets”PopularityNumber of inbound linksQuality of inbound links
RelevanceUse in headings, URL, page title and at minimum 3 times in contentHelps in eyes of search and to provide more linking opportunitiesBlog can helpAsk them to blog and tell their storiesNot about blasting your content (two-way communication)Share other people’s content and hopefully they’ll share yours as wellWrite articles (establishes authority)Ask partners or collaborators to link back to your website
Remember that the definition said specific and beneficialIt’s not specific if we say someone just downloads anythingIt’s not beneficial if we’re talking about something like leaving your website after viewing one pageOnly use two examples here and make sure they are beneficial.
Completing a llama adoptionDonating onlineDownloading a volunteer application (this isn’t done completely online, but can still be measured)Adding a comment on an articleSharing via social media
These are the main browsers (Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera)A website might show great on one and bad on anotherMobile phones also display websites differentlyTesting is absolutely key. The website must be viewed to ensure that each one looks correctly and functions correctly.Don’t forget function. Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it will function right. Test comments, forms, purchasing, and other actions in all browsers.Logos from:http://paulirish.com/lovesyou/new-browser-logos/iPhone Icon: http://findicons.com/icon/126880/apple_iphone?width=256Droid Razr: http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/DROID-RAZR-BY-MOTOROLA/78281,en_US,pd.html?selectedTab=tab-4&cgid=mobile-phones#tab
This can happen when you:Don’t what button to clickDon’t know what the next step is to purchaseDon’t know which navigation item to go toDon’t know what is a link and what isn’t
It’s called usability.It means how easy is it to use and how easy is it to learn?It’s really important and you should think about it whenever you make a change to your websiteIt’s one of the top reasons people will leave your website.
Red Cross example is very clearCAPTCHA example is very unclearRed Cross Nav: http://www.redcross.org/CAPTCHA: http://www.rimmkaufman.com/content/bad_captcha2.jpg
Provide many opportunities for involvementPeople are different and want to get involved in different ways.Some people may want to give, but they’re not quite ready. Provide them another opportunity to get involved. (see PETA signup)People may also prefer different methods of getting in touch: phone vs. email vs. forms (testing can help here/think about the audience)Peta Image: http://www.peta.org/
On this article there are four different places to engage and they are very easy to get to. They do the thinking for you.You need to allow people the option to give on every page.http://www.aclu.org/national-security/detention
Everyone should have some kind of measurement tool for their website. Google Analytics is a free solution, but can be daunting.Spreadsheets can track all organizational goals and tools over time
Use CNN featuringthe organization as the example of outside factors.